Stephens, William, 1671–1753, English colonial official in Georgia, b. Bowcombe, Isle of Wight. He was educated at Cambridge and served in Parliament (1702–27). In 1736 he went to South Carolina to direct a land survey; he met James Oglethorpe and visited Georgia. In 1737 the Georgia trustees appointed him secretary of the colony, where he became an influential planter. He was appointed president of Savannah co. in 1741, and on Oglethorpe's return to England he became president (1743–51) of Georgia. His journal was published in two volumes in 1958–59.
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