THOMAS G. STEPHENSON.

On last Sunday .the funeral ceremony of one of our old settlers was held at the Christian church in this city, Rev. Luther Moore, pastor, officiating. Judge Burris delivered a funeral address pronouncing a high eulogy over the deceased whom he had known for over forty years.

Mr. Stephenson was born in Rommey, West Virginia, Feb. 15, 1823, and when twenty months old moved with his parents to Athens county, Ohio, where he lived till 1841. In that year the family moved to Iowa and settled on a farm near Fort Madison, where he was married to Sarah D. Brown on September 6, 1849, to which union were born six children.

In 1866 he moved to Monticello township in this county where his wife died in 1877. In 1883 he sold his farm and went to Oklahoma but returned to this county three years later and settled on his present farm near Cedar Junction. After a lingering illness he died at the home of his son, William Stephenson, in Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 22, 1907.

Five children survive him: Mrs. G. L. Collins, and Mrs. O. E. Brown Qf the old neighborhood, Mrs. Chas. Coddington of Baldwin, Kansas, and Mrs. J. B. Mayberry and William Stephenson of Kansas City, Mo.

Although his early opportunities for education were limited, yet being naturally intelligent and having a remarkable memory, he acquired a high standing among his neighbors. While in Iowa he served two terms in the legislature and one term in Kansas and five years as county commissioner of this county, four years of which he acted as chairman of the Board, and was instrumental in a most advantageous compromise of the railroad bonded indebtedness of the county.

He was a charter member of Clear Creek Grange and always a willing and untiring worker in its behalf. His main occupation was that of a farmer although In his active life he became an expert cooper and carpenter. He was "Uncle Tom" to all who knew him, aside from his own family where he was "Father" in the broadest sense of the word and his remarkable memory and inexhaustible resource of anecdote and humor captivated the attention and admiration of young and old alike. During his protracted illness his only murmurings or regret were expressed, not for himself, but in behalf of the loved ones who were his constant watchers and attendants. Of him, since nature has claimed her dues, we may well say: "He was a man, take him all for all, I shall not look upon bis like again.'

Olathe Mirror
Feb 28, 1907
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