James B. Stephens - Early Life

Early Life

James Stephens was born on November 9, 1806, in Brooke County, Virginia (later West Virginia) to Emmor Stephens. When he was eight, his family moved to a farm in the Indiana Territory. He learned the cooper trade, and practiced for several years in Indiana and in Cincinnati, Ohio. James married Elizabeth Walker in 1830 while living in Kentucky. They would have seven children, of whom they would outlive all but one. He established a farm and a grocery store before moving to the Oregon Country in 1844, where he settled near what is now Portland, Oregon.

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