Texas Legislators: Past & Present

John D. Stephens

Full Name: John D. Stephens
Birth date: April 19, 1845
Death date: Deceased, date unknown

Terms of Service

Senate, 15th ⁽¹⁾ Legislature
4/18/1876 - 1/14/1879
Democrat
House, 14th Legislature
1/13/1874 - 4/18/1876
Democrat

(1) 15th Legislature - All Senators except District 7 listed in roll call as Senators elect, oath of office administered, 4/18/1876, p. 1; Drawing of Senatorial Terms, 4/27/1876, p. 98, drew "short term" (two years). Senate Journal . April 18, 1876
April 27, 1876

Biographical Notes and Resources

Photographs

Photograph. J.D. Stephens, State Preservation Board
Photograph. J.D. Stephens, State Preservation Board

Other Resources

Possibly John D. Stephens, birth date 4/19/1843 in Tennessee, death date 2/12/1898 in Matamoros, Mexico, burial in San Antonio. Residence in Sweetwater, Monroe County, Tennessee in 1860, and Comanche County, Texas, in 1880. Michael Connor Griffith and Sylvia Lynn Weise Family Tree. Ancestry.com .
J.D. Stephens, postoffice Comanche, Comanche County, lawyer, born circa 1845 in Tennessee, moved to Texas 1867, single, age 29. Directory of the Members and Officers of the Fourteenth Legislature of the State of Texas . . . 1874.
J.D. Stephens, tax assessments in Comanche County, 1873-1878 and 1880. Census of 1880 - John D. Stephens, Comanche, Comanche County, age 36, born circa 1844 in Tennessee, single, lawyer, boarder in household of Artie Lowery. FamilySearch . 1880 Texas, U.S. County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910
Possibly J.D. Stephens, birth date 4/19/1843, death date 2/12/1898, "The first manufacturer of cotton seed oil in the Republic of Mexico," burial in City Cemetery #4, San Antonio, Bexar County. Find a Grave .
Biographical sketch in "State Senators Elect: Personal Sketches Completed - Seventeen Lawyers, Seven Grangers, Two Doctors, One Editor and Four Colored Politicians - the Political Structure of the New Senate of Texas," 3/3/1876, p. 2. Galveston Daily News .
"Comanche: Grass Commissioner Stephens Addresses a Large Audience on the Land Question," Fort Worth Daily Gazette, 2/12/1886, p. 6. Hon. John D. Stephens "claimed to have been the first legislator to have drawn up a bill providing for the sale of the state school lands to actual settlers . . . "
"John D. Stephens, attorney at law . . . state senator from this district," mentioned in "Among Your Old Friends and Acquaintance of 40 Years Ago," The Comanche Vanguard, 7/7/1916, p. 1, crediting Comanche Public Library. Law office of Stephens & Armstrong with R.G. Armstrong. Uncle of Will and Jack Stephens. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries) . Comanche Fort Worth
Possibly J.D. Stephens of San Pedro, Coahuila, Mexico, death notice, 2/13/1898, p. 4. San Antonio Daily Express .
Biographical sketch, John D. Spephens [sic], pp. 39-41. Native of Tennessee, lawyer, admitted to the bar in 1868 in Columbus, Colorado County, moved to Comanche, Comanche County, in early 1872. Sketches of Legislators and State Officers, Fifteenth Legislature, 1876-1878 1876.
Confederate States Army. Sketches of Legislators and State Officers, Fifteenth Legislature, 1876-1878 1876.
John D. Stephens, Comanche County, p. 33. Born 4/19/1845 in Monroe County, Tennessee, "was a member of Fourteenth Legislature and is now State Senator." Texas Legal Directory for 1876-77 1877.
Biographical sketch, p. 238. Born 4/19/1845 in Tennessee. "When his legislative service was over, Stephens prospected in California and Mexico but came back to Texas, where 1886 found him occupied as grass commissioner . . . " The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889 1999.
Confederate States Army, 62nd Tennessee Regiment under Colonel J.A. Rowan. The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889 1999.