# The Stephenson Family/Section 16

Catharine, the last child of William Stephenson, one of the Four, and his wife, Elizabeth Wylie, married John Westbrook, a farmer. They lived on a fine farm one mile west from Rossville. There were born to them twelve children. Seven of them died without heirs. The other five reared respectable, good families. Jacob Westbrook, son of John Westbrook and his wife, Catharine Stephenson, married Sarah Peay. They have a family and live in Acworth, Georgia. Terzie Westbrook, Jacob's sister, married Jefferson Wylie.
Jane Agnes, daughter of John Westbrook and his wife, Catharine Stephenson, married James Campbell. They reared a family near Mount Prospect church, in Chester County, South Carolina. She is a widow and lives with her daughter, Mary Frances, and son-in-law, W. C. Garrison, a respectable citizen and a good, industrious farmer. Mr. Garrison and his wife have several children. My cousin, Jane Agnes, is one of four living grandchildren of William Stephenson, one of the Four. She is getting up in years for a widow, but her memory is very good. I obtained from her more of the past history of the descendants of the Four than from all the others whom I met. J. C. Hicklin and myself enjoyed a splendid basket dinner with her family at a picnic one July day.
​Mary Elizabeth Westbrook married William Alexander White. Mr. White owned a large farm, three miles south of Chester, South Carolina. On this farm he reared a large and respectable family. Their son, James G. L. White, now owns and lives on the original White estate. It consists of four hundred acres that has been in the family for one hundred and forty-five years. The land was granted to Mr. White's grand ancestor in 1762, by the crown of England. The consideration was ten shillings for a hundred acres. When the land was surveyed it was guessed off with given metes and bounds, always good measure thrown in. The purchaser did the most of the guessing. J. G. L. White has the original deed by which the crown of England conveyed this land to his great-grandfather.
The following are the names of the children of William A. White and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Westbrook: John W. White, Louisville, Georgia; Mrs. Kate S. Stone, Augusta, Georgia; Dr. W. G. White, Yorkville, South Carolina; James G. L. White, Chester, South Carolina; R. M. White, Chester, South Carolina; Miss Jinnie C. White, Chester, South Carolina. On that same old farm Mr. White, this year, 1905, expects to make a bale of cotton to the acre. He has an interesting family, consisting of wife and seven children. His daughter, Mary Elizabeth, has just finished school. Any one knows how bright and polite a young lady can be when she has just graduated and returned home. Three of his little boys, one named "Stinson," are about the same size. They are about the right size and age to get off with a stranger and tell him all the family secrets. Isabella, daughter of John Westbrook and his wife, Catharine Stephenson, married Robert Nichols.
​Having given a very incomplete account of the descendants of William Stephenson, one of the Four, and of his children and their descendants, I will take up next his brother, James Stephenson, one of the Four.
James Stephenson, son of Robert Stephenson, a Scotchman, who reared a family in Antrim County, Ireland, was born in Ireland about the year 1746. He married previous to coming to America. His wife's Christian name was Nellie, but I do not know her maiden name. He was a captain in the Revolutionary War under Col. John Sevier. He was in the battle of King's Mountain. There were born to him and his wife, Nellie, eight children, four sons and four daughters, namely: Hugh, born in Ireland, in 1766; a daughter, who died on the way to America and was buried at sea; Margaret, born November 28, 1770, in Ireland, my grandmother; John, born in Ireland, in 1772; Mary Ann, born in South Carolina, in 1774; Robert, born in 1776, in South Carolina; William, born in 1778, in South Carolina; Rebecca, born in 1781, in South Carolina.
Capt. James Stephenson was a brave and faithful officer in the Revolutionary War. He participated in many battles. During the time James Stephenson was in the army his wife, Nellie, and her children worked on a farm in the southeastern part of Chester County, South Carolina, for a support. In the year 1780 the British and Tories came to her house plundering. She had her cattle in a lot. She fought the enemy the best she could trying to save some of her property. She put one favorite milch cow, "Old Brindle," in the horse stable. The Tories knocked her down and broke the door open and took the last cow she had. But she had one weapon left which she used with much severity—​her tongue. She called them low-down, thieving imps of King George. Her ten-year-old daughter, Margaret, struck one of the Tories with the poking stick. In these days of plenty and affluence there may be some who do not know what is meant by a poking stick. In the time of the American Revolution, and down to my boyhood days, iron shovel and tongs were luxuries which only a few were able to enjoy. In those days for fire dogs common rocks were used, and for tongs a hickory stick four feet long and one and a half inches thick was used. The shovel was made from a common clapboard riven from a white oak tree. The board was trimmed down to a handle.