Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Stephens, Daniel

STEPHENS, Daniel, clergyman, b. on his father's farm, Licking Creek, Bedford co.. Pa., in April, 1778; d. in Bolivar, Tenn., 21 Nov., 1850. He was graduated at Jefferson college, Cannonsburg, Pa., in 1803, at the end of a two-years' course, with the highest honors, served as tutor in college for a short time, and then opened a school in Easton, Md. Although of a Baptist family, he resolved to apply for orders in the Protestant Episcopal church. After due preparation he was ordained deacon in Upper Marlborough, St. Mary's co.. Md., in February, 1809, by Bishop Claggett, and priest at the diocesan convention in Baltimore in 1810 by the same bishop. His earliest service was in Chestertown; thence he went to Centreville, Queen Anne co., where he labored for four years. Deeming a change necessary for health, he moved to Havre de Grace, Harford co. In 1820 he received the degree of D. D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He was then called to the church in Staunton, Va., where he remained until 1820. Soon afterward he became rector of St. Peter's church, Columbia, Tenn., and from 1833 till 1849 he was rector of St. James's church, Bolivar, Tenn. He was very active and serviceable in organizing the church in Tennessee and electing its first bishop. Dr. Stephens, though an excellent scholar and teacher, published only a few occasional sermons. His son, Abednegro, clergyman, b. in Centreville, Md.. 24 July, 1812; d. in Nashville. Tenn., 27 Feb., 1841, was ordained deacon in October, 1837, by Bishop Otey, and priest soon afterward by the same bishop. His record is thus summed up by his bishop: "At the age of seventeen he was the acting principal of a large academy, at twenty-two professor of languages in a university, at twenty-seven the president of a college, and when, in his twenty-ninth year, his brilliant career was arrested by the hand of death, he stood in the front rank of scholars and orators." His published address (1838), delivered before the alumni of the university, on "The Duty of the State to Endow Institutions for the Promotion of High Letters," is marked by felicity of style and great research.