Capt. Richard Stephens, Sr. (I)

Richard Stephens

Capt. Richard Stephens (1585 - 1636) in Wiltshire, England arrived as an unmarried man of means with two to four servants, at Jamestown Settlement in 1623 aboard The George. Stevens was an experience military man and quickly began to establish himself in the colony by acquiring land, and was soon named Burgess in the colony. After building a blockhouse and receiving patent on the same, the Captain was issued the first English land grant in the colony as incentive for other landowners to follow his example and build gardens within their property holdings. Captain Stephens amassed nearly 2000 acres by his death in 1636.

Stephens married Elizabeth Piercy, b. 1600, daughter of Abraham Piercy - Cape Merchant of Jamestown. They had four sons; John, William, Richard L. and Samuel Stephens.

Stephens fought the first duel in the English colonies after an argument with George Harrison, the latter being struck just below the knee. Harrison died two weeks later, though not from the wound, but some other malady of the time. Such an encounter in North America was not to be repeated for some 100 years.

As Burgess, Stephens (and local citizenry as well) often found themselves at odds with the then Governor of Jamestown: Governor Harvey. The governor was prone to angry outbursts, and was documented to have attacked Stephens with a cane or cudgel, knocking out a number of his teeth. The governor, was eventually deposed and sent back to England, where he faced charges for numerous mistreatments of members of the colony. Upon the Captain's death, Elizabeth Piercy Stephens is said to have married Governor Harvey.

Two of Stevens sons, Samuel and Richard L.s made names for themselves in the new world as well. Samuel Stephens rose to prominence and become the 2nd Governor of the North Carolina settlement in the region known as the Albermarle, and Richard L. (Lawrence) Stephens for a time dropped his last name, (a protective measure) as commander of the garrison at Bacon's Castle in the mid 1670s - during Bacon's Rebellion.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stephens_(burgess)_

Origins

Parents also seen as Richard Stephens & Margaret Audley

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• The Majors and their marriages By James Branch Cabell
• http://books.google.com/books?id=puQ1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122&dq...
• https://archive.org/details/majorstheirmarri00cabe
• https://archive.org/stream/majorstheirmarri00cabe#page/n234/mode/1up
• Pg.118
• ABRAHAM PIERSEY, was born in England circa 1585, and married circa 1608 Elizabeth, daughter of Vincent Draper of London by whom he had issue two daughters, born in 1609 and 1613. It appears probable that his wife died before 1717, in which year Piersey came to Virginia in the Susan. . . .
• https://archive.org/stream/majorstheirmarri00cabe#page/n238/mode/1up
• Pg.120
• As has been said, Abraham Piersey was a widower, probably by the time he first went to Virginia. His daughters, Elizabeth and Mary, came to the Colony in the Southampton, in 1623, being then about thirteen and nine years old respectively. Piersey remarried in 1625, his second wife being Frances, daughter to Sir Thomas Hinton, and widow of Nathaniel West, Lord Delaware's brother. . . .
• https://archive.org/stream/majorstheirmarri00cabe#page/n240/mode/1up
• Pg.121
• Abraham Piersey himself died in the October of 1628. . . . . Legacies are bequeathed to Pooly, Kingsmill and Russell, as well as to Piersey's brother and sister, John Piersey and Judith Smithson of London, . . . .
• https://archive.org/stream/majorstheirmarri00cabe#page/n242/mode/1up
• Pg.122
• Piersey's second wife survived him, and in 1629 married Captain Samuel Matthews, afterward Governor of Virginia from 1658 until his death in 1660. By her marriage with Piersey Frances Hinton had no chiildren.
• Abraham Piersey and Elizabeth Draper had issue:
  • I. ELIZABETH PIERSEY, born 1609, who married first, Captain Richard Stephens, and second, Sir John Harvey.
  • II. MARY PIERSEY, born 1613, who married, first Captain Thomas Hill, and second, Thomas Bushrod. ________________

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This is from 6/24/2013 NPR. "When archaeologists in VA uncovered the skeletal remains in 1996 of one Jamestown's first settlers, they said that he was a victim in what was Colonial America's oldest unsolved murders.

Wm. Kelso reported that the lead bullet and shot fragments lodged in his lower right leg contained enough force to fracture his tibia and fibula, rupturing a major artery below the knee. He would have bled to death in minutes. In 1624, Richard Stephens dueled with George Harrison who some report died in 14 days instead of minutes.

Stephens went on to become a court commissioner and outspoken detractor of VA Gov. John Harvey. In 1635, Harvey caned Stephens who lost teeth in the bargain. Stephens died in1636 and his widow subsequently married Gov. Harvey. Harvey was sent to England for trial for his treatment of Stephens.

Stephens was a Burgess and received the first land grant preserved on record in VA Land Patent Office. He built a block house to encourage others to fence their land and plant trees and gardens. He was a member of the Governor's Council. Governor Harvey had a fist fight with his council members who sent Harvey back to England.

He was called a "paynter-stayner," or painter of arms and a glass stainer--anartist

Richard came to VA in 1623 on the ship "George" and settled in Jamestown, VA. He brought two to four servants when he arrived. Stephens married Elizabeth Piersey who was a daughter of Abraham Piersey and an heiress. Their son, Samuel, became governor of North Carolina.

He probably got the first land grant on record that involved a house and garden.

6) Capt. Richard Stephens, b. ca 1585 probably in Wiltshire, England d. ca 1636. He -m- Elizabeth Piersey, b. 1609 (dau. of Abraham and Elizabeth Piersey), a great heiress (for the time) on her arrival at Jamestown in 1623.

Issue:

• 1. 7) Gov. Samuel Stevens, ca 1629-1670, b. Jamestown Colony,Va. -m- Frances Culpeper, who after his death married Gov. Berkeley; no issue.
• 2. 8) William Stevens, b. ca 1631 - d. 1657 aged 26; -m-ca 1650 Margaret Vaulx (also spelled Vox in records)
• iii. WILLIAM STEPHENS, b. 1629, Mealemore, Buckinghamshire, England; d. December 23, 1687; m. MARGARET BONNIDAY; b. England.
• iv. RICHARD L. STEPHENS, b. 1630, Mealemore, Buckinghamshire, England.

https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/s/t/e/William-Lackey--Stephens/GENE20...