Following is one of the Biographies and Stories which where gathered by Charles Sumner McKamy in the 1950s for publication in a Crawford County History Book. Unfortunately he passed away before the book was published.
Dr. Lewis E. Stephens was born in old Lowden County, near Winchester, Virginia, September 8, 1845, his father being John Henry Stephens, a Dentist Surgeon of considerable prominence, who, with his family, came to Crawford County, Illinois in 1851. The family moved to Robinson in 1869 where John Henry established a Dentist Office on North Cross Street.
He was the father of six sons and a daughter; four of the sons following the father in the practice of dentistry. Dr. J.H. Stephens was killed in an accident when driving a team of horses in 1877 which was considered an untimely death, he having established a fine practice and leaving a family of young children.
Lewis E. Stephens was the oldest child in this family. As a youth, he worked on a farm. Later on he had the advantage of a two year course at Wheatfield College, and after working with his father in his dental office, he began the practice of dentistry at the age of twenty-four, as a partner with his father, thus establishing an office that has endured until the present day which is now carried on by his son, Dr. Earl G. Stephens. He perfected the suction plate, which was used generally by others in his profession. He retired in 1906, his sons Arthur G., John Murray and Earl G. succeeding him in the business.
Lewis E. Stephens and Mary Goode Trimble were married July 20, 1873. She was the daughter of Judge James B. Trimble, who was noted for his service as Judge of Crawford County, being the first elected Judge. She was a successful and popular teacher. Her maternal grandfather was John Dunlap, the first Surveyor of Crawford County. Two of her great grandfathers, Capt. James Trimble and Lieut, John Dunlap, were officers in the Revolutionary War.
Mrs. Stephens was an active member in the Robinson Christian Church and W.C.T.U. She lived to see some of the fruits of her labors by the adoption of the 18th amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
Lewis E. and Mary G. were the parents of seven sons and two daughters, Arthur G., Franklin A., John Murray, Earl G., Fred E., (twins) Charles and Roger Lewis, Mabel and Hazel.
L.E. Stephens was elected President of the Crawford County Agricultural Society in 1881, 1882 and 1883, one of the objects provided by the Constitution of the By-laws that they organize a County Fair Board holding Fairs annually, and he was very active in this organization, particularly in exhibiting fine harness horses and sheep. After his retirement, he entered extensively into the business of importing high grade livestock with his sons, Frank and Earl, making annual trips to Canada, making a specialty of heavy draft horses, shropshire sheep and Holstein cattle, being the first to introduce these breeds to Crawford County.
Fraternally, he belongs to the Knights of Honor, the F.M.B.A., and was a charter member of Camp No. 463 of the Modern Woodmen of America. He helped to organize two Oil Companies, the Crown and the Canadian; he was a member of the Christian Church, having been baptized in the Wabash River at Hutsonville in his young manhood and being a member of the Church at Hutsonville, later transferring his membership to the First Christian Church of Robinson in 1905; and was a member of the Building Committee that built the present Church edifice.
Besides educating his own family, he sent four brothers through college and helped several young men to obtain an education in dentistry; he was known as a genial, hospitable man, making friends easily, and never gave a deaf ear to the needy, often depriving his own family of luxuries to help some unfortunate one.
Dr. L.E. Stephens passed away May 28, 1922 and his wife, Mary Goode Stephens, on October 10, 1919.