HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG0769.AM: Stephens Family
Letters: 1860 and 1943
Rockville and Loup City, Sherman County, Nebraska: Pioneer settlers
Size: Two items
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Lamont Lavern Stephens, son of William Harrison and Anna Martha Stephens, was born on December 8, 1887, on the Stephens family homestead near Rockville, Sherman County, Nebraska. The Stephens family had moved from Winnebago County, Illinois to Sherman County in 1872.
After graduating from Kearney Normal College and the University of Nebraska Law School (1914), Lamont L. Stephens began his law practice in Loup City. In 1915, he was married to Elizabeth Lucretia Warren of Butler County, Nebraska. A daughter, Jennie Ruth, was born in 1918 and a son, Norman Edmund, was born in 1920. Lamont L. Stephens practiced law in Loup City until his death in 1952.
Norman E. Stephens attended Loup City High School, Cornell College (Iowa), and Harvard Law School. His studies at Harvard were interrupted by the war. As a naval officer during World War II, Stephens saw action in North Africa and in the Mediterranean. After the war and the completion of his education, Norman returned to Loup City where, on January 1, 1949, he joined his father in a law practice.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection consists of two letters dating from 1860 and 1943. The letter of 1943, in transcript form, was written by Lamont L. Stephens in the form of a reminiscence. Sent to his son, Norman, Stephens explains the motivations and the emotions felt by pioneers who set out to tame the western wilderness and to seek a new home. Stephens also describes life on the family homestead near Rockville, Sherman County, Nebraska and the personalities of his parents, William Harrison and Anna Martha Stephens. The 1860 letter was written by George Stephens to his brother William. Written from Camp Creek, eight miles south of Nebraska City, the letter discusses a trip George made, probably in 1859, for the purpose of supplying the garrison at Camp Floyd, near Salt Lake City, Utah. George describes the condition of the trail through Nebraska, including the width and depth of the rivers and creeks crossed, the number of buffalo seen, and the availability of wood and grass. A typescript of this letter is also included. Biographical information on members of the Stephens family is provided by Norman E. Stephens.
INVENTORY
Letters, 1860 and 1943; biographical information on Stephens family included
Subject headings:
Frontier and pioneer life — Nebraska
Homestead Law — Nebraska
Oregon Trail
Overland Journeys to the Pacific
Rockville (Nebraska) — History
Sherman County (Nebraska) — History
Stephens, Anna Martha (Thoresen), 1852-1933
Stephens, George, 1840-1862
Stephens, Lamont Lavern, 1887-1952
Stephens, William Harrison, 1841-1908
Revised TMM 12-27-2006
