There were born to Hugh S. Stephenson and his wife, Anna Whitley, eleven children. Two died in infancy. Of the nine who grew to maturity there were five daughters and four sons. 1. Their daughter, Lou, first married A. C. Weatherall, then Mr. Greer, of Little Rock. 2. Alice married W. G. Hazen, of Des Arc. 3. Lula married Henderson Ried, of Hazen, Ark. 4. Willie H. married D. J. Mytinger, of Little Rock. 5. Mariah, now dead, married J. B. Jamison.
Amos Jarmon, son of Hugh S. Stephenson and his wife, Anna Whitley, was born near Hernando, Mississippi, March 27, 1859. His father moved to Des Arc, Arkansas, when Amos was an infant. Amos was reared and educated in Des Arc. He has spent his life, up to the present time, in Des Arc, and is still living there. On December 11, 1890, he married Miss Mary C. Danner, of Farmer City, Illinois. Of this union were born five children, sons: Harry, aged now fourteen years; Freeman, twelve; Hugh, eight; Leonard, six; and Willie, who died in 1899. The four living sons are of the school age. Knowing the ancestors of Amos Stephenson to have been friends and promoters of education induces me to sanguinely hope these four dear boys will be well educated. Des Arc is a good town, now putting on city style, and is paying much attention to furnishing the necessary facilities for the education of its numerous, rising generations.
Amos J. Stephenson is engaged in the undertaking business, a business which, like the doctor's, requires the undertaker to move when ordered, rain or shine, by day or by night. It is a good business, but a hard and irregular one. I have tried it. I am not fond of the business. My olfactory organs are too sensitive to allow the work to be pleasant. Then, it is natural for a man to wish to do a rushing business; especially is this the case in a hustling city. An undertaker cannot do any business unless some of his neighbors furnish the corpse. The consequence is, he is always wishing for some one to die. A wag, passing my window one day, seeing me idle, said: "How much will you give me for killing somebody?"
The Stephensons and their relatives are scattered from North Alabama to Western Texas. I have been much among them, and am of the opinion that I can ride horseback from North Alabama 900 miles to Western Texas, and not be at any time more than thirty miles from the home of a kinsman. But, strange to say, I was never at Des Arc, and am a stranger to my Cousin Amos. But from the moral and religious training that I know his father had, and believing in the literal fulfillment of the Scriptures, I am persuaded to believe that he is training up his four sons in the way they should go.
Robert H., son of H. S. Stephenson, and his wife, Anna, was wounded in the battle of Shiloh, and died of his wounds. George W. died in 1884. Charles C. Stephenson is the youngest son of Hugh S. and his wife, Anna Stephenson.
Hugh S. Stephenson was a man of fine mind and splendid moral character; his life suitably demonstrated the moral training his parents gave him. He was a high Mason, having filled all the stations in the local Lodges; he was a member of the Grand Lodge, both in Alabama and Arkansas. He was justice of the peace for many years during his long and useful life. He was an alderman in his town council. He was an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, to which he was devoted, and in which his father was an able, consecrated, and very useful minister. The following was written by his son, Dr. Charles C. Stephenson:
"To the memory of my father: As a short tribute to the memory of my father, Hugh S. Stephenson, I, his youngest son, desire to say that as a man he measured up to the full stature of all the requirements of Christian citizenship. He was kind, yet firm; he was determined, yet not arbitrary; he was affectionate, but not too lenient for his children's good. As a husband and as a father he was all that could be desired. As a voter he always aligned himself on the side of justice and right; and as a citizen he never fell short of the slightest duty which was imposed upon him. In fact, as a man rothing could be said of him more than to say he was loved and esteemed by his neighbors and fellow-countrymen to such a degree that no official position, no honor, no trust could be placed in his hands but what it was at his command. What more is necessary to say of any man, than that he lived, moved and had his being among a class of people who respected, honored, cherished and loved his memory after death?"
Dr. Charles C. Stephenson is a specialist, treating the eye, ear, nose and throat; his office is in the Elk Building, 114 West Second Street, Little Rock, Arkansas. The youngest son of Hugh S. Stephenson and _9.png)
Dr. Charles S. Stephenson, Little Rock, Arkansas.his wife, Anna Whitley, was born in DeSoto County, Mississippi, September 11, 1863. In the year 1870, when Charles was seven years old, his father moved to Des Arc, Prairie County, Arkansas. He was educated in the common schools of Des Arc. In 1881 he became a drug clerk. In 1884 he attended a course of lectures at Louisville, at the Kentucky School of Medicine. He returned to Arkansas and practiced medicine for a few months at Hazen. He then went to Des Arc and worked at the drug business. In 1886 he left Des Arc for Swan Lake, where he remained till 1889. He then took another course of lectures in the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville. He was graduated that year, taking the gold medal for the highest standing in his class, in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He returned to Swan Lake, and, after a few months' practice, he settled at Stuttgart, remaining there till 1899, when he settled in Little Rock. He is now, 1905, actively engaged in the practice of his chosen profession.
While living at Stuttgart, Dr. Stephenson was a member of the School Board for four years, all the time Secretary of the Board. Since coming to Little Rock, he has devoted his entire time to his specialties. He is at the present time oculist for the Arkansas State School for the Blind; aurist for the Arkansas Deaf Mute Institute; and visiting oculist and aurist to the Logan H. Root Memorial City Hospital. He is also professor of diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat in the Little Rock Municipal Training School. He was at one time resident surgeon of the New Orleans Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, but was compelled to resign that position on account of bad health. In 1897, Dr. Stephenson further prepared himself for his chosen specialties by taking a postgraduate course in New Orleans Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital; in 1898, he took a course in the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. He is a member of the American Medical Association and of the Arkansas Medical Society; he is ex-Secretary of the Pulaski County Medical Society, and at present Secretary for the Arkansas State Medical Society, and editor of the Monthly Bulletin of the Arkansas Medical Society.
For four years, during the administration of Gov. Dan W. Jones, Dr. Stephenson was assistant surgeongeneral for the Arkansas Reserve Militia. He is Medical Director for the Mutual Industrial Indemnity Company (incorporated), Little Rock, and Medical Examiner for the New York Life Insurance Company, of New York, and the Franklin Life Insurance Company, of Springfield, Illinois, and has been examiner for numerous other life insurance companies in his time. He was for ten years surgeon for the St. Louis Southwestern Railroad, at Stuttgart, Arkansas, which position he resigned when he removed to Little Rock.
On December 4, 1884, he married Miss Gracie D. Sleade, of St. Charles, Arkansas. She passed away in 1886. On January 18, 1888, he was married a second time, to his present wife, Miss Laura V. Halley, of DeWitt, Arkansas, daughter of John R. and Helm M. Halley. Her father was a large sugar planter in Louisiana. Two daughters, Effie B. and Clara C., have come to bless this marriage.
Dr. Stephenson is an active church and Sundayschool worker, a member of the First Methodist Church, South, of Little Rock. He holds membership in the Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Woodmen of the World. Knights of Honor, and is a thirty-second degree Mason. He is also a member of the Royal Arch and Council Masons, and a member of the Shrine, and an enthusiastic Shriner.
Dr. Stephenson has some inventive genius, which is shown by the fact that he has devised and placed upon the market a complete set of instruments for removing tonsils, consisting of scissors, forceps, and tongue depresser, which are manufactured now by three of the largest instrument makers in the world. He also devised a pair of scissors for operating on the nose, also scissors for removing growths from the throat, which is also on the market. As an evidence of the merit of these instruments, Dr. Stephenson has received inquiries concerning them from all parts of the United States. Indeed, an order came for a set from Budapest, Hungary.
As an evidence of the esteem in which Dr. Stephenson was held in his home town, Stuttgart, Arkansas, the local newspaper had the following to say relative to his departure for his new field of labor:
"This most estimable gentleman and skillful physician, who has spent nine years in Stuttgart, sold out his property and practice here last week, and moved with his family to Little Rock, where he will follow the practice of his profession. He will, however, confine himself to the treatment of diseases of the eye, ear and throat, for which he has studied as specialist in New Orleans and in New York. Dr. Stephenson graduated with high honors at the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louisville, Kentucky, in the class of 1889, and carried away the first medal ever taken off by a citizen of Arkansas from that school, which has attained a national reputation for the thoroughness of its curriculum.
Dr. Stephenson first spent a year practicing in Hazen; then at Des Arc for one year, where he was also engaged in the drug business. From there he transferred himself to Swan Lake, and from thence to Stuttgart in 1890, where he has since resided, with the exception of a short time in 1892, spent in Little Rock, and 1897, spent in the Eye, Ear and Nose Hospital, at New Orleans, and last year attending clinics at the New York Polyclinic and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. While here he was examiner for fifteen life insurance companies, surgeon for the Cotton Belt Railway for nine years, and secretary of the School Board for four years.
"He is a member of a number of secret societies, and takes high rank in all, and is also very prominent in the councils of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He also holds the rank of major and assistant surgeon of the First Brigade, Arkansas Reserve Militia, and as such examined the boys of Arkansas County who enlisted for the Spanish-American War. Dr. Stephenson is a man of pleasing personality, and, aside from his professional ability, he is a gentleman whom to know is to esteem. Those who are best acquainted with him are his most ardent admirers. Stuttgart's loss is Little Rock's gain, and we predict for him wide opportunity in the treatment of the diseases of which he makes a specialty."—Stuttgart Free Press.