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Descendants of Airard FITZ-STEPHENS
Twelfth Generation
15. John STEPHENS Baron of Lewynsude (Richard STEPHENS , John STEPHENS , John Fritz STEPHENS , John , Henry , John , Fitz , Ralph , Ralph , Thomas , Airard ) was born about 1378 in Lewynsmede, Glouchestershire, England.
JOHN STEPHENS, Baron of Lewynesmede, by feudal tenure, was Member of Parliament for Bristol,2 in the reign of King Richard II, and Mayor of Bristol 1403, in the reign of King Henry IV, shortly after the rise of the House of Lancaster. In 1387, he became executor of the estate of Walter Stoderley, Esq., of Bristol, and guardian of the latter's son; and at the same time executor, together with Sir Philip Sherrer, of the will of Thomas Clark, of Bristol.3 He succeeded to the lordship of Lewynesmede4 by the will of its holder, the Rev. Elias Spelly, who as a priest of the Church was without heirs by descent. This will, which included other lands, provided legacies for Thomas Colston, and Nicholas le Clerk, understood to have been kinsmen of the Spelly family. He was executor of the will of John Castel, of Bristol, in 1401, through which he and his son John, called "the younger" received inheritances.5 The Bristol records of 1407 show that he then held property in that municipality in addition to his baronial estates.6 Two years later his wife Margaret, daughter of Robert Didbrok, of Bristol, inherited under the will of her father.7 In the next year he was executor of the will of John Bassett.8 His wife is referred to as living as late as 1417.
John married Margaret DEDROKE. Margaret was born about 1381 in Bristol, Glouchestershire, England.
They had the following children:
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