Leonard Stephens Letter, 7 Jul 1864
[The Death of Bro. Edmund]
[Answered July 18/ 64]
Beech Woods, Kenton County, Ky., 7th July 1864
Dear Brother William,
Yours of the 13th ult. came to hand one day last week & now I undertake to write in answer, & I do so with a heavy heart, for I am having some sore trials. In the first place I have to state to you the sad news of the death of our Dear Brother Edmund which even occured on last Sunday morning at about 6 o'clock. He had been gradually sinking for several weeks, his strenth had given way quite sudenly & for about a month or six weeks could not walk without help, but his condition was not very uncomfortable untill within the last ten or twelve days, he was attacked with a severe cold and bowell complaint which ran him down quite rapidly. On the day he was taken with those complaints I saw him in the morning & he seemed as I thought to be Smarter than usual. He had just changed his winter clothing, & was feeling more comfortable on account of it, but he said he feared it would be the means of his taking cold. I told him I thought not, & that it would be better for him for thick clothing was of course very uncomfortable. I had been to see him the evening before & read to him an amendment to his will which he had requested me to write. He said it was all right & proposed to send for a young man that Ezekiel had hired to come & sign it with me as a witness. I told him the young man might not be in the country when the will would have to be proved & that I would come by Reuben Bristow's next morning & get him to come over with me, & he could then sign it, & we would witness it, which was done. That part of his will was made principally for Ezekiel's benefit; he had agreed with him, that if he would come & live with & take care of him that he would do certain things but there was nothing to show the facts, & he preferred to set them forth by and in the manner stated, that was the thursday week before his death, & the day he was taken worse.
I did not see him again untill the next thursday, for I had not heard up to that time of his being any worse than usual, I went then immediately to see him, & was astonished to see how much he had failed in one week. He told me then he was nearly gone, but could then talk about as well as usual, & inquired of me about some political news he had heard, that seemed to please him. I of course went to see him regularly untill his death. I left him on Saturday evening at about 6 o'clock, when I went there that evening I found him suffering a good deal, he did not notice me for a while, but when he did extended his hand without speaking & gave me as well as he was able that warm cordial pressure which he had so often done before & by his looks I have no doubt felt, that he intended it for a long farewell, & I felt certain of its being the last time we should ever shake hands. Oh my dear Brother William such scenes are heart rending, & hard to endure, & yet they have to be borne, he talked some little afterwards, spoke of how much he was suffering & asked us several times to assist him to turn, & to prop him up in the bed, & he several times raised himself up into a sitting posture in the bed. I understood next morning that he continued very restless, & complained frequently untill about 11 o'clock at night, but did not speak afterwards, but seemed to suffer untill his death & died very hard. I was there early Sunday morning but found him dead as I have no doubt I should do.
It was arranged for the burying to take place the next evening & to have a funeral sermon at 3 o'clock. There being meeting that day in Florence by the Reformers & brother Edmund being a member there, we supposed there would be no difficulty about it. Brother Gauter, the minister there, is not at home, he being Somewhere as it is said in your State, Brother Arnold preached there that day & agreed to come here the next evening & so gave out the appointment but failed to attend which was very much of a disappointment, as quite a number of persons came to the funeral. The burying took place about 5 o'clock, and such were the last scenes of our Dear departed Brother. There are now remaining of us four out of nine of our family, five of our brothers having departed. You & I, my brother, & our two Sisters remain only to tell about our dear parents & our own brothers that have gone. Very soon there will be none left to speak of any of us & so far as our family is concerned the story of there having lived such a people will not concern anyone for our generation will have passed away forever & where oh where shall we be.
I saw a friend of ours in Covington day before yesterday who spoke about our leaving this state of existence who said he was trying to arrange his affairs so as to have nothing to make him wish to stay here. I told him I very much feared I never would feel entirely reconciled to go. Now said he if we knew that all our children were well settled in England or any other country would we not want to go there & be with them. I told him yes. Well said he they will all soon be in a much better country & why should we not desire to be with them & all our other friends. I thought it a very fourcible argument. Brother Edmund was 87 years three months and six days old, a good old age certainly for this day & age. He had not been in a condition for a long time to enjoy much of life as you are aware. His health was poor & his hearing very bad indeed so bad as to make it quite straining to converse with him, & when in company he scarcely understood much that was going on. When you left here last fall he came & staid with me about a week which he was the last time he was here. And now my Dear Brother as there are but Four of us left & three of them in Ky, & cant go to you wont you come here & be with us. You know your friends here will all be not only glad be rejoiced to see you & have you in their midst. So do if you please come; write to me immediately on the receipt of this & let me know when we may expect you.
Betsy Haden is not now here. She left here four weeks ago for her Brother Thomas's & has not returned. I am expecting her every day. Sister Nancy is in East Bend & was well when I last heard from her. Thadeous Ryle & his wife were here the other day, & reported our friends there well except Sister Agnes & that she was better. Sister Polly was here the other evening at the burying. She was not very well. I think it is a time of health generally among the friends here, & sincerely hope you are all well. Napoleon requested me to state to you that in view of the unsettled State of affairs in your state he & Rebecca had declined their visit to you when they go to Iowa. Indeed I think Rebecca has given out going with him. They send you their love. You state that two of your negroes have left you. The same trouble has commenced with me. I had two drafted, Landy & Julius. I got Landy exempted on account of lameness, But Julius decided to go & is now in the Army. I insisted to buy him out & thought for a while he wished me to do it, for at first he seemed to be opposed to going, but he was persuaded & went. The friends here all send there love. Remember me to all your children & accept for yourself a brothers love.
May God bless you.
Leonard Stephens
Notes:
Edmund's son, Ezekiel Pickens Stephens (1819-1899). See below, 12 Jan 1865. Return.
The will and its codicils are in Kenton Wills 1: 347 ff. Return.
The followers of Thomas and Alexander Campbell, who had created quite a stir four decades earlier in their efforts to "reform" the divided sects of Christians and establish a true Christian church. Many former Baptists were members of what became the Disciples of Christ. The Stephens family was not unusual in having both Reformers and Baptists among its members. John Stephens and his wife, Frances, had donated the land on which the Florence Christian Church was built. See "History of Florence Christian Church" in [Florence] Northern Kentucky News, 12 Nov 1954, reprinting an article by Mrs. Elizabeth Goodridge Nestor. Return.
Mr Grauter not identified. None of the early pastors appear in Mrs. Nestor's list. Return.
Thomas N. Arnold (1828- —), after practicing law for a decade, followed his grandfather's calling and entered the ministry in 1856. He served as pastor of several Christian churches, including those of Covington, Frankfort and Louisville. A sketch of the busy preacher appears in Armstrong's Biographical Encyclopedia of Kentucky (Cincinnati: J. M. Armstrong, 1878), 105. Return.
Their niece, Elizabeth Waller Stephens (1804-1877), daughter of Waller Stephens (1780-1815) and Lucy Adams (1785?- —). Betsy married Jarvis Hayden (1795?-1852), and they lived in Boone County, Kentucky, before moving to Cass County, Missouri in the 1840s. Return.
Thomas Adams Stephens (1808?- —) lived in Petersburg, in northwestern Boone County. Return.
Thaddeus Constantine Sobieski Ryle (1826-1904) and his wife, America Nelson Stephens (1831-1893), were first cousins, grandchildren of Benjamin Stephens, Jr. Return.
Their grandmother, Agnes Nelson Stephens, Benjamin's widow, was 82. She died in 1865. Return.
Although Monroe County seems to have escaped the worst excesses, Missouri suffered vicious, internecine struggles, with political convictions often serving only as excuse to settle old scores. See Michael Fellman, Inside War: The Guerrilla Conflict in Missouri during the American Civil War (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989). Return.
Little more is known of Landy; he and his family remained at Beech Woods until February 1866. Julius did not do well in the Army. (See below, 12 Jan 1865.) The introduction of the draft for slaves and free blacks in 1864 was extremely unpopular among the white population of Kentucky, and was vigorously opposed, even by hitherto stoutly loyal Unionists. See Harrison, 89-91; Coulter, 189-214. According to a table published in the Cincinnati Daily Commercial, 8 Apr 1864, 2, the draft for that April called for a levy in Kenton County of 78 slaves and 23 "free colored" and in neighboring Boone County, with its much larger slave population, 257 slaves and 6 free. Return.
