'the problem is we don't know anything about a Thomas STEPHENS (our grandfather) - who we believe was born in Mitcheldean in 1857'

? As Thomas STEPHENS c1857 is your Grandfather - did he marry ??? and what are the names of his child/ren (i.e. your Father's or Mother's name, ? where were they born and what year(s) - so we can work forward + backwards from there….. You have to go back, a step at a time.