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JOHN T. STEPHENS
Vol. 3, p. 1216

For nearly thirty years John T. Stephens has been closely associated
with the work of the Baptist Church, the field of his ministry having
been born in North Carolina, Kansas, and Oklahoma. His home has been
in Lawton since 1904, and in recent years, though still taking his
place in the pulpit every Sunday, he has developed a paying business
as an insurance man, with offices in the First National Bank Building.

John T. Stephens was born near Boone, Watauga County, North
Carolina, March 11, 1864. The Stephens family came originally from
England, and were among the early settlers of North Carolina. Lazarus
Stephens, the father, was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina, in
1837, and is now living in advanced years at Todd, North Carolina.
His occupation has been farming all his life, and from his birthplace
he removed to the vicinity of Boone, and when John was a child went
to Ashe County. He has been a traveler over most of the United
States, and in politics has supported the republican party. Lazarus
Stephens married Mary E. JOHNSON, who was born in North Carolina in
1841 and died at Todd, October 2, 1913. John T. Was the oldest of
their seven children, the others being: George, a farmer at Junction,
Oklahoma; Mary Ann, wife of Henry RAY, a North Carolina farmer;
Julia, who married a Mr. STEPHENS, and lives on a farm in East
Tennessee; Roby, Callie and Newton, all of them occupying farms in
North Carolina, Callie being married.

John T. Stephens spent his early life on a farm in Ashe County,
North Carolina, attending the common schools, and his early life was
characterized not only by the hard work which is the usual lot of a
farmer boy, but also by an earnest purpose to acquire an education
and make himself useful in the world. He finally entered Milligan
College in East Tennessee, and while still a student was ordained a
minister of the Baptist Church at Todd, North Carolina, in 1886.
Leaving college in 1887, in that year he began his career both as a
minister and as a teacher. For three years he taught in Ashe County,
North Carolina, and in Johnson County, Tennessee, and as a minister
his work has been done in the several states above mentioned. In
1902, Mr. Stephens removed to Tonkawa, Oklahoma, and was pastor of
the Baptist Church there 1 1/2 years. In 1904 he came to Lawton, was
pastor of the Baptist Church three years, then did district mission
work four years, and is now supplying a pulpit every Sunday, while
the week days are spent as special agent for the Federal Life
Insurance Company of Chicago.

Mr. Stephens is a democrat, and affiliates with the Knights and
Ladies of Security. In 1886 in North Carolina, he married Miss
Marguerite E. WHITTINGTON, whose father was Doctor WHITTINGTON of
French Broad River. Their children are six in number, as follows:
Clyde, who was graduated from the Lawton High School and is now a
farmer at Temple, Oklahoma; Joseph Ronda, superintendent of the light
and waterworks plant at Temple; Earl, who is taking a course in
engineering and lives with this brother, J. R., in Temple; Clay, a
senior in the Lawton High School; Paul and Ross, both in the public
schools of Lawton.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Jacque Hopkins Wolski, October 27, 1998.