Stephen Welch was born March 31, 1824 in Groton, New York and moved along with his parents, to Allegany about 1850. He married Louise Harriett Allen on December 22, 1847. Mrs. Welch died June 9, 1899 at the age of 72. They had four sons and two daughters.
When the Civil War broke out, Stephen Welch enlisted in Co. C, 154th N. Y. Volunteers, and served for three years and three months. He received the Medal of Honor for “rescuing, under fire of the enemy, a wounded comrade lying between the lines”. He was promoted to Captain by the end of his service in the war.
In 1865 and 1867 he served under his father as a Deputy Sheriff of Cattaraugus County. He died March 31, 1906 at the age of 82, and was lauded in his obituary as “a pioneer lumberman, soldier, farmer and surveyor”. His great-grandson, Fred Welch, lives in Olean, N.Y.