My research on my paternal grandfather's line - RUFUS W. STEPHENS 1876 - 1958 -includes Stephens, Liles(Lyles), Ozier, Cromer, Ruff, and Yost. These families were mainly from the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama.
The parents of Rufus W. Stephens were Stephen Samuel Stephens and his wife Susan Elizabeth Liles. His paternal grandparents were Alsey Stephens and his wife Priscilla Ozier(Presilla Osier, French). His maternal grandparents were Langston Liles and Susannah Cromer, the daughter of a itinerant Methodist minister, Phillip Cromer, and his wife (and cousin) Mary Ruff, the daughter of Christian Ruff. Phillip Cromer was named after his maternal grandfather, Phillip Yost. The Cromers and Ruffs helped form the germanic "buffer" between the English plantation owners of the South Carolina lowcountry and the upcountry Indians in the mid 1700's. These germanic families centered around "Dutch Fork" (Deutch Folk)the fork of the Broad and Saluda Rivers.
By the late 1790's, Phillip Cromer and Mary Ruff had married, and were living in Newberry county, SC. Their daughter Susannah Cromer grew up in Newberry, which was also the home of Langston Liles. Henry Langston Liles and Susan Elizabeth Cromer married about 1838, and lived in Newberry until after the 1850 census. Langston Liles may be the son of Ephraim Liles (Lil Eph)and the grandson of Williamson Liles.
In November of 1851, Langston signed for a military grant of land in Randolph County AL, although his family may have lived in GA for several years. The military grant was payment for Langston's service in the 1836 Seminole War in Florida. By the 1860 census, Langston and his wife and family are living in Almond, near Wadley, Randolph Co., AL. Langston Liles continued his occupation as miller in Alabama and his son-in-law Stephen Samuel Stephens became a miller, while his son James R. Liles became a lumber manufacturer. Stephen married Susan Elizabeth Liles and had a large family, including son Rufus, who was named after Stephen's brother who had died in the Civil War.
Rufus moved to Killein, Texas to work for his brother W. A. Stephens. Rufus eventually became a construction foreman for the Santa Fe Railroad and married Lessie Spell. They moved to Temple Texas and raised their family there.
My paternal grandmother Lessie Eral Spell, who married Rufus W. Stephens was the first child of William T. Spell and Roxie Estelle Cash of Cleburne Texas. Her ancestors include the Spell family of Louisiana, the Cash family of Georgia, and the Ritchie/Ritchey families who fought for the Texas War of Independence in 1836.
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