The Stephens Family Immigrates to America

Henry Stephens, my great-great-grandfather, immigrated to the U.S. in the 1840s when he was a boy. The Stephens family was part of an increasing tide of German immigrants who came to America during the 1800s to escape crop failures, political unrest, and a widespread lack of opportunity. Many German immigrants went to Wisconsin, where the population grew from 11,000 in 1836 to over 305,000 in 1850. The soil and climate in Wisconsin was similar to that in Germany, and suited immigrants like Henry's father, Mathias, who had been a farmer. A biography of Henry's older brother John said he was from Trier, Germany, and immigration records show that a family of eight, headed by Mathias Stephany, a 40-year old farmer, immigrated in 1843 from Konfeld, which is about 20 miles from Trier, Prussia. This may very well be our Mathias Stephens.   

Henry Stephens, born about 1833 in Prussia, died in 1908 in Waterloo, Iowa

Matthias and his first wife Eve (Schuh) Stephens had four sons. Henry, their last son, was born about 1833, but sadly Eve died a week after he was born. Mathias then married Eve's sister, Barbara, and in 1843, Mathias, Barbara, and six children, immigrated to America, arriving in New York City after a ship's voyage of sixty-three days. 

Upon arriving in America, the family traveled to Milwaukee by way of the Hudson River, Erie Canal and the Great Lakes. There, Matthias paid $62.50 for forty acres of timbered land in the town of New Berlin. 

The Peck cabin, the first house in Madison
(no connection to the Stephens family)

According to the biography of John Stephens, "Their first home was a log cabin, the floor of which was mother earth; snow would sift through the shake roof until it would be an inch or two deep on the beds in the morning, while the chimney was a stove pipe thrust through the roof. Indians were almost as numerous as the white inhabitants." (Portrait and Biographical Record of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, 1894)

Another biography, of Henry's brother Nicholas, reports: "The family lived under a tree while building a log cabin, with Indians, deer, wolves, etc., for neighbors." (History of Waukesha, 1880)

The red border shows the 80 acres Matthias purchased in 1846, the West half of the
Southeast quarter of Section 14, Township 6 N, Range 20 E.

John Stephens recalled deer were plentiful. One of the men would take an old-fashioned cow-bell and station himself in their 'runway,' and at the approach of the deer he would ring the bell, thus attracting their attention, while his comrades would slip up and shoot them from the opposite direction."

Mathias and Barbara appear to have been fruitful in their new home. By 1870, their land was valued at $6,000 and they had $600 worth of personal property. Mathias had numerous children - possibly more than 12, and several of his children had large families, ensuring that the descendants of Mathias in the U.S. are many. They are now spread all over the country.

The gravestones of Matthias and Barbara Stephens, Holy Apostles Cemetery,
New Berlin, Waukesha, Wisconsin

There are numerous Stephens family members buried in the beautifully kept Holy Apostles Cemetery in New Berlin, Wisconsin.