(Adopted?) Son of William Stephens, b abt 1775 in Russell County, Virginia, married Elizabeth Duncan, died Sept 15, 1817 in Campbell County, Kentucky.
. Samuel Stephens, progenitor of the Big Sandy branch of the family,emerges to history on the Floyd County, Kentucky, records when he married Florence Patton, July 26, 1821. All the children of Samuel and Florence Patton Stephens lived to adulthood which was unusual indeed for, in the semi-wilderness of early Floyd County, the hazards of life and the lack of proper medical care lessened the survival rate. The order of birth of the Stephens children cannot be given. We know that Jenny, daughter of Florence, was born about 1818, possibly 1819. She was reared by Samuel and Florence, took their name, and reaching maturity, married John Stone, October 29, 1837. Her husband, while at work on Turkey Creek, cut his leg with an axe. He bled to death. Jenny, now a widow with five children, remarried Andrew J. Canady, bore him four children. Descendants of this laterunion now bear the name Kennedy.

Rebecca Stephens, one of the older daughters of Samuel and Florence, married George W. (Hopkins) Allen, April 28, 1840. They had sixteen children.

George W. Stephens, one of the older sons, married Margaret Handshoe, July 24, 1844. He settled on the Caney Fork of Middle Creek and reared ten children and died about 1900.

William D. Stephens married Rebecca Bradley, November 3, 1857, and were the parents of eleven children. Reuben Stephens married Nancy Jane Hicks, April 21, 1859, and continuing the tradition of large families in the Stephens sept, had twelve children.

It is not known to whom Alexander Stephens was married. He, contrary to the dominant southern feeling of his kinsmen, joined the Union army in either Ohio or Illinois, served through the Civil War as an officer. He came back to Stephens Branch after the war was over, willing to forget the differences with his people. But his
brothers were a bit embittered by the war, and Alexander left for the west. It was rumored that he died in the Chicago fire in 1871, but this fear proved groundless. Decades later a son came back to Kentucky from Oklahoma to inquire about the division of the estate of his grandfather but finding no provision had been made for Alexander, returned to Oklahoma. Knowledge of this family does not exist with the Big Sandy Stephens descendants.

First to marry after the Civil War from the patriarchal home of Samuel Stephens was Mary. October 11, 1865, she was married to David Osborne. To this union were born eight children. Samuel A. Stephens married an Osborne also, presumably a sister to David. Samuel A. and Sarah Osborne were united in marriage, October 10, 1866, and to them were born fourteen children.

John Stephens, born 1836, was never married. He was lured
westward by the news of the California gold rush and did not return until about 1907 or 1908 Source:www.rootsweb.com/~kyfloyd/floyd.htm