Phebe & Edward Stephens

Text Box:

Edward M Stephens & Phebe Tuthill Stephens

The first of the Stephens family, Edward Stephens, came to Southfield during the early years of Michigan statehood.. He was born on Long Island, New York September 9, 1783 and is buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in Southfield. His stone states that he died on October 12, 1867, aged 84 years and 3 months. His wife Phebe had also been born in New York and she is buried beside him. Her stone states that she died June 5, 1874, aged 83 years, 11 months and 20 days. According to the 1850 census, they had four children at home, Johnson, Edward, Phebe and Chilion. According to the Alice Serrell Collection, located in the library of the Oakland County Historical Society, Edward married Phebe Tuthill on January 1, 1810. She was born in New York on May 25/January 8, 1791.
On the 1857 plat map of Southfield Township, Edward owns 240 acres in sections 26 and 27 and another 80 acres in section 34.
According to Bette Woods of Lake Forest, Illinois, Edward Stephens (Edward, Thos, Thos, Thos) was born in Quogue, New York in 1783. He married Phebe Tuthill in New York. He had been a whaler and was the son of Edward Stephens and Martha Rogers. Young Edward was mentioned in Howell's History of Southampton, Long Island and called "Edward of Michigan".
It seems that many of the Stephens and Stevens cousins knew each other well around Southampton and Quogue back in the 1800's. Many of them were Civil War veterans.
In the family plot are buried Edward, son of Edward and Phebe, who lived from May 16, 1822, to May 13, 1860. According to the 1850 census Phebe, another daughter, was born about 1824.
Also in Pioneer Cemetery are the graves of Jonathan T. Stephens, who lived from August 6, 1810 until January 20, 1860. Another grave nearby is Charlotte Hyde Stephens, who was born in Auburn, Cayuga County, in 1822 and died in 1903. The Serrell collection also contains this information. Thomas Stephens lived from May 25, 1799, to July 5, 1858, dying at the age of 59 years. Two daughters of Jonathan and his wife are also buried here. Elizabeth died in Detroit on April 18, 1865, at the age of 24 years, six months and 26 days, and Julia died September 25, 1867, at the age of 17 years, 10 months, and 25 days.
In the 1870 census Phebe is listed as age 71 and E. T. Stephens, a female, is 51. Jonathan served as Justice of the Peace for Southfield in 1836.


Phebe Stephens	Edward Stephens

Text Box: Home—Headstones – Edward & Phebe Stephens - Jonathan T. Stephens—Chilion Stephens—Alfred Stephens
Elizabeth Stephens—Lucy Stephens—Julia Stephens—Caroline Stephens—Charlotte H. Stephens
Margaret O. Stephens—Lewis & Lucy Hyde—Daniel Russell—Daniel Michael—Chilion’s Children
Richard Jessup—John Harmon—Thomas Cooper—John Cooper—Trowbridge—Lowe