FRANKLIN MONROE STEPHENS Father of Mary Margaret Stephens (m. Cyrus S. Eaton, Jr.) Grandfather of Cyrus, John, Cathy, & Elizabeth Eaton Great-grandfather of Colin Eaton Murphy and Devon Eaton Murphy Nathaniel, Charlie, Christopher, Matt, and Sarah Eaton, Shantin and Isaiah Thigpen
BIRTH and PRESCOTT ARIZONA, Frank Monroe Stephens (nickname Steve) was born on July 27, 1886, in Prescott, Arizona, to Josiah Quincy Stephens (March 31, 1841 in Fremont, Ohio, to February 14, 1924 in Los Angeles, California) and Catherine Sawyers (August 8 or 27, 1848 in New Orleans to February 11, 1928 in Los Angeles, California). His parents met in Roseburg, Oregon, which became a state on February 14, 1859 five years before they married. They were married on August 9, 1864 in Scottsboro, Oregon, in the home of Andrew and Fannie Sawyer, the parents of his wife Catherine. The Civil War did not end until June 2, 1865.
SIBLINGS and LIVING ON A CATTLE RANCH Frank was the youngest child. His older siblings were Joseph Henry Stephens (Feb 17, 1866 to August 15, 1948), Augusta Linnetta Stephens (1867 to July 22, 1922), Catherine Amelia Stephens (September 27, 1869 to July 21, 1880), Edgar William Stephens (December 27, 1871 to May 3, 1943), and Thomas Andrew Stephens (1875 to May 3, 1943 in Los Angeles). Frank was born eleven years after the second youngest child. Thomas was born in Nevada, after the family moved to Prescott, Arizona. Josiah, the eldest son, and Joe drove “160 head of fine horses and mules from Oregon to Prescott.” The year Frank was born, his father Josiah registered to vote in Yanipai, Arizona. They lived on a cattle ranch. Early photos of Frank show him riding a horse and perched atop a wagon. The family invested the money earned from the sales of their horses and mules into buying cattle ranches, and eventually they owned thousands of head of cattle.
LOS ANGELES, HIGH SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY Later, Frank Stephens moved to Los Angeles with his parents, leaving his eldest brother Joe, a successful rancher, in Prescott, Arizona. Much of brother Joe Stephens’ money was spent on his son’s murder trial. Bud Stephens murdered his mother’s lover, Robert J. Miller in 1918. The trial was sensational; first Harry (Bud) Stephens was found guilty, and in a second trial, he was acquitted. Bud was Frank’s first cousin. Frank attended high school in Los Angeles. With the financial help of his sister Kat’s husband Charles O’Malley, Frank attended the University of California at Berkeley where he studied electrical engineering. He was the first in his family to attend college. In April 1914, Frank wrote his dad telling them if they ever needed assistance he would help any way possible. He wrote, “I haven’t forgotten Dad, how mama saved what little you two had and gave me nearly the last cent to send me through college.” His father died on Valentine’s Day on February 14, 1924. Frank sent his mother a check each month. She died four years after her husband on February 11, 1928 in Los Angeles at seventy-nine.
SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE On April 21, 1906, Frank as a cadet in the reserves was in San Francisco and wrote his family three days after the disastrous 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated the city. Over 3000 people died, and over 80 percent of the city was destroyed. Frank wrote in a letter to his parents, “This is the worst thing anyone ever witnessed. People have been shot all over town for looting. There are four or five soldiers in every block. All the cadets from UC have been (acting as) guards… I don’t know whether college will continue or not. I think I will come home as soon as I get off duty… Nearly all the town has gone. It is the worst disaster this town has ever seen. Poor people all over town are huddled together. The sewer has broken into pipelines. People have to drink that stuff. There is going to be an awful epidemic….I am in no danger.”
MARRIAGE, CHILDREN, AND ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI Frank married Helen Carolyn Settles of Hannibal, Missouri, on January 16, 1915. As newlyweds, Frank and Helen lived on 1070a McCausland Street in St. Louis. Frank was superintendent of construction at South Western Bell Telephone Co on 314 North Broadway Street.
ST. LOUIS “After the Civil War, St. Louis continued its rapid growth, and by 1900 was a major manufacturing center. Industries grew in St. Louis because of the city's dominance in the region, its access to rail and water transportation, and the city's central location in the nation. The 1874 construction of the Eads Bridge made St. Louis an important link in the continuing growth of transcontinental rail travel--but came too late to prevent Chicago from overtaking it as the largest rail hub in the nation. By the 1890s, St. Louis was the nation's fourth largest city.”
In 1904, when St. Louis hosted a World’s Fair, more than twenty million people visited it. That same year the 1904 Olympic games were held in St. Louis. Ten years later, World War 1 ravaged Europe between 1914 and 1918. On August 20, 1915, “The storm that devastated the Texas Gulf Coast last Monday and Tuesday, sweeping northward, struck St. Louis with diminished fury last night and today, bringing with it the heaviest downpour in the history of the city, and causing a flood that drove hundreds of city and suburban residents from their homes. Between 1918 and 1919 a deadly influenza epidemic swept through St. Louis (A Brief History of St. Louis).
At age thirty, Frank registered for the draft on June 5, ? for World War I. On the registration, he was described as tall with a medium build, blue eyes, light colored hair and slightly bald. Frank bought his first car, a model T, which he paid $500 for. “The increasing popularity of the automobile caused congestion in the downtown area as early as the 1920s.” (A Brief History of St. Louis).
Frank and Helen had six children: Helen Carolyn, Catherine (Sis), Robert (Bob) Andrew, Mary Margaret, Elizabeth (Dibbie) Ann, and Susan. Helen, Frank’s wife, had one stillborn and one miscarriage.
CAREER, MOVING, AND OHIO Frank’s career with the Bell Telephone System began in San Francisco on May 5, 1909, when he joined The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company as a student engineer. Later, he was promoted to district engineer. In 1912, he was appointed plant engineer of the Bell Telephone Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Two years later in 1917, he became division plant superintendent, and in December 1919 he was promoted to general plant superintendent.
In 1923, Frank moved his young family to Cleveland, Ohio, where he was general superintendent of the plant at The Ohio Bell Telephone Company. They lived at 3239 Hyde Park in Cleveland Heights. Frank wrote in a letter to his mother on Hotel Cleveland stationery, “I hated greatly to leave St. Louis… Our house just suited us…and we were very happy. But when one works for the Bell Telephone Company, you must be prepared to accept any advancement offered at any location.” Frank described a party of 237 people that gathered in St. Louis for a farewell dinner for him, where they presented him with a beautiful watch and chain.
Frank’s father, Josiah Quincy Stephens, died on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1924 in Los Angles, California.
On June 12, 1925, Frank wrote his mother and Sis that he was in the town in or near where his dad was born in Fremont, Ohio. He said he wished he knew exactly where his father had lived but could imagine him swimming and fishing in the Sandusky River. Frank, as always, apologized for not writing much and explained that he had been inspecting properties via car for two months and had traveled over 12,000 miles. He described his fascination with the old canal system and described the pansies, roses, and hardy flowers the family had planted at home.
In July 1927, he wrote his mother and sister (at 1116 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, California) about how daughter Helen was taking life-saving, and Bob and Mary were learning to swim at the high school pool in Cleveland Heights. He said on hot days the family went to swim at the lake and have picnics. He wrote how Mary M was a little too ambitious in the water and daring so they had to keep a careful eye on her. He mentioned how much they loved their dog, Zorrie. He talked about playing golf with his wife Helen. He described Bob’s impressive first communion but assured his family he was not any more of a Catholic than he had ever been. He described the new telephone building and his office on the 17th floor with all new furnishing. Frank continued to send his mother and sister money regularly.
When first in Cleveland, the family stayed in a hotel until they moved into a rental house on Kensington Road. Then they bought a house on Hyde Park, where the children roller-skated down the hill. Frank always sent his wife roses on their children’s birthdays. He took her out to dinner once a week, so they could have some private time away from the children. He hired live-in help to assist Helen with the house and children. At one point, they had a laundress, cook and gardener. Their daughter Helen remembered her parents as being loving and very thoughtful of each other. She felt her father was the dominant figure.
The following year in 1928, they relocated to Columbus, Ohio, to a house on 2086 Iukea Avenue close to a university. In 1928, he served as General Manager of the Southwestern Area. Frank was elected vice president and general manager in 1929. The younger girls went to Catholic School.
HOBBIES AND FAMILY Frank was an ardent fly fisher and used to fish with his buddies at a club. He also enjoyed hunting pheasant and quail and taught son Bob to hunt.[1] Helen remembered her father as being somewhat critical and opinionated but supportive while remembering her mother as being very loving and supportive. Bob was a little scared of and in awe of his father. One time young Helen and her friends prank called a teacher, but since her dad worked for the telephone company, they got caught. He was not amused. Most days, they ate dinner as a family and always had room for friends of their children to join them. During these years Catherine (Sis) had serious mental breakdowns, which were traumatizing for her, her parents and siblings. They all loved her so much.
SHAKER HEIGHTS, OHIO, RED CROSS, WORLD WAR II, WASHINGTON DC After nine years, the family returned to Cleveland, and bought a house on 2721 Chesterton Road in Shaker Heights. In 1937, Frank became operating vice president of Ohio Bell. He was charged with the complicated task of adapting telephone facilities to the “unprecedented demands” of World War II. Frank enjoyed working on his Victory Garden. He and Helen were close friends to the Ides and very fond of playing bridge.
FINAL YEARS, MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, AND DEATH Frank chaired both the Columbus and the Greater Cleveland Red Cross Chapters, during a time that included the disastrous 1936 floor where many families lost their homes. In April 1943, Frank was appointed as a regular industry member of the National Telephone Commission of the National War Labor Board and spent considerable time in Washington DC. The children visited him and saw all the monuments. He belonged to the Union Club, the Mayfield Country Club, and was president of the N.C. Kingsury Chapter Non 2, Telephone Pioneers of America.
His final position was president of the Wisconsin Bell Telephone Company. Without consulting his wife, he bought a large home in Milwaukee. In November 1945, he “launched a five-year 60 million program of improvements and expansion. In the first full year following the war, he directed construction and improvements of telephone plant costing $15,000,000. His greatest concern was the furnishing of service promptly to persons who had to wait their turn because of facilities shortages brought about by the war.” He increased service to 58,100 customers. He directed the company to hire more employees by one third, reaching a high of 10,800 employees.
He died at his home October 20, 1946, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after suffering from lung cancer. In his last months, he worked to organize Helen’s financing so that she was financial secure. Shortly before his death, he was baptized into the Catholic Church. He stopped working on August 31, 1945. Services were held at the Feerick Funeral Home, 2026 East Capital Drive, Milwaukee.
OBIT: “He was a man of strong character, one whose views of telephone service requirements were constructive, sound and farseeing, whose knowledge of the business was of the sort that comes only through diligence, wisdom and experience, and whose ability was of that rare kind that was capable of analyzing problems, programming for their solution, and carrying out the plans to a successful conclusion. At times he was impatient, but always so as a consequence of his concern for a successful result. At all times and under all circumstances he was sincere, forthright, honest and fair. He was respected and admired by all who came in contact with in the business – operator, plant workman, Union leader, supervisor, chief operator, foreman, manager, and executive.” (from November, 1946 The Ohio Bell.)
HIS DAUGHTER MARY WROTE ABOUT HER FATHER “My father had integrity; he was honest, outspoken, and had sound moral values. He preached the importance of family, ‘When the family unit disintegrates, so does sense of values and quality of living.’ He was funny, more witty than humorous as some luckless folk could testify – victims of his barbs. He was overtly affectionate, often putting his arm around Mother or holding children on his lap. He was emotional, crying when one of our dogs died; depressed by his children’s foibles and problem. He was moody, disappearing from the bridge table when his partner goofed. He was belligerent; once the newspaper in Columbus Ohio reported that F. M. Stephens, Vice President of Ohio Bell , socked a guy at a public function.”
“Dad often spent Sundays at his desk – paying bills, writing letters. He was so faithful to his Mother and several brothers. During World War II had a victory garden and despite his sciatica harvested a fine crop of vegetables. He played golf but not well.”
“Dad was the only member of his family to become a business man. He adored his mother, was very protective, and often sent her money. Several of his brothers drank to the point of being considered alcoholic. Dad was informal. He wanted the best for us. He told me as I went to college, ‘I want you to learn to feel comfortable with all kinds of people.’…He and mother were careful of finances. Mother and Dad never quarreled. To me, they were the paragon of parenthood and of lovers.”
At his funeral in Milwaukee, people from all over came – people said, “I’ve lost a friend.’”
[1] Bob Stephens, Frank’s son, interviewed his siblings and himself about the family and recorded those interviews which John Eaton had transcribed.