RHEA-L Archives

From: "Robert P. Rhea" <>
Subject: [RHEA] Wives of Col. Jehu Stephens
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 13:53:38 -0500

Polly Dixon & List,

In a post to RHEA-L by Polly Dixon dated Sept, 22, 2003, she stated that
"The name of Col. Stephens' wife has not been established, but may have
been Bethia/Bethiah//Bilkiah Shaw.

It is well documented that Mary Stephens, a daughter of Col. Jehu
Stephens, married Robert Reagh/Rhea, Jr., the son of Robert Sr. & Sarah
(Bingham) Reagh/Rhea. Who was the mother of Mary Stephens? In the
Draper Manuscripts, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, #30S, Pages
79-81, we read that "Col. John Montgomery...married Phebe, a daughter
of Josiah Ramsey of Reed Creek in now Wythe Co. [VA]...Col. Jac. [Jehu]
Stephens married for his first wife a Ramsey, a sister to Mrs. Col. John
Montgomery." His second wife was named Bethea (or a variant spelling).

In Josiah Ramsey's will, Wythe Co., VA, Will Book 2, page 12, he wrote,
"I give and bequeath to my grand Daughter Sally Rich one Dollar which is
all I intended to give to my Daughter Sarah Stephens deceased...I give
and bequeath to my daughter Phebe Montgomery one Dollar." The will was
written May 21, 1805, and proved on August 13, 1811. Thus it appears
that his first wife was Sarah Ramsey, and that she had at least one
child, Sally.

The question remains: was Sarah also the mother of Mary and a brother,
Jehu, Jr.? Mary Stephens married Robert Reagh/Rhea on Jan. 25, 1787,
placing her birth about 1766-70. According to the Draper Manuscripts,
Jehu, Jr., was engaged in the Revolutionary War in1781, which would make
him the older of the two. One reference places his birth in 1761.

Robert Perry Rhea

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• [RHEA] Wives of Col. Jehu Stephens by "Robert P. Rhea" <>