A recent Memorial Day weekend trip to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia (at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers) to do some sightseeing and cycling along the C & O Canal Trail led to some unexpected information. We stopped in Harper's Ferry and unloaded the bicycles from the car and picked up the town brochure (one of those brochures you get for the map, never fully intending to read the whole thing) from the park ranger. While taking a break from our cycling, and eating our lunch, I took the time to actually read the rest of the brochure, and to my amazement (and groans from my wife) I discovered the following statement in the Civil War section: "Harper's Ferry was still a relatively young town, although its origins could be traced to 1733, when a Pennsylvania Dutchman named Peter Stephens settled here and began a ferry boat service. In 1747, Robert Harper, a Philadelphia millwright and the man for whom the town is named, bought out Stephens, improved the fer! ry operation, and built a gristmill on Virginius Island." Is this the same Peter Stephens. who found the town of Stephensburg (now Stephen City) 40 miles southwest of Harper's Ferry? I believe so. The following is somthing I've put together for my family from a number of sources online and in other family trees. I don't have all the documentation, nor did I do all of the research. Our Stephens Family ancestry begins in Germany with Peter Stephens, who probably immigrated to America with the Hite Family, settling in New York before migrating south to Pennsylvania and finally Virginia. Peter Stephens Sr. was born in 1690 in probably Heidelberg, Germany. Peter's naturalization oath read that he was a native of Heidelburg, Germany. His parents names are not known. One hypothesis gives indication that Peter Stephens could be the son of Gabriel Stephan. In 1701 at Steinsfurt Reform Church, Christian Neuschwany , son of Peter Neuschwany, married Anna Magdelena, daughter of Gabriel Stephens. Speculation is that Gabriel may have been the father of Peter Stephans. There is little known about his early history or the exact date he came to America, but since he seems to be so closely identified with Jost Hite, it is presumed that he may have come to this country with Hite, settling, first, in Rockland County, New York, later coming down through New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the Valley of the Shenandoah River in Virginia with Hite and others about the year 1732. When Peter Stephens arrived in the Shenandoah Valley with Jost Hite's colony of 16 families, there were no settlements except along the seaboard. This little colony comprised the first white men to settle west of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. They were opening the new frontier in America. Peter was married on 17 November 1712 in Philadelpha Pennsylvania to Maria Christina Rittenhouse, born in 1695 in Germantown in Philadelphia, and is the daughter of Nicolas Rittinghousen and Wilhelmina DeWees. Family legend, only, says Peter's wife was Maria Christina Rittenhouse. It is believed this Rittenhouse identification comes from a book by Dan V. Stephens, Peter Stephens and Some of His Descendants, 1690-1935." This was only family tradition and without documentation. That she was a Rittenhouse is in question because Lewis Stephens, the eldest son of Peter Stephens absolutely married Maria Rittenhouse and this marriage is documented in her father's will. Peter and Maria had seven children Lewis, Margaret, Lawrence, Maria Christina, Mary Magdalena, Henry and Peter. There is a tradition in the family that Peter had a previous marriage and that his eldest son, Lewis, was a child of this union. Peter Stephens first settled at the head of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, when in 1733, he settled at the confluence of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers, where he set up and operated a ferry boat service. He sold this land and ferry in 1747 to Robert Harper, who renamed the area Harper's Ferry, in what is now West Virginia. Harper's Ferry, of course, became famous because of the Abolitionist John Brown. He headed further south into the Shenandoah Valley to land he already owned and founded the town of Stephensburg. Jost Hite settled in Opequon while Peter traveled a few miles further south and settled on Crooked Run, near which he founded the town of Stephensburg now Stephens City. On 3 October 1734, he received a patent from Jost Hite for 674 acres of land adjoining Hite (the same recorded in Orange Co.) and on 10 November 1752, he secured 572 acres adjoining his own patent. In 1743 the county of Frederick was formed from Orange. Peter died in 1757 in Frederick County, leaving his large estate to his wife his four sons and three daughters. His Will dated 28 February 1856, was probated 28 April 1757 in Frederick County. Maria died in 1758. Peter Stephens Jr. was born between 1726 and 1735 in Frederick County. He is the son of Peter Stephens Sr. and Maria Christina Rittenhouse. Peter was married to Anna Maria Chrisman in 1754 in Frederick County. She was born on 29 September 1735 in Orange County, Virginia and is the daughter of Jacob Chrisman and Magdalena Hite. Peter and Anna Maria had nine children Jonathan, Lawrence, Jacob, Joseph, Kazia, David, Mary, Levinia, and Isaac. Peter Stephens Sr. sold 198 acres of land to Peter Jr. in 1753, but Peter Sr. purchased back Peter Jr.'s land in 1754 and sold it then to Peter's brother Lewis in 1755. In 1762, Peter Jr. purchased 206 acres on south branch of North River Capacon. He and his wife Mary, sold this tract in 1765. About the year 1767, he moved from Frederick to Botetourt (now Montgomery) County, Virginia. In 1768 he purchased 185 acres on Duck Run, a branch of Cedar Creek but sold it a few months later. Peter Stephens, Jr. served in the Revolutionary War as a sergeant in the Virginia troops under Lieut. Charles Stockley. He is listed in the 1810 Census for Christiansburg, Montgomery County, Virginia and is shown as over age 45, with two females in the home - one age 16-26, and the other under age 10. Peter died in 1812 in Montgomery County. Isaac Stephens was born in December 1760 in Winchester in Frederick County, Virginia. He is the son of Peter Stephens Jr. and Anna Maria Chrisman. Isaac Stephens filed for a Revolutionary War pension on 27 August 1832 in Wayne County, Kentucky. In his application, he stated that he enlisted in the fall of the year 1780 in Montgomery County in the State of Virginia and served twenty months in Captain Bentley's and Captain Barbary's Companies, in the Regiment Commanded by Colonel Haws. He states that they marched to Chesterfield Courthouse, then on to North Carolina and was at the Battles of Guilford and Camden, where he had a brother killed. Isaac was married on 16 December 1782 in New River in Montgomery County to Rebecca Havens, born on 19 October 1765 in Augusta County, Virginia. Isaac and Rebecca had nine children Isaac, Rhoda, Elizabeth, James, William, Nancy, Rebecca, Zilpha and Gordon, all born in Montgomery County. Moved to Wayne County, Kentucky from Montgomery County, Virginia in 1799. He is listed in the 1820 Census for Wayne County as age over 45, his wife age over 45, and one child age 10-16. He is next found in the 1830 Census for Wayne County and is shown as age 60-70, with his wife age 60-70. No children are listed in the home. Isaac died on 28 June 1833 in Wythe County, Virginia. Rebeca Stephens is listed in the 1840 Census for Wayne County as age 70-80. Rebecca died on 29 June 1843 in Wayne County. Nancy Stephens was born about 1794 in Montgomery County, Virginia. She is the daughter of Isaac Stephens and Rebecca Havens. She was married on 10 February 1814 in Wayne County, Kentucky to John Anderson, born about 1790 in Virginia. They had twn children: John, Mary Polly, Nancy, William, Elizabeth, and two sons and two daughters whose names are not known. Cheers, Michael Kent Island, Maryland