JAMES STEPHENSON I, was born in 1721 in Belfast, Ireland. He was fully six feet tall and a man of the finest form. His early life was spent in the English Navy. When he came to America he settled on the eastern shore of Maryland where in 1755 he married SARAH (SALLY) KELLY, an Irish lady, and between 1755 and 1760 they moved to North Carolina, and settled in the upper valley of the South Yadkin where he entered 640 acres of land, the full amount allowed by the government. He invested most of his money in negroes, who were at that time brought into this country by Northern men, for sale. He died in 1820 aged 99 years, 9 months. His body was interred in old Vashti Cemetery in Iredell County, North Carolina. His wife died a few months later. They had eight children together, six daughters and two sons.

JAMES STEPHENSON II, was the second son, William was the youngest child. They were both large and portly men. James married JANE STEVENSON who lived near where Statesville, North Carolina stands today. She died in 1814 and he died in 1828. Their bodies being interred in the family cemetery located on the old Stephenson-Stevenson homestead near Vashti, North Carolina. Her mother's maiden name was THOMPSON. Little is known about the family except that they moved to Georgia soon after the Revolutionary War.