James B. Stephens
| James B. Stephens | |
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| Born | November 9, 1806 Brooke County, Virginia |
| Died | March 22, 1889 (aged 82) Portland, Oregon |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Walker |
James B. Stephens (November 9, 1806 – March 22, 1889) was a pioneer of the U.S. state of Oregon. A cooper by trade, he operated one of the first ferries across the Willamette River at what was East Portland, Oregon. His father was the first burial at Portland's Lone Fir Cemetery. A native of Virginia, he was the founder of East Portland and Stephens Street in Portland, Oregon is named in his honor.
James Stephens was born on November 9, 1806, in Brooke County, Virginia (later West Virginia) to Emmor Stephens. When he was eight, his family moved to a farm in the Indiana Territory. He learned the cooper trade, and practiced for several years in Indiana and in Cincinnati, Ohio. James married Elizabeth Walker in 1830 while living in Kentucky. They would have seven children, of whom they would outlive all but one. He established a farm and a grocery store before moving to the Oregon Country in 1844, where he settled near what is now Portland, Oregon.
He started a cooper shop in Oregon City and got his barrel-making stock from William Overton, one of the founders of Portland.
Stephens refused Overton's offer to sell him his Portland land claim for 300 new salmon barrels because he planned to bid for another claim, which he secured in 1845 and on which East Portland was founded. East Portland was also known as Stephens' Addition. In 1846 he made 1000 flour barrels and 400 salmon barrels for the Hudson's Bay Company, and in 1847 he made 400 beef barrels for shipment to the Sandwich Islands.
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