e-mail from [email protected] on 13 April 2019:
there are 2 men named Andrew Stephen in Paxton Township, Lancaster County in 1750. One is the supposed brother of Alexander Stephens with an "s", grandfather of Alexander H. Stephens. He was married to an Ann, no surname, according to his will in 1768, which was probated after he passed in 1770 in Paxton. He was born in 1726, according to Raymond Martin Bell. What I will refer to as my Andrew Stephen, was born in 1723 and died in 1798 in Greene (Washington) County, Pa. Unfortunately, he left no will and his son Alexander was appointed administrator as the oldest son. My Andrew is in Paxton as early as 1737 and in Perry County according to records, by 1767, when he petitions for a road to be built from his ferry landing to James Baskins ferry landing. My Andrew Stephen is known in publications as the Ferryman. He remained there on the Juniata River until 1789, when he moved his family to Greene County. There is never any mention of his wife. A lot of researchers have her as either Elizabeth or Catherine Baskins, daughters of James Baskins. This is incorrect. Elizabeth Baskins married Thomas McCoy and Catherine Baskins married Alexander Stephens, making her the grandmother of Alexander H. Stephens. Other researchers have my Andrew Stephen married to Elizabeth Baskins, daughter of Francis Baskins, James Baskins brother, who died in 1761. In my opinion this is not true, because Francis Baskins daughters would have been entirely too young to have married in 1762, when Bell estimates them being married. They had a daughter in 1763 named Margaret Stephen. Plus, I can not find any record of Francis Baskins having a daughter named Elizabeth.
