First Generation  

1. John Stephenson Sr. was born before 1634 and died before 1677.

General Notes: The following information was provided by Alan C. Stephenson, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, March 25, 2010:

Deeds and Land Grants:

1. Land grant dated to Epaphroditus Lawson dated September 3, 1649, of 700 acres on Rappahanock River lying about 12 miles up the north side to the mouth of Slaughters Creek separating the land of John Carter, for the importation of 14 persons whos names are maintained in the records under this patent. PB 2:180.

2. William Clapham Jr. of Rapa. in Lancaster County to John Stephenson dated July 12, 1654, 700 acres in Rapa. about 12 miles up, as may appear in a patent dated Sept. 3, 1649, a neck of land on Slaughters Creek parting the land of Major John Carter; signed with a mark; witnessed by Thomas Madestard and John Goldsborough; recorded [illegible], 1654. Lancaster DB 1:139.

Court Records:

1. Recorded by Mr. Fox: Mr. Stevens 4 tithables. Lancaster County Court Orders, 1652-1656, p. 238.

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Dear Gary Julian, 6 Feb 2014

My name is Mark Valsame, and I live in Raleigh, NC. I'm an archivist at the North Carolina State Archives, and have been doing genealogical research on my ancestral lines for more than 35 years. I am a leading researcher of the Stephenson family in Johnston County, North Carolina. My distant cousin Gary Mack Stephenson (Kit # 181909) forwarded to me your e-mail concerning the I1 haplogroups at FTDNA and WorldFamilies.net. Gary took a 37 marker y-dna test in 2010 at my urging. I see that you are the contact person for Jan-Michael Stevenson (Kit # 225148), who is descended from Thomas C. ("Kit") Stevenson. The late archivist George Stevenson, who was a colleague of mine at the State Archives, was descended from this line.

All of the matches in Group II of the Stephenson/Stevenson DNA project appear to share common ancestry through John Stephenson (1656-1727; md. Elizabeth Edwards) of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. In spite of what appears repeatedly online on such sites like Ancestry.com, John Stephenson of Isle of Wight County, Virginia was NOT the son of John Stevenson and his wife Elizabeth Boyd of Glasgow, Scotland. That couple's son John Stevenson married Janet Jack, and the christenings of his children are recorded in Glasgow parish registers long after the appearance of our ancestor John Stephenson/Stevenson in Virginia. In short, there is NO connection to the family in Glasgow.

In recent years, we have made some progress in establishing our Stephenson lineage one generation further back to John Stephenson of Lancaster County, Virginia and his wife Christian. The elder John Stephenson acquired 700 acres of land on Slaughter's Creek in Lancaster County, Virginia from William Clapham in July, 1654. In October, 1677, his widow Christian Stephenson appointed her 21 year old son John Stephenson (b. May 12, 1656) to sell the land of his father in Lancaster County, Virginia, relinquishing her right of dower and thirds to Thomas Paynes. It appears that the younger John Stephenson had arrived in Lancaster County, Virginia by May, 1678 as indicated by a headrights list, and soon thereafter became a servant. By September of that year, he was brought before the court for running away from his master Col. John Carter. His servitude was extended as punishment for running away. On February 12, 1678/79, John Steventon, by then a servant of court official Robert Griggs, was ordered to serve a seven years indenture. Two days previous to that date on February 10, 1678/79, John Stephenson of "Isle of Wight County, Virginia" conveyed his father's 700 acres on Slaughter's Creek in Lancaster County, VA to Robert Griggs and Thomas Paynes. It appears that Stephenson may have included Griggs in the land conveyance to partially satisfy his indentured servitude, and had already migrated to Isle of Wight County to avoid serving his remaining indenture. John Stephenson acquired his first land in Isle of Wight County, VA by April, 1680 from John and Sarah Wakefield. John Stephenson subsequently married Elizabeth Edwards, the daughter of Charles Edwards of Isle of Wight County. John Stephenson, along with another of John Carter's servants who had run away named Titus Turner, were both named as headrights by Rowland Bulkly in a 1682 land patent in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

While I have not firmly established it, it appears possible that the elder John Stephenson may have been identical with John Stephens/Stevens of Old Rappahannock County, Virginia. John Stephens acquired a patent for 1000 acres of land on the Rappahannock River in Old Rappahannock County in March, 1657. He also obtained a patent for 653 acres in October, 1660. He subsequently sold the 1660 patent land to two mariners from Bristol in February, 1661/62. John Stephens also acquired 500 acres from Walter Granger in April, 1661. John Stephens devised a will on March 5, 1661/62 indicating his impending return to England, and left 500 acres each from his 1000 acre 1657 patent to John Fulcher (son-in-law of Richard Webley) and Alexander Dudley (son of Richard Dudley). He left Richard Webley the 500 acres bought from Granger in 1661. Richard Webley and Richard Dudley were left his livestock and remainder of his estate in Virginia. No family members are mentioned, nor is any land in Lancaster County. The will was not submitted for probate in Old Rappahannock County, Virginia court until almost 16 years later on February 5, 1677/78, roughly about the same time that the younger John Stephenson would have arrived in Virginia to sell his father's 700 acres in Lancaster County, Virginia. According to Coldham's "Complete Book of Emmigrants," a John Steventon sailed on the ship "Ann" from London to Virginia sometime between October 14th and December 6, 1677. This might be the younger John Stephenson. This is why I believe that John Stephenson of Lancaster County, Virginia and John Stephens of Old Rappahannock County, Virginia may be the same man.

I am also investigating a Captain John Stephens of the Chestnut Pinck/Pinnance, who sailed about April, 1662 with a fleet of ships on behalf of the British East India Company to Swally, India. Captain John Stephens evidently died in India a few years later. It is a possibility that he could be identical with John Stephens of Old Rappahannock County, VA/John Stephenson of Lancaster County, Virginia. Captain John Stephens/Stevens' widow Christian Stephens filed petitions with the British Treasury for claims made on behalf of her late husband's service with the fleet in India. There are various entries concerning payments made to her in the Treasury Books between 1680 and 1688. Whether this Captain John Stephens of the Chestnut Pinck is identical with our ancestor in Virginia has yet to be determined.

There are also parish register entries in the parish of St. Dunstan and All Saints Church in Stepney Parish in London for the baptisms or burials of several children of a John and Christian Stephenson/Stephens between 1642 and 1648. John Stephenson was listed as a shipwright. The burial of a widow Christian Stevens of Ratcliffe in Stepney Parish is also recorded in April, 1685. Whether this family is identical with John and Christian Stephenson of Virginia is also unknown at this time.

Here is a summary of most of the information above in a posting I made on GenForum in 2011.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/stevenson/messages/3160.html

I can supply original documentation for this information, if you desire.

Sincerely,

Mark Valsame
Raleigh, NC
___________________________________________________________________

John Stephenson (1656-1726/27) of Isle of Wight County, VA
By James M. Valsame April 12, 2011 at 02:09:05

In reply to: James H. Stevenson (Stevensone) - 1601- Edinburgh,Scotland
Don Stephenson 1/09/11

If the ancestry you are referring to pertains to that of John Stephenson/Stevenson (b. May 12, 1656; Isle of Wight County, VA will devised November 23, 1726, proven February 27, 1726/27), then you should know that much of what is being perpetuated on the internet through Ancestry and other sites has little basis in fact.John Stephenson of Isle of Wight County, VA was not the son of John Stevenson and Elizabeth Boyd of Glasgow, Scotland, nor the grandson of James Stevenson and Janet Hunter.

Recent research has revealed that John Stephenson/Stevenson was in Lancaster County, VA prior to his appearance in Isle of Wight County, VA.On October 27, 1677, Christian Stephenson, widow,granted consent to her son John Stephenson to sell the land of his late father John Stephenson located on Slaughters Creek in Lancaster County, VA.She relinquished her right of dower and thirds to Thomas Paynes, and appointed John and Rowland Lawson as attorneys to acknowledge the consent in court.She further certified on the same date that her son John was 21years of age on May 12th last, indicating that he had been born on May 12, 1656.Christian's consent does not state that she was a "of Lancaster County" nor where she resided, and the fact that she appointed attorneys to acknowledge her consent in court suggests that she may have lived elsewhere or abroad.

It appears that John Stephenson (1656-1726/27) came to Virginia to settle his late father's affairs, and was in Lancaster County, VA prior to May 8, 1678.On that date, a certificate was issued to Francis Emmanuell for some headrights assigned by Robert Griggs.One of them was a John Stephens. On September 11, 1678, Robert Griggs, who was a member of the court, presented a certificate that John Stevenson, a servant to Lt. Col. John Carter, had been brought before him for running away, and that he had been absent from his master for 14 days.The court ordered that John Stevenson serve Carter another 28 days.Then on February 12, 1678/79, the court ordered that John Steventon, a servant of Robert Griggs"comeing into this Countrey wth:out Indenture," serve seven years indenture from his arrival.

Two days previous on February 10, 1678/79, John Stephenson "of Ile of Wight County in Virginia" conveyed to Robert Griggs and Thomas Paynes the 700 acres on Slaughters Creekformerly belonging to his late father John Stephenson.The land had been conveyed to the elder Stephenson on July 12, 1654 by William Clapham, Jr.,andhad formerly been a patent granted to Epaphroditus Lawson on September 3, 1649.William Clapham, Jr. had married Elizabeth (Madestard) Lawson, the widow of Epaphroditus Lawson.This deed, together with Christian Stephenson's consent document of October, 1677, were both recorded in Lancaster County, VA during February Court, 1678/79.When Christian Stephenson issued her consent for the sale of the land in October, 1677, she had relinquished her dower and rights to Thomas Paynes.However, Griggs was not mentioned at that time.It is possible that Griggs was included in the February 10, 1678/79 deed as a partial payment by John Stephenson for his indenture to Griggs.

The headright claim for John Stephenson's transportation to Virginia somehow later ended up in the hands of Rowland Bulkly.Bulkly claimed John Stephenson as one of hisheadrights when he acquired a land patent on Currowaugh Swamp in Isle of Wight County, VA on October 22, 1682.In the Lancaster County court entries of September 11, 1678, Robert Griggs also presented certificates for a number of other servants of John Carter, besides John Stephenson, who had run away.One of them was Titus Turner.Turner was also claimed as a headright by Bulkly in the 1682 land patent.The fact that Bulkly claimed both John Stephenson and Titus Turner as headrights for his Isle of Wight County, VA land patent in 1682 further confirms that the John Stephenson indentured in Lancaster County in 1678 is identical with the man who later appears in Isle of Wight County, VA.We know that John Stephenson was in Isle of Wight County, VA by February 10, 1678/79 based onthe Lancaster County, VA deed.On April 3, 1680, John Stephenson acquired land in Isle of Wight County, VA when John Wakefield and his wife Sarah deeded 150 acres to him.

While it remains to be confirmed, the elder John Stephenson might possibly be identical with John Stephens, who appears in the records of Old Rappahannock County, VA.The name Stephenson/Stevenson was often abbreviated as Stephens/Stevens in early colonial records.In some other Lancaster County, VA deed references, our John Stephenson is also referred to as Mr. Stephens or Mr. Stevens concerning the 700 acres he had bought from William Clapham, Jr. in 1654.John Stephens of Old Rapphannock County, VA acquired a patent for 1000 acres of land on the Rappahannock River opposite the land of Col. Henry Fleete on March 13, 1657. John Stephens' will was written March 5, 1661/62 in Old Rappahannock County, VA, and submitted to court on February 5, 1677/78.It was recorded on February 28, 1677/78.The will indicates that John Stephens was bound for England, but makes no specific references to a wife or children.The will left 500 acres from Stephens' 1657 patent for 1000 acres to John Fulcher, son-in-law of Richard Webley, Gentleman.The other 500 acres from the patent was left to Alexander Dudley, son of Richard Dudley.Stephens left Richard Webley 500 acres of land on the Rappahannock, which had been sold by Walter Granger to John Stevens on April 13, 1661. Stephens also left Webley one half of his hogs in Rappahannock, and bequeathed to Webley and Richard Dudley jointly all the remainder of his estate and debts there.Clement Herberts and Thomas Liddle were witnesses to will in 1661, but they were evidently dead in February 1677/78 when the will was submitted for probate.John Stevens apparently also had a patent for 653 acres formerly owned by John Paine granted to him by Governor Francis Morrison on October 16, 1660.On February 25, 1661/62, he sold this patent to Capt. Walter Sherland and David Warren, mariners, of Bristol.The conveyance was witnessed by Richard Webley and Richard Dudley, and recorded on March 5, 1661/62, the same day that Stephens executed his will.On February 2, 1677/78, just three days before the John Stephens' will was submitted to Lancaster County court for probate, Alexander Dudley conveyed to Joshua Lawson the 500 acres which had been bequeathed to him by Stephens.

The fact that John Stephens devised a will in 1661 to dispose of his lands and wrap up his affairs in Virginia so that he could return to England, together with the fact that the will was probated and recorded in Old Rappahannock County, VA in February, 1677/78 makes a potentially compelling case for John Stephenson (md. Christian) and John Stephens of Old Rappahannock County, VA possibly being the same individual.The will of John Stephens was probated only about four months after Christian Stephenson gave her consent in October, 1677 for her son John Stephenson to sell the land of his late father in Lancaster County, VA, and would have roughly coincided with the time of the younger Stephenson's arrival in Virginia.

In Peter W. Coldham's "The Complete Book of Emigrants," there is a reference in the records of the PRO to a John Steventon being aboard the ship "Ann" commanded by Benjamin Cooper and bound from London to Virginia.The ship sailed sometime between October 14-December 6, 1677.There could possibly be a problem with this, because Christian Stephenson's consent was issued on October 27, 1677, which may possibly be after the "Ann" had sailed.Presumably, son John Stephenson would have carried a copy of his father's will and his mother's consent document with him to Virginia.This record could conceivably be reference to John's voyage, though it is very difficult to say for certain.

In the parish of St. Dunstan and All Saints Church in Stepney, Middlesex, England, just on the eastern outskirts of the City of London, there are parish register entries for a John Stephenson, shipwright, with a wife named Christian. St. Dunstan and All Saints was known as being the parish church of mariners.The register records the burial of an infant daughter on September 9, 1642, and the burial of another infant daughter on July 12, 1643.In both burial records, John and Christian Stephenson are recorded as living on King Street.In the case of the 1643 infant, the surname is rendered as Stevens, but it is the same couple.There is also a record of the baptism of their daughter Anne Stevenson on November 1, 1648.At that time, John and Christian lived on Pope's Lane. I have found no christenings for any other children of this couple, nor a burial for John Stephenson/Stephens.Much later in the same register, there is a burial recorded for a Christian Stevens of Ratcliffe, widow, on April 29, 1685.Ratcliffe was a hamlet in Stepney Parish.The fact that she is called a widow at that time is interesting, since we know Christian Stephenson was a widow by October, 1677. Of course, none of this evidence proves that the family in Stepney is identical with the family of John and Christian Stephenson referenced in Lancaster County, VA records, but it is certainly a lead worth further investigation.
______________________________________________________________________

Dear Gary Julian, 6 Feb 2014

My name is Mark Valsame, and I live in Raleigh, NC. I'm an archivist at the North Carolina State Archives, and have been doing genealogical research on my ancestral lines for more than 35 years. I am a leading researcher of the Stephenson family in Johnston County, North Carolina. My distant cousin Gary Mack Stephenson (Kit # 181909) forwarded to me your e-mail concerning the I1 haplogroups at FTDNA and WorldFamilies.net. Gary took a 37 marker y-dna test in 2010 at my urging. I see that you are the contact person for Jan-Michael Stevenson (Kit # 225148), who is descended from Thomas C. ("Kit") Stevenson. The late archivist George Stevenson, who was a colleague of mine at the State Archives, was descended from this line.

All of the matches in Group II of the Stephenson/Stevenson DNA project appear to share common ancestry through John Stephenson (1656-1727; md. Elizabeth Edwards) of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. In spite of what appears repeatedly online on such sites like Ancestry.com, John Stephenson of Isle of Wight County, Virginia was NOT the son of John Stevenson and his wife Elizabeth Boyd of Glasgow, Scotland. That couple's son John Stevenson married Janet Jack, and the christenings of his children are recorded in Glasgow parish registers long after the appearance of our ancestor John Stephenson/Stevenson in Virginia. In short, there is NO connection to the family in Glasgow.

In recent years, we have made some progress in establishing our Stephenson lineage one generation further back to John Stephenson of Lancaster County, Virginia and his wife Christian. The elder John Stephenson acquired 700 acres of land on Slaughter's Creek in Lancaster County, Virginia from William Clapham in July, 1654. In October, 1677, his widow Christian Stephenson appointed her 21 year old son John Stephenson (b. May 12, 1656) to sell the land of his father in Lancaster County, Virginia, relinquishing her right of dower and thirds to Thomas Paynes. It appears that the younger John Stephenson had arrived in Lancaster County, Virginia by May, 1678 as indicated by a headrights list, and soon thereafter became a servant. By September of that year, he was brought before the court for running away from his master Col. John Carter. His servitude was extended as punishment for running away. On February 12, 1678/79, John Steventon, by then a servant of court official Robert Griggs, was ordered to serve a seven years indenture. Two days previous to that date on February 10, 1678/79, John Stephenson of "Isle of Wight County, Virginia" conveyed his father's 700 acres on Slaughter's Creek in Lancaster County, VA to Robert Griggs and Thomas Paynes. It appears that Stephenson may have included Griggs in the land conveyance to partially satisfy his indentured servitude, and had already migrated to Isle of Wight County to avoid serving his remaining indenture. John Stephenson acquired his first land in Isle of Wight County, VA by April, 1680 from John and Sarah Wakefield. John Stephenson subsequently married Elizabeth Edwards, the daughter of Charles Edwards of Isle of Wight County. John Stephenson, along with another of John Carter's servants who had run away named Titus Turner, were both named as headrights by Rowland Bulkly in a 1682 land patent in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

While I have not firmly established it, it appears possible that the elder John Stephenson may have been identical with John Stephens/Stevens of Old Rappahannock County, Virginia. John Stephens acquired a patent for 1000 acres of land on the Rappahannock River in Old Rappahannock County in March, 1657. He also obtained a patent for 653 acres in October, 1660. He subsequently sold the 1660 patent land to two mariners from Bristol in February, 1661/62. John Stephens also acquired 500 acres from Walter Granger in April, 1661. John Stephens devised a will on March 5, 1661/62 indicating his impending return to England, and left 500 acres each from his 1000 acre 1657 patent to John Fulcher (son-in-law of Richard Webley) and Alexander Dudley (son of Richard Dudley). He left Richard Webley the 500 acres bought from Granger in 1661. Richard Webley and Richard Dudley were left his livestock and remainder of his estate in Virginia. No family members are mentioned, nor is any land in Lancaster County. The will was not submitted for probate in Old Rappahannock County, Virginia court until almost 16 years later on February 5, 1677/78, roughly about the same time that the younger John Stephenson would have arrived in Virginia to sell his father's 700 acres in Lancaster County, Virginia. According to Coldham's "Complete Book of Emmigrants," a John Steventon sailed on the ship "Ann" from London to Virginia sometime between October 14th and December 6, 1677. This might be the younger John Stephenson. This is why I believe that John Stephenson of Lancaster County, Virginia and John Stephens of Old Rappahannock County, Virginia may be the same man.

I am also investigating a Captain John Stephens of the Chestnut Pinck/Pinnance, who sailed about April, 1662 with a fleet of ships on behalf of the British East India Company to Swally, India. Captain John Stephens evidently died in India a few years later. It is a possibility that he could be identical with John Stephens of Old Rappahannock County, VA/John Stephenson of Lancaster County, Virginia. Captain John Stephens/Stevens' widow Christian Stephens filed petitions with the British Treasury for claims made on behalf of her late husband's service with the fleet in India. There are various entries concerning payments made to her in the Treasury Books between 1680 and 1688. Whether this Captain John Stephens of the Chestnut Pinck is identical with our ancestor in Virginia has yet to be determined.

There are also parish register entries in the parish of St. Dunstan and All Saints Church in Stepney Parish in London for the baptisms or burials of several children of a John and Christian Stephenson/Stephens between 1642 and 1648. John Stephenson was listed as a shipwright. The burial of a widow Christian Stevens of Ratcliffe in Stepney Parish is also recorded in April, 1685. Whether this family is identical with John and Christian Stephenson of Virginia is also unknown at this time.

Here is a summary of most of the information above in a posting I made on GenForum in 2011.

http://genforum.genealogy.com/stevenson/messages/3160.html

I can supply original documentation for this information, if you desire.

Sincerely,

Mark Valsame
Raleigh, NC
_________________________________________________________________________

John married Christian Unknown. Christian died after 1678.

General Notes: Information provided by Alan C. Stephenson from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

The child from this marriage was:

+ 2 M    i. (William) John Stephenson Jr. was born on 12 May 1650 in Isle of Wight Co., Virginia, USA and died on 24 Nov 1727 in Isle of Wight, Virginia, USA at age 77. {FSID: L7JS-QVH}