Francis Stephan – A Teen Presumed Drowned – 52 Ancestors #12

Entry #12

This week’s entry will be short – it is a brief and tragic tale without a lot of detail. The little bit that I know comes from the story that has been passed down through several generations. To date, I have found only two records for Francis Stephan, my great-grandmother’s brother; the 1850 and 1860 U.S. censuses show conflicting information for him. He may have been born in Germany, but it is more likely that he was born in Ohio or Kentucky between 1848 and 1849. His parents were Anton “Anthony” Stephan and Catharine Helfrich. The emigrated from Bavaria (possibly from the Pirmasens area) to Mason County, Kentucky, sometime before 1850, in time to be enumerated in the 1850 census. By 1860, they had relocated across the Ohio River to Brown County, Ohio. My great-grandmother’s death record indicates that she was born in Arnheim, Ripley, Ohio, in 1856.

1850 Census, Maysville, Kentucky

1860 Census, Brown County, Ohio

The Stephan family consisted of four daughters, Catherine, Elizabeth, Mary and Julia, and one son, Francis. Anthony farmed the land and it must have been a bit of a hardship to have only one son to help him.

I am not sure when tragedy struck, but it was after 1860. Family lore says that Francis disappeared sometime in his teens. No one knew what became of him, but he was presumed drowned in the Ohio River. His body was never found. My aunt said that the Stephan family never recovered from the loss. My great-grandmother apparently did not speak of her family much, but the loss of the only male child must have been devastating to a farming family. At any rate, Anthony died May 2, 1871 at the age of 60. The rest of the family seems to have dispersed to Cincinnati and Mason County, Kentucky.

I have often wondered if Francis really drowned, or if he met some other fate. There is also the possibility that he ran away. Could he have assumed a different identity in a new location? I keep looking for a possible DNA connection to someone who may be descended from Francis, but so far, it seems that is a remote possibility. It must have been heartbreaking to the family to never have resolved what happened.

There are no known photos of Francis Stephan.