Henry A. Steffens of Texas County, Missouri

Henry A. Steffens. Prominent among the enterprising and substantial citizens of Texas County stands the name of the above mentioned gentleman, who is a native of Phelps County, Mo. He was born July 4, 1865, and is the son of John H. and D. Josephine (Sutton) Steffens. The father was born in Hamburg, Germany, March 30, 1835, and died in Texas County, Mo., April 29, 1879. The mother was born in Texas County, Mo., March 15, 1846, and is now living in Houston, Mo. She is the daughter of Valentine Sutton, one of the first settlers of Texas County, Mo. John H. Steffens was a boy nine years of age when he came from Germany with his brother, and located first in New York City, and then joined the Regular Army, and served fifteen years. He then came to Missouri, locating in Texas County, where he received his final summons. He served during the late war in the First Missouri Light Artillery, and received the rank of first lieutenant. He was severely wounded at Pea Ridge by a bursting shell. While in the Regular Army he served as a Government scout on the plains, and was twice wounded by Indians. At one time he went with Jasper Walker to Nicaragua and other places. After the war he engaged in merchandising at Houston in connection with the hotel business, but shortly before his death he had retired from the mercantile business. He served Texas County two terms as county and circuit clerk and recorder, and was one of the prominent men of the county. He was a very successful business man, and attended strictly to his own affairs. He was a democrat in politics, a Mason and Odd Fellow, and at different times represented his lodge at the Grand Lodge of Missouri. To his marriage was born one child, Henry A., the subject of this sketch. The latter received a liberal education in Houston, and in the academy at Rolla. He remained with his mother until twenty-one years of age. In 1888 he moved to his present location, where he is extensively engaged in farming and stock raising, etc. February 13, 1887, he married Miss Mollie Belew, daughter of E. A. Belew, of Texas County, Mo. She was born in Dent County, Mo., December 19, 1867, and by her marriage became the mother of one child, Herbert Clyde. Mr. Steffens is a member of the I. O. O. F., is a Democrat in politics, and Mrs. Steffens is a member of the Baptist Church.