George R[oss]. STEPHENS, owner and editor of the Ringgold County Record, was born in Paulding County, Ohio, December 21, 1853. He came with his parents to Iowa in 1858, settling in Linn County, and moved from there to Wapello County. His father died in 1864, having seen hard serive at the front for "Uncle Sam." The subject of our sketch, therefore, got an early acquaintance with the stern realities of life. He spent about seven years working for farmers in his neighborhood, and securing a common-school education after which he taught school about four years.

In 1873 he came to Ringgold County. in 1876 he purchased a half interest in the Ringgold Record, the Republican newspaper of the county. In about a year his partner expressed a willingness to buy or sell. Mr. STEPHENS concluded to buy. He has remained in this business ever since.

He started without a dollar, and has made his way entirely unaided. He has evinced that kind of perserverance that never fails to win success. The Record, under his administration, has grown from a poorly-printed little sheet, with a very poor outfit indeed, to the dignity of a fine-looking paper, occupying a two-story brick building of its own.

Mr. STEPHENS was married in Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1876, to Miss Adelia MORSE, and they have one child.

NOTE: Adelia Caroline (MORSE) STEPHENS was born in 1854 in Connecticut, the daughter of Horatio MORSE (? - ca. 1853) and Marinda (SMITH) MORSE (1835-1887). Adelia's mother Marinda was orphaned when she was around the age of twelve. After her marriage September 13, 1852 in Litchfield Connecticut to Horatio MORSE, the couple went to California, crossing the plains with an ox team. They lived in California approximately a year when Horatio drowned in the American River near Sacramento. Widowed and pregnant, Marinda returned to the East, taking a steamer from San Francisco, sailing to Panama, taking a train to the port of Aspinwall, and then sailing to New York. Once arriving in New York, Marinda joined her in-laws where Adelia, her only child, was born. Marinda married second to John W. JUDSON. They came to Ringgold Couty, Iowa, in 1863. Marinda died December 7, 1887, in Ringgold County.

SOURCES:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 368-71, 1887.

WPA Graves Survey

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2009

Biographical Sketches Pages Index: A - F,   G - L,   M - R,  S - Z