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Stevens - Stephens Genealogy and Family History Author: Clarence Perry Stevens Call Number: CS71.S844 This book contains the history and genealogy of the Stevens-Stephensfamily of North Carolina. Bibliographic Information: Stevens, Clarence Perry. Stevens-StephensGenealogy and Family History. Privately Published. 1968. The eldest son of Thomas 1558-1613 was Sir Edward Stephens, d. 1670 -m-Ann Crewe. Lypiatt Hall still survives in fairly good condition. TheGunpowder Plot is said to have been made in one of its rooms. During theCommonwealth, the family sided with the parliamentary republicans and oneof the family, John, I believe, was thrown out of parliament in "Pride'sPurge". Edward and Ann had the following children: 1. Thomas b. 1618/9 whose line is thought to be extinct. 2. John b. 1622, d. 1643 in England -(Foster's Alumni Oxoniensis, p.1418) (of Oxford University). This is the son C. Ellis Stevens claimedimmigrated to Guilford, Conn. Mrs. C. S. Holmes disproved it. 3. Edward, of whom nothing further is known. 4. Anne (Stephens) Parker. Stevens Genealoge. Some Descendants OF THE Fitz Stepben Famile IN ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND. BY C. ELLIS STEVENS, LL.D., D.C.L. F.S.A. (EDINBURGH) KNIGHT COMNANDER OF THE ORDER OF CHRIST OF PORTUGAL. NEW YORK PRIVATELY PRINTED 1904 SIR EDWARD STEPHENS, KNIGHT, of Lypiatt Park, and the manor of LittleSodbury, co. Gloucester, eldest son and heir of Attorney General ThomasStephens, before mentioned,1 and grandson in the line of eventualheirship of this house of Edward Stephens, first lord of the manors ofEastington and Chavenage, was ancestor of the only authenticated maleline of the family that has survived to the present day. Hestudied at theUniversity of Oxford, and at the Middle Temple, London; and married Anne,daughter of Sir Thomas Crewe, Knt., of Northamptonshire, Speaker of theHouse of Commons, and sister of John, first Lord Crewe, of Stene. Thenephews of Lady Stephens, Thomas and Nathaniel, succeeded as second andthird Lord Crewe; and with the latter who was also Bishop of Durham, thetitle became extinct 1721. The estates inherited by Sir Edward from hisfather are of special interest in connection with the fact of hisoccupancy of them. Lypiatt Hall still stands in an excellent state ofpreservation, rising on the slope of a hill overlooking the valley ofStrancombe.2 The Whittington's held the manor under the Plantagenets, andby successive changes it passed into possession of Attorney GeneralStephens who was succeeded by Sir Edward Stephens. According topersistent legend, reiterated in the history of Gloucestershire, by thelearned antiquary Sir R. Atkyns, the Gunpowder Plot was concocted in thiscastle. And to the present day a room is pointed out in which theconspirators met. During the stormy days of the Commonwealth the castlewas garrisoned by those in favor of the Parliamentary interest, withwhich at that time all the members of the Stephens family sided. In 1642it was besieged by a military force of the royalists in command of SirJacob Astley, and after a severe contest was captured, with the loss offifty-one men. This was felt at the time to be a serious blow; but thefamily influence in public affairs increased, and the damages of thesiege were eventually repaired. The entrance is by an embattled porch,and the building is divided in its centre by a hall, the ceiling of whichis embellished by a fresco representing the story of Mutius and Porsemos.There are towers and other means of defense, and in ancient times therewas probably a moat. The adjoining private chapel is of medivalconstruction. The other manor house of Sir Edward Stephens, that ofLittle Sodbury, is in less satisfactory preservation. This house wasvisited by King Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn in their royal progress of1535. Within its walls Tyndale partly made his translation of the NewTestament. The portion of the building in which he toiled at this taskhas fallen into ruins. In the transactions of the Bristol and GloucesterArchological Society,1 is a description of the venerable manor house:"The porch, with its pointed arched hood moulding, and stone seats admitsthe visitor to a central passage on the left of which a door leads to thegreat hall, and on the right is a staircase leading up to a room which islighted by a fine oriel window." "The great hall, which is rapidlyfalling to decay, and must ere long be in ruins, if nothing is done tosave it, has a fine timber roof with braces, and angel corbels. The daisor raised floor on which the lord of the manor and his family sat atmeat, was at the south end, whilst along the east and the west sides longtables were set for the retainers after the manner of all baronial housesof the period. At the north end was a screen and above it a minstrels'gallery. Over the dais in the east wall is a hideous mask, though theapertures in which, it is said, the ladies of the household and theirfriends looked down from their gallery on the revellers below. Twocorbels, some nine feet up in the west walls, now removed, were formerlyintended, it is supposed, to support lamps. Beyond the great hall thereanciently extended other rooms, the library, drawing rooms, and the statebed rooms. The woodwork and stone carvings are partly intact". Thepresent squire who purchased the manor from an heiress of the Stephensfamily has removed much of historic interest to his new house "Lyegrove",on the old estate. Sir Edward Stephens took an active part in thepolitical turmoil in which he lived. He sided with the Parliamentaryparty in the controversy as long as the conflict remained confined towhat might with any color be called a constitutional struggle, and wasnot aimed against the royal person of King Charles I. He was an earnestlover of old English liberty. But when, after a close relation to publicaffairs, he became convinced that the Parliamentary leaders had gone totoo great lengths and had become themselves a menace to the constitution,he, with the vast body of conservative men of the nation, selected tosuffer rather than share in radical measures. He therefore, having beenenergetic as a Member of the Long arliament, refused membership in theRump Parliament, and was one of those violently ejected from the House ofCommons by Col. Pride, in the revolutionary proceedings commonly called"Pride's Purge". This indignity at the hands of the revolutionists waslater regarded as an honor by those who had suffered it. He and SirMatthew Hale, who was a neighbor in Gloucestershire, and a connection ofthe Stephens family by marriage, as has been seen,1 were elected by allGloucestershire as the two representatives, or Knights of the Shire, tothe Restoration Parliament; and they favored the overwhelming wish of theEnglish people for the restoration of the ancient line of kings. SirEdward had been Member of Parliament for Tewksbury, 1640, 1641. He wassecluded, and confined as a prisoner of state by the Parliamentary partyin 1648 when he had deliberately and firmly turned against theirexcesses. He received recognition for his patriotic position from KingCharles II, who conferred upon him the honor of Knighthood, July 11,1660, within a few days after the restoration had taken place, and whoconferred the same honor upon his celebrated colleague, Matthew Hale, inthe following autumn.2 Sir Edward died about 1670, having had issue; I. Sir Thomas, Knight, of the manor of Little Sodbury, co. Gloucester,High Sheriff of Gloucestershire,3 who married Catherine, daughter and co-heiress of William Combs, Esq., ofStratford-upon-Avon, co. Warwick, and had issue a son; 1. Thomas, who married Anne, daughter of John Neale, Esq., of Deane, anear relative of Oliver Cromwell, and had a son Edward, who marriedSarah, daughter and heiress of Richard Burthogg, of Totness, co. Devon,whose line became extinct.1 II. JOHN, of Guilford, Conn., of whom presently.3 lII. Edward, of whom nothing further is known. IV. Anne, who married John Packer, Esq. ----William Lackey Stephens;http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/t/e/William-Lackey--Stephens/index.html
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