HARRIET V. STEPHENSON
“Aunt Jennie”
Henry C. Jeffers, Jr. alias Henry Duvall and
Harriet V. Stephenson
Written by her Grand Grand Grand Niece
BETTY TERRELL OWENS
January 2004
There is a lone grave in Rock Hill Cemetery between Brownsboro
and Chandler in Henderson County, Texas. Harriet V. STEPHENSON,
“Aunt Jennie” lies buried near her niece, Julia NOWLIN
and grandniece Mary Belle Nowlin TERRELL. Her gravestone says she
was born 1851, but this is wrong, she was born 20 Dec. 1848
(source: her Mother’s Bible) and she died February 1931.
(death certificate). She left no descendants.
Aunt Jennie had pulled her horse and wagon to a stop in front of
Gene and Mary Nowlin Terrell’s house in Henderson County,
Texas in the late 1920’s and announced that she was moving
in with them. And she did. And they didn’t know she was
arriving. (source: Thomas Terrell) It is unknown what all she had
in her wagon, but it held items still treasured by the family
today, plus a wealth of family stories that she brought with her.
Her journey had taken her from Wellsburg, Brooke County, West
Virginia where she was born, to Ohio where she lived with her
husband, then locations unknown, then to Bosque County, Texas
where she visited with her brother and his family, and then on to
Henderson County, Texas. Her brother’s daughter, Julia and
her husband, John Joseph Nowlin lived in Henderson County, as did
their daughter, Mary (all ancestors of the author).
Records found say Harriet married James Stephenson in Brook Co.
WVA on April 3, 1889. She would have been about 41 years old if
this is correct. She moved to Texas after all her siblings and
parents, except for her Texas brother, were deceased, and she was
a widow.
A prolific writer, she wrote numerous postcards to her young
grandniece, Mary, and probably many more to others over the
years. (source: Frances Terrell COTTEN) When she died, she left a
will naming Mary as her grandniece and left her possessions to
her and her husband, Gene Terrell. Among them was a ladies’
gold pocket watch made in the 1890’s, her parents’
family Bible printed in 1846, and an unusual bowl. (source: these
items were inherited by the author).
She had made her living after her husband’s death working as
a helper to a family. A nice picture exists of this family, but
their name is unknown.
Douglas Terrell said while Aunt Jennie was living with his
parents, Gene and Mary Terrell, an airplane that she admired was
flown to the airport in Tyler, and one could purchase rides on
the plane. Aunt Jennie insisted on being carried to the airfield,
and managed to fly in the airplane for a short ride. Because she
was so elderly, she got her picture in the Tyler newspaper,
riding in the airplane. Aunt Jennie thought this was fun, so
insisted the following week to repeat the adventure, and, after
that, had to be dissuaded from more visits to the airfield. She
must have been a determined and bold lady to still have this much
spirit at her age of about 80 years.
When Aunt Jennie got to Texas, she brought an astonishing fact
with her! Her brother had assumed the name of DUVALL, and
evidently had expected to carry this secret to his grave with him
and his immediate family. She told the East Texas family the
truth.
Harriet V. Stephenson was born to HENRY C. JEFFERS, Sr. and JULIA
DUVALL JEFFERS in Wellsburg, Brooke County, WVA. She had a
brother named Henry C. Jeffers, Jr. and he had changed his name
to Henry “Harry” Duvall. Her brother had served in the
WVA 1st and 2nd Infantry with the Union Army. After the war, he
married NANCY MCADAMS on 31 August 1869 and they made their home
in St. Louis, Missouri. He made his living working on steamboats
on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
Julia Duvall was the daughter of GABRIEL DUVALL and NANCY
MARSHALL DUVALL. (source: Mareen Duvall of Middle Plantation by
Harry Wright Newman, page 506).
Robert Nowlin, her grand nephew, related this story to the
author, as Aunt Jennie had told him:
One day in the 1870’s, Henry C. Jeffers, Jr. was walking on
a board walk built above the mud in St. Louis, and a loose board
was sticking up. It caused a collision between Jeffers and a
black man, resulting in Jeffers being knocked off in the mud. A
fight began, and the other man was killed.
Henry C. Jeffers, Jr. hid in the attic when the law came for him,
and fearing the consequences, moved with his wife and children to
Bosque County, Texas. His occupation is listed as “herding
sheep” on the 1880 census of that county. Until the end of
her days, the story was told, that when the author’s great
great grandmother, Nancy, would get angry with him, she would
threaten to “call the law” and turn him in.
Henry dropped the Jeffers, Jr. and took his mother’s maiden
name of Duvall as his last name. He is buried in Smith Bend Coon
Creek Cemetery in Bosque County, Texas under the name, H. Duvall.
His Texas descendants became Duvalls, where they flourish today.
Aunt Jennie told the family who her brother really was, and about
the family in Brooke
County. Her grandfather, Gabriel Duvall worked with his brother,
Isaac Duvall who had founded the first glass factory west of the
Allegheny Mountains in 1813 in Wellsburg, Brooke Co. WVA. Gabriel
Duvall was named after his uncle, Gabriel Duvall, a Justice on
the United States Supreme Court under Chief Justice John
Marshall.
The bowl she brought to Texas was made there before the factory
closed about 1830.
Douglas Terrell said the bowl was one of a set of eight, that
when chimed, rang the notes of a musical scale. Duvall
descendants own the other seven bowls of the set. The Bible she
left has Jeffers family records from 1819.
These facts were essential to the author who needed proof of
Henry’s name change to establish her lineage. The Bible,
along with Aunt Jennie’s will in Henderson County, Texas
supplied the needed proofs.
Aunt Jennie must have been a strong individual. As she was born
in 1848, the Civil War came at a critical time in her
development. The author has often wondered if she lost a
sweetheart in the War. She saw the death of many of her family
members before she married at the age of 41 years. She managed to
move to Texas late in her life, and find a new home. The author
admires and is thankful to Aunt Jennie, who died a decade before
the author was born. Because of her, the family’s rich
heritage in Colonial America is known, and proof exists to link
with the immigrant families of DUVALL, CHENEY, IJAMS, TYLER,
GRIFFITHS, SCOTT, and AGNEW to name just a few.
Because of Aunt Jennie’s legacies,
Betty Terrell Owens lineage through Mary Belle Nowlin Terrell’s
mother has been proved for membership in the Daughters of the
American Revolution for BENJAMIN DUVALL 3RD Patriot from
Maryland.
Betty Terrell Owens has proved her lineage to MAREEN DUVALL,
Colony of Maryland for membership in the Colonial Dames of the
Seventeenth Century.
For Mary Belle Nowlin Terrell’s father, John Joseph Nowlin,
Betty Terrell Owens has proved his lineage for Daughters of the
American Revolution for:
BRYAN WARD NOWLIN, Patriot, Virginia
EDWARD WADE, SR. Patriot, Virginia
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