Stephen Overstreet the First was born in Georgia about 1811. He went to Texas in 1841, where he is documented as one of the early settlers of Gilmer, Harrison County. No land records exist in Georgia that show Stephen living there, but there is a record of his marriage in 1841 in Stewart County to Sarah Janette (Jane) Avery.
Jane Avery was the daughter of Ingram Avery and Mary Elizabeth. The Avery family, including Jane's brother William and her father and mother, went to Texas with the Overstreets. Stephen was a carpenter who built the first building in Gilmer. He was a community leader, according to records from Gilmer, and was well respected there. He died in 1859, with the cause of death listed as typhoid. No records exist of where Stephen was buried.
The Overstreet DNA Project evolved as an attempt to find the parents of Stephen. Jane Overstreet Stein, Susan Spice Buckley, and Frances Overstreet Green, great great granddaughters of Stephen and Jane, have spent years in researching his parents. Jane Overstreet Stein exhaustively searched all census records from Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, finding all sons born in the 1811 timeframe, and tracing them in later census records. Frances Green supplied many records from Texas and Georgia, including biographic data and the marriage record listed above. Jane came to the conclusion that Stephen was the son of Daniel Overstreet Jr. and Martha Albrighton. Y-DNA from Jane's brother Stephen, her first cousin Bob, and John Overstreet came out identical. John is a known descendent of Daniel and Martha. Jane had hard and irrefutable evidence that she was on the right track.
Stephen's name has been honored by many generations of grandchildren. Stephen Hollinquist Overstreet was his son. Stephen Harold I, Stephen Harold II, Stephen Harold III, Stephen Harold Gregory Overstreet, Stephen Graeple, and Stephanie Benfit are all descendents of the first Stephen Overstreet. Avry Sheppard Livingston, granddaughter of Jane Stein, is the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Stephen Overstreet and Jane Avery, and the newest member of the Overstreet tradition.
Jane Avery married Ebeneezer Andrews after Stephen's death. She is buried in Bowie, Texas at Seldona Cemetery. Land for this cemetery was donated by her son, John Henry Overstreet, brother of Stephen Hollinquist Overstreet and father of Stephen Harold Overstreet I (Hal.)