Richard Stephens (September 7, 1755 – died July 2, 1831) was an American Revolutionary War soldier, politician, slave-plantation owner and Breckinridge County, Kentucky, pioneer.
[2] Stephens served as a private in the Continental Army for three years during the American Revolution.
In February 1784, for payment for his service as an American Revolutionary soldier on the Virginia line, twenty-nine-year-old Stephens accepted a 100,000-acre land grant on the Ohio River in Kentucky (Nelson, Jefferson, and Breckinridge County).
Over time, Stephens added more land to his estate.
By 1799, with over 100,000 acres (about 150 square miles), including a large plantation eight miles south of Hawesville, and a 2,000-acre tract of land that Stephensport was sitting on, and at least a dozen slaves, Stephens was the wealthiest landowner in Breckinridge County.