Stephens served as a
private in the
Continental Army for three years during the American Revolution. In February 1784, for payment for his service as an American Revolutionary soldier on the
Virginia line, twenty-nine-year-old Stephens accepted a 100,000-acre
land grant on the Ohio River in Kentucky (Nelson, Jefferson, and Breckinridge County). Over time, Stephens added more land to his estate. By 1799, with over 100,000 acres (about 150 square miles), including a large plantation eight miles south of
Hawesville, and a 2,000-acre tract of land that Stephensport was sitting on, and at least a dozen slaves, Stephens was the wealthiest landowner in Breckinridge County. Stephensport, plotted in 1803, was named in his honor. Stephens served in the
Kentucky House of Representatives in 1819, and in the
Kentucky Senate from 1823 to 1827. ==Death==