Re: Mathew/Matthew Fleming Stephenson, Assayer of Dahlonega Mint, Georgia 1850-1854
-
In reply to:
Re: Mathew/Matthew Fleming Stephenson, Assayer of Dahlonega Mint, Georgia 1850-1854
Andy 7/13/10
Andy, thanks for your response! I also have picked clean the censuses regarding Matthew F, but the information regarding Sarah Stephenson Wills & family was new. I wasn't looking into your line, though; once I discovered his marriage to your ancestor Sarah, I wondered if he might have been married to Nancy Elizabeth Lee first, who died, and had young children who were raised by someone else. If so, one of these would be my ancestor, Ann Maria Stephenson, who married John Stephenson. But I haven't found any documentation of this. Ann Maria says she was born in Indiana in most of the censuses, and I have searched a lot there and up and down the Ohio River area in 1850, and while there are a number of possibilities, nothing definitive.
There is a wiki and some other articles on Matthew F online, but they don't give much personal background. There is even a book and some letters that he wrote. I had gone through Chelledge's site extensively prior to reading your post, but all the Matthews in that line were dead-ends as far as my ancestors were concerned. I looked back after reading your post, but didn't see a Matthew and Ann Fleming mentioned in connection with Wood County, and haven't found these names in any other sources relative to Wood County. Our John Stephenson was supposedly born in Fayette Co, Pennsylvania; while there are a number of John S's in that corner of Pennsylvania, I have found nothing definitive to link them to the Wood County Stephensons. It's possible Matthew was born there, but research is very challenging in that area, as jurisdiction changed so many times and it was claimed by both Virginia and Pennsylvania at the same time.
I think Brand is the author of the book on which Chelledge has based most of his genealogy. Perhaps this is the book you are thinking of. It seems strange that a fairly prominent fellow like Dr M.F. Stephenson wouldn't have had more written about him. Since he has the title Dr and he wasn't apparently a physician, I wonder if he had some other degree, and if so, where did he get it? This might be a clue, but I don't know how to pursue it.
One line of inquiry I had pursued was that he wasn't from the Delaware/West Virginia Fleming line, but from the southern Shenandoah Valley line of Dr William Fleming, a Scottish surgeon, early settler, and political and Revolutionary War personage. There were also Matthew Stephensons in North Carolina and Tazewell County Virginia, and a Matthew Stephenson in Tennessee descended from another Shenandoah Valley bunch, but I don't think he left any children. I'm afraid the civil war has left some large holes in the documentation of Mathew F's life.
In short, there are too many Stephensons and too little documentation!
I hope to go to the Oregon State Archives soon to look up documents on the Oregon John Stephensons from whom I am descended. Supposedly the Stephenson Family Bible is there, and maybe that will show something about Matthew. Also, I am hoping to find the will of John Stephenson's father in stuff my brother had in a storage unit - another brother had gotten it when he happened to be working for a time in Parkersburg - but I am not sure got the right will! My brother thought it was James's will, while John's father's name was John. If It is John Sr's will, and John Jr and Matthew were brothers, as is shown in the family tree I was given, it might be stated in the will or the bible. Unfortunately, I don't know when my brother will get his stuff unpacked, and he doesn't take well to being pushed. Yet another brother just unloaded my (departed) parents' storage unit, and there might be something in there.
I am hoping to find something helpful this summer. I will let you know what I find relative to Matthew F's identity and biography if you like. It's nice to know there is someone else trying to track the same scent. If you find out anything, I hope you will post it here. Feel free to email me if you would like. Good luck in your searches!
More Replies:
-
Re: Mathew/Matthew Fleming Stephenson, Assayer of Dahlonega Mint, Georgia 1850-1854
Andy 7/14/10
-
Re: Mathew/Matthew Fleming Stephenson, Assayer of Dahlonega Mint, Georgia 1850-1854
Margaret Murdock 7/17/10
-
Mathew/Matthew Fleming Stephenson and John Stephenson (of Oregon) Bible
Margaret Murdock 7/28/10
-
Mathew/Matthew Fleming Stephenson and John Stephenson (of Oregon) Bible
-
Re: Mathew/Matthew Fleming Stephenson, Assayer of Dahlonega Mint, Georgia 1850-1854