JOHN P. STEPHENS, farmer, post office, New Berlin, was born in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, October 14, 1842; son of George W. and Martha (Patterson) Stephens. The family consisted of seven children, four sons and three daughters. In 1848, his parents emigrated to Exeter, Scott county, Illinois, where they remained until the fall of 1875, when his mother died; they then came to this county. In August, 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served three years. Participated in the battles of Shiloh, Pittsburg Landing, siege of Corinth, Vicksburg and at Jackson, Mississippi. After the war he returned to Scott county, where he followed farming. November 3, 1864, he married Miss Eliza Anderson, of Morgan county, Illinois, where she was born in April, 1843. They have had six children, five of who are living: Laura B., Mary A., Ava L., Charles and Nellie. Mrs. Stephens died June 22, 1879, in this county. February 18, 1881, Mr. S. married Mrs. Harbour, widow of Levi Harbour who was among the early settlers of Sangamon county. She was the daughter of Robert and Sarah Young, natives of Kentucky. Robert Young married Miss Elizabeth Breeding, in 1818, by whom he had three children: John, Jane and Louisa. John died while on his way home from the Mexican War; Mrs. Young died in 1825. For his second wife, Robert married Miss Sarah Vigus, in 1828; she was born in Kentucky in 1808. They had nine children, seven of whom are living, viz: Joan, Sarah, Nathan M., William A., George W., Robert G., and Viola. In 1830, Mr. Young left Kentucky for Illinois, coming through with a team, Mrs. Young riding on horse back on a pack and carrying her infant. They camped out on the prairies and did their cooking by camp fires. He located in what is now Scott county, near Winchester, where they remained one year, then went to Greene county, where Mrs. Young remained. Mr. Y. went to the Black Hawk War; was on the battlefield with General Stillman, and helped to bury the dead. After the war he returned to Greene county, and in the fall of 1832 to Kentucky, on account of sickness in that county. He remained until 1853, when he thought he would again try his fortune in Illinois. He remained until his death, which occurred in Logan county, in 1876. Mrs. Stephens owns one hundred and eight-seven acres of land under a good state of cultivation, valued at $55 per acre.