When he was a very small child his mother would take him with her to work in the fields as she raised money to help pay to build the Salt Lake Temple.

[5] In 1899, the Missionary Song Book, edited by Stephens, was distributed in the LDS Church's Southern States Mission.

Prior to this, the director of the choir had been viewed as a part-time office, who although given a stipend for his service, was expected to earn his main employ by other methods.

In 1895, the leaders of the church decided to make the position of choir director full-time and doubled Stephens salary.

[4] In his book, Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth Century Americans, published in 1996, historian D. Michael Quinn expresses his view that Stephens had homosexual relationships and that these were tolerated by the LDS Church hierarchy.

[11] Elsewhere, Quinn has theorised that the unmarried Stephens had intimate relationships and shared the same bed with a series of male domestic partners and travelling companions.

[5] Several other Mormon writers, including George L. Mitton and Rhett S. James, have called Quinn's research on Stephens into question.

Specifically, Stephens maintained a large number of students as residents in his household to prevent the image of impropriety with Daniels, since if he had lived alone with her without other witnesses around, it would have opened him up to accusations of a scandalous relationship.

"[5] Mitton and James also point out that the death of Stephens's fiancee led him to remember her through his music, and that this was a very real and deep-seated emotional connection for him.