Richard STEPHENS redux 172?-1805 (General)

by mrsbruso , Saturday, December 08, 2012, 02:31 (4363 days ago)

I'm revisiting one of my earlier brick walls. Maybe I'm just unable to find anything further because there's nothing further to find,but I'm hoping maybe someone can see something new here that I've missed.

The first reference to Richard STEPHENS in Awre (Blakeny Chapel) is the death of his daughter, Mary, in 1745. In 1746 he and his wife, Sarah, have another daughter, also named Mary, and in 1749, a third daughter, this one named Elizabeth. In 1754 Sarah dies, and he subsequently remarries, Mary LOVELL. Richard dies in 1805, at the age of 81.

There are two possibilities for his birth, in either 1728 or 1729, in either Lydney or Newland, if one is restricting the area to the F.O.D. (Anyone know where Pool Green was, exactly?) I haven't found anything promising in FreeReg regarding Richard's birth or first marriage either, and I searched the counties of Gloucestershire, Monmouthshire, Herefordshire and Somerset.

William STEPHENS, of Blakeney Lodge buried his wife, Damaris, and son John, in Lydney. Stephens seems to be a common name for Lydney. William remarries and goes on to have additional children with his wife Sarah MORSE (also of Blakeney Lodge), including sons William, Richard, and another William. Also buried in Lydney in 1790, William, son of William and Sarah of Blakeney Lodge, aged 34 years . . .

So both these possible births for Richard are a bit later than we would expect if he were 81 in 1805, so perhaps neither is him. The only link between his family and William's that I can establish is that they are both in Blakeney, and that William's second son is coincidentally named Richard.

I can find no records of Richard and Sarah's marriage, no record of the first Mary's birth either . . .

Richard's Clarke grandchildren between them seem to own a considerable amount of land in Blakeney. Considering Harriett Clarke's father died the year she was born, she ends up with a fairly sizable estate (her will, and that of her brother William, is included in the will section of this site.) Is this from the CLARKE side, the STEPHENS side or something I've overlooked completely?

Anyone have any suggestions on whether there are any leads here that will take me back earlier than Blakeney, 1745?