Checking Off the List: Texas First Families

I interrupt my previously scheduled blog post about Edward Baker's migration, to bring good news! We'll get back to Edward next week.

 

In 2021, I proved my husband Jim's biological link to Texas pioneer James Stephen using DNA evidence, which was accepted into the Texas State Genealogical Society's (TxSGS) Early Texans DNA Project. (I wrote about that project in Deep in the DNA of Texas.) 

I finally checked off the other half of that project, which is having that same line accepted for the Texas First Families lineage society, also sponsored by TxSGS; we got the certificate in the mail yesterday. Hurrah!

To qualify for the certificate, Texas First Family applicants must prove direct or collateral descent from an ancestor who settled in Texas or served the Republic of Texas before February 19, 1846. In fact, Jim's ancestors James and Mary Stephen—whose sons would be instrumental in the founding of Stephenville, Texas—first entered Coahuila y Tejas in June 1825. Stephen eventually received a Mexican land grant in 1831, located in present-day Washington County.¹

It is gratifying to be able to prove all the generations between James and Mary Stephen and Husband Jim, and also to learn a little bit about their place in Texas history along the way. Jim's Stephen line will hopefully be documented in a future volume of Texas First Families, published by TxSGS.

The Stephens joins other pioneering couples in Jim's ancestral past; he has proven pioneers in Oklahoma's Twin Territories, and several who qualify as such in Kansas and Ohio as well. He is also descended from Mayflower passenger Isaac Allerton, and Susannah North Martin, accused of witchcraft in Salem's witch trials and hanged. Our daughter was accepted into the Associated Daughters of Early American Witches, by virtue of descent from Susannah.²

Below is Jim's documented line from James and Mary Stephen: 

James Stephen (1795-1857) m. Mary (possibly Rogers) (1796-1859)

 + William Franklin Stephen (1829-1910) m. Mary Carolyn Howard (1835-1921)

  ++ James Howard Stephen (1853-1934) m. Elizabeth Kite (1854-1901)

   +++ William Roy Stephen (1886-1971) m. Dessie Stallings (1890-1966)

    ++++ Mary Ollie Stephen (1918-1982) + ___ Shelton (NPE - Not Paternity Expected)

     +++++ Dessie Evans (1940-2016) m. ___ Casey (1940- )

      ++++++ James Dale Casey (1963- ) m. Nancy Lee Gilbride (1961-  )

Until next time...

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A Researcher's Aside

Preparing lineage society applications is a terrific way to spot the holes in your research, and to prove that you've completely documented ancestral relationships. Besides that, submitting lineage applications could be a natural outgrowth of work you are already doing. If you can prove births, marriages, and deaths, along with parent-child relationships—and follow directions—you can probably find a lineage society to join as one research reward. 

There is a great variety of lineage societies, too numerous to list here. To find a lineage society that's right for you and your ancestors, check out Cyndi's List Socities & Groups - Lineage Societies or Wikipedia's List of Heriditary and Lineage Organizations. Good luck!

 

IMAGE: Texas First Families certificate #6497, James Dale Casey, descendant of James and Mary Stephen, issued October 2023, private collection of author, Tioga, Texas, 2023. 

NOTES

¹ El Estado de Coahuila y Tejas, "Sello Tercero: Dos Reales," James Stephens, 8 March 1831, one league of land; images and translation provided by Texas General Land Office, Austin, Texas, 12 May 2021.

² General Society of Mayflower Descendants certificate (GMSD #98024; Texas #3858), issued 28 July 2020, James Dale Casey, descendant of Isaac Allerton, private collection of J Casey, Tioga, Texas, 2023. Also: Associated Daughters of Early American Witches certificate #1069, issued 7 May 2021, Anne Katherine Casey, descendant of Susannah North Martin, private collection of A. Casey, Broomfield, Colorado, 2023.