9. HETTY "who married a rich man named Humphrey, had liveried
servants," etc. If so, they probably lived in Philadelphia.

JOSHUA STEPHENS, Jr., (6), was the founder of that particular line of
the family of which we have any definite knowledge. His father was
Joshua Stephens, (3), the immigrant ancestor, who settled in what is now
Berkes County, Pennsylvania.

Berkes was then a "howling wilderness" full of Indians and wild beasts.
It was here in 1733, that Joshua Stephens, Jr., was born. Neighbors were
like Angel's visits, "few and far between". In Amity Township on the
east lived Mordecai Lincoln, in A. D. 1725, the ancestor of the
illustrious President. In Exeter Township to the north-east lived George
Boone, in A. D. 1717, the ancestor of Daniel Boone, the celebrated
pioneer of Kentucky. Our family tradition is that the Stephens and the
Boones were intermarried, and it is known that the Boones and Lincolns
formed such alliances. (See Century Magazine for November, 1886). Joshua
became an expert in the use of the rifle. His early life was spent on
his father's farm and in hunting, in which he became very proficient and
for which he acquired considerable notoriety. Schools were scarce in
those days and his literary education was probably poor. No writings of
his are known to be in existence to-day. To his out-door life must be
attributed the cause of his longevity, extending to a period of ninety
years. He did not marry until he was 38 years of age. In 1771 he married
Priscilla Humphreys. The fact that she was a member of the Seventh-day
Baptist Church, who were then quite numerous in Chester County to the
South of Berkes, and that his son E. D. Stephens was born in Chester,
suggests that at an early date in his life Joshua left Berkes and
settled in Chester, which he did at any rate, and lived not far from
Valley Forge. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War he identified
himself with the patriot cause, and, according to the statement of his
son, E. D. Stephens, was commissioned Captain of a Company of
sharpshooters. During the famine of the American army in the winter of
1777-8 at Valley Forge, he hauled corn to relieve their distress. On one
occasion he obtained a furlough to return home during harvest. With a
Quaker and his brother John he was in the orchard gathering apples. The
Quaker was up in the apple tree, picking fruit, and improved the
opportunity to expostulate with Joshua over the wickedness