JOSEPH STEBBINS
Was born June 14, 1850, in Petersburg, Virginia. He married July 24,
1872, Willie S. Fourqureau, of Halifax county, Virginia, the daughter
of Reuben D. and Mary B. Fourqureau. Their children are Joseph,
born November 5, 1874, and Laura May, born September 16, 1878.
When he was about a year old, Mr. Stebbins' parents removed to Richmond,
Virginia, where his boyhood was spent until he was fourteen
years of age. His first school was that of Miss Virginia Danforth. In
1859 he spent a session at the school at residence of Col. Thomas
Taylor in Goochland county, Virginia, later attended the classical
school of R. H. L. Tighe, in Richmond. As the war progressed, the
schools were broken up, and he had to go to work. He began as errand
boy in a store, and in 1864 came to Halifax county to take a position
in a country store at Black Walnut. In 1871 he was admitted to an
interest in the business, in 1872 removed to Turbeville, same county,
continuing the mercantile business, and in 1876 came to South Boston,
where he is now a member of the firm of Stebbins & Lawson, dealers in
general merchandise.
On his father's side, Mr. Stebbins is descended from an old Massachusetts
family, his lineage thus traced. Joseph Stebbins, born 1594,
sailed in the bark "Francis," from Ipswich, England, in 1634, with
wife and four children, one of the first settlers of Northampton, Massachusetts;
died December 14, 1671. i. John Stebbins, son of Rowland,
born 1626, married May 14, 1646, Mrs. Mary Munden; married
secondly, November 17, 1657, Abigail Bartlett, of Northampton; died
March 9, 1679. ii. John, son of John, born January 28, 1647, one of
the early settlers of Deerfield, Massachusetts, soldier under Captain
Lothrop, and the only man known to have come out unharmed from
the Bloody Brook massacre; had house burned and entire family
captured by Indians, February 29, 1704, married Dorothy Alexander,
of Boston; died December 19, 1724. iii. John, son of John ii., born
1685, married about 1714, Mary —, who died August 30, 1733,
married secondly August 25, 1735, Hannah Allen, captured by Indians
and redeemed 1704; died September 7, 1760. i. Joseph, son of John
iii., born October 20, 1718, selectman and in other town offices;
married Mary Stratton, of Northfield, who died July 7, 1797; he died
May 30, 1797. ii. Joseph, son of Joseph, born October 15, 1749,
second lieutenant in the company of minute men who marched on the
Lexington alarm, commissioned lieutenant in Capt. Hugh Maxwell's
company, May 26, 1775, was acting captain in Colonel Prescott's
regiment, at battle of Bunker Hill, commission as captain signed by
John Hancock, president of Continental Congress, July 5, 1775, served
through Revolutionary war, rising to rank of lieutenant-colonel,
married January 25, 1774, Lucy Frary, died December 15, 1816. iii.
Joseph, son of Joseph ii., born February 25, 1782, married December
3, 1805, Laura Hawks, who died November 26, 1825; he died August
18, 1827. iv. Joseph, son of Joseph iii., born May 12, 1811, removed
in 1837 to Petersburg, Virginia, married there, September 4, 1844,
Mary Elizabeth Grundy, about 1851 removed to Richmond. They
had six children, two of whom died in infancy. The remaining four
were named, Laura, Joseph (subject of this sketch), Henry and Arthur,
all of whom, except Joseph, who was then absent from home, together
with the parents, perished when their home was consumed by fire, on
February 21, 1865.
On his mother's side, Mr. Stebbins is descended from George Grundy
of Shipley Hall, Derbyshire, England, where he was born about 173-,
came to colonial Virginia, settling in Norfolk, married, about 176-,
Miss Sarah Lane, a noted belle of Edenton, North Carolina. His son
George, born in Norfolk, April 4, 1790, removed to Petersburg, there
married in July, 1815, Caroline Smith, one of the original members of
the "Petersburg Volunteers," a company commanded by Captain
McRae in the war of 1812, the heroic band that gave to Petersburg the
name of the "Cockade City," died at Petersburg, July 14, 1826. His
daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born in Petersburg, December 6, 1824,
married Joseph Stebbins, father of subject of this sketch, September 4,
1844, perished with him as above recorded.
