d dark hair, and was powerful physically, and
kept a straight figure of his body until his death.--Statement of Joshua
Stephens, (32).

JOSHUA STEPHENS, (6), a Revolutionary soldier and ancestor of the
Stephens family, was born in Union Township, Berkes County, Penn., in
1733. John Stephens, (15), his son, father of Nancy Stephens Mitchell,
was born in Chester County, Penn., Dec. 23, 1781. Union Township is
separated from Amity and from Exeter Township by the Schuylkill River.
In Exeter Township lived George Boone, A. D. 1717, ancestor of Daniel
Boone, who intermarried with the Stephens. And in Amity Township lived
Mordecai Lincoln, A. D. 1725, and probably also the Stephens. At an
early date in his life, Joshua Stephens left Berkes County and settled
in Chester County, not far from Valley Forge. His early life was spent
on his father's farm in hunting. He was an expert rifleman, and his
proficiency acquired for him considerable notoriety. In 1771, when he
was thirty-eight years of age, he married Priscilla Humphreys, who was a
Seventh-day Baptist. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War Joshua
Stephens, (6), identified himself with the patriot cause, and was
commissioned by General Washington as 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 from his farm to relieve their
distress. On one occasion he was granted a furlough to return home
during harvest.

A few years after the war he moved with his family to a place near Warm
Springs, Virginia. After another few years to Lexington, Kentucky. While
there, Daniel Boone was a frequent visitor and greeted him as "Cousin".
About 1798, he decided to remove to near Chillicothe, Ohio, lived in
either Ross County or Franklin County until about 1816, when he followed
his two sons, John, (15), and E. D., (16), to Shelby County, where he
lived with them on their farm near Hardin. His grand-children remember
his old Revolutionary Army great coat and his stories of Revolutionary
times. His love for the chase never forsook him. He attributes his
longevity to his outdoor life. He was over six feet in height, kept his
face smoothly shaved, had blue eyes and dark hair; was powerful
physically and kept an erect figure till his death. He lived to be
ninety years of age. He died in March, in 1823, on the farm of his son
John, (15), near Hardin and was buried in the old Hardin graveyard.

JOSHUA STEPHE