Our English Connection

By William W. Stepp

This is as good a place as any to delve into the English background of the first Joshua and Abraham, his brother. It is not my intent to pry into our British roots in this book to any extent, and I will not. My only interest in the matter is to ascertain if we have found any Joshuas or Abrahams on the British side of the Atlantic. Currently I only know of two people who could answer that question -- "Anchorman" William Stepp and Dr. Joy Stapp, Ph.D. a Texas researcher.

Bill Stepp's findings first: He states he found clusters of Stapps and Stepps in the London area, in the Villages of Stewkley and Quainton in Buckinghamshire, in the River Humber area of Northern England in Yorkshire and in SW England in Devonshire and Cornwell. He has also found Stapps and Stepps in Nottinghamshire.

 

Rough sketch of London Area:

Map note: Edmonton was the home of Joseph Stepp, the indentured servant to Capt. Thomas Stegge.

Bill Stepp states he found the following spellings: STAP, STEAPH, STAPS, STAPPES, STAFF, AND STAVE. He does not mention any given names of those he located. I assume from that - that he had found no "early on" English Joshuas or Abrahams.

In addition, he has discovered the following (see map above):

1. John Stapp m. Ayies Haundy 12 June 1603 of Tottenham

2. Susanna Stapp, chris. daughter of John and Elizabeth Enfield 20 Nov. 1625.

3. Thomas Stapps, chris. son of John Stapps 18 Dec. 1645, Tring, Hertford.

4. William Stappe, chris son of Lazarus Stappe 5 Feb. 1603, Tring, Hertford.

5. Alice Stappes m. Antony Jackson 26 Jan 1593, St. Albans, Hertford.

6. Robert Step born son of Robert Step 28 April 1657, St. Albans, St. Peter.

7. Jespare Stapp m. Suzanna Robinson 15 July 1583, Enfield, St. Andrew

8. Jespare Stapp chris. 6 Jan. 1602, Enfield, St. Andrew

9. Henry Staps, chris. son of Henry Staps 25 Oct. 1562, East Garston, Berkshire

10. Edrund Stappe chris. 4 May 1570, son of Richard Stappe, Bedford, St. Mary.

11. Nicholas Stapp, chris. 6 Jan. 1586, Woburn, Bedford.

12. William Stappe, chris. 12 Nov. 1567, Bedford, St. Mary.

 

Dr. Joy Stapp traveled to England and spent several weeks researching our name. She obtained records from every county in England for births prior to 1700 and marriages before 1725 (to be in the same, or near same, generation as our original Joshua & Abraham). Here are a few of her findings:

1. She found our name spelled 18 ways.

2. She found the record where John Stapp married Mary Woodard 18 May 1630 in Buck/Newport/Pagnall.

3. She found our surname in 9 counties as follows:

    Buck      Kent       Norf
    Corn      Leic
    Devo      Linc
    Hert      Lond

4. She found 8 John Steps in Buck/Stewkley and one more John who married Mary Woodard.

5. In the above listed 9 shires (counties) she found 307 Stepp/Stapps, etc., listed.
This included all of the 18 different kinds of spelling of our name.

6. She found John Stapp, the Sea Captain in Cornwell.

7. The only Old Testament given name among all those 307, was the name MOSES (in Croxton Keyrial in Leicestershire) who would have been a contemporary of Abraham & Joshua "timewise." The 3 could have been brothers.

8. A big surprise: She found a Dorothy North, Born 1651 in Croxton Keyrials, Leicestershire (the same area as where she found Moses Stapp).

9. In my book I have Abraham marrying Dorothy North in 1678. If it is the same Dorothy North as found by Dr. Stapp and born in 1651, England, she would have been 27 years of age at marriage. She would have been Abraham's first wife because he married Dorothy Moss in 1685, just 7 years after the death of his first wife, Dorothy North Stepp, in the year 1685 at age 34. In those 7 years Dorothy North Stepp could have borne 5 children of the large "Abraham sired" offspring of over twice that many.

10. Dr. Stapp's on-site research now narrows down to:

A) the area of John Stapp in Buck/Stewkley (as found by Bill Stepp also)
B) the area of John Stapp in Buck/New Port/Pagnell and who married Mary Woodard.
C) the area of Moses Stapp & Dorothy North (Croxton Keyrial, Leicestershire)
D) the area of John Stapp, Sea Captain (Corn.)

11. The following were county locations (Abbreviated) Dr. Stapp personally investigated:

     Buck      Kent      Linc
     Corn      Leic
     Devo      London
     Hert      Norf

12. The following are the surname spellings (of our name) found by Dr. Stapp:

Stapp    Steppis    Stepp    Stepe
Stappe   Staph      Stepps   Steppe
Stape    Stapes     Stapps   Stip
Stap     Stape      Stappes  Staps
Step 

 

In summary of Bill Stepp's and Dr. Stapp's work - neither came upon the given name of Joshua or Abraham. That does not mean it does not exist. Years of research would be necessary before one could say they did not exist in that time period we have just discussed.

Who knows? One or both of these researchers may be the one to find the missing names & to write the British history of our name. Elsewhere in the 2nd Edition we delve into truly ancient times in the section devoted to "The Origin of Our Name." For the time being we will put British (or English) research on hold and get back to the U.S.A.

The chart above is self explanatory. In the case of those who have "Joshua" related questions, this writer refers you to "Anchorman" William E. Stepp of Virginia Beach, VA or to some of his Joshua related research group.

Any information sent to William W. Stepp will be forwarded to Bill Stepp or Betty Loftiss and hope that it will fill out another part of the "Joshua picture."

We have two research team members in the London area of England -Mr. Edward Cecil Step and Miss Lynn Stepp. We will be referring to their findings from time to time. If they come up with additional new information after our book is printed, we will try to add that information to the Addenda section. To begin our discussion we are going to start with a "flow chart" in order to exhibit the subjects of our discussion:

 

The above John Stapp of Buckinghamshire and who most of the Stepp genealogists believe to be the ancestor of our Colonial Virginia Stepps lived and died in England. Mr. Scalf, in his book "The Stepp/Stapp Families of America," page 2, quotes the will of this John Stapp. Our researchers found the same will. It was dated December 12, 1657 and proven April 3, 1658. The will was contested by an infant, Thomas Warrall, by the infant's father, Thomas Warrall, a probable son-in-law of John Stapp. The contestation was voided by a witness. John Stapp was a man of considerable wealth because he left his wife Mary a house in Newport-Pagnell as well as a barn, stable and garden yard. He also left his wife a London house plus five tenements with garden yards in the same city. In addition he left her 20 acres in Buckingham. The will may be inspected by referring to Abstracts of English Records, Principally Devonshire And Essex by Roger Dearing and Matthew Whipple, page 270.

The above Abraham Stapp, b. ca 1646-50 - d. 1714 and brother Joshua Stap, b. ca 1550-51 are the Stapps from which most American Stepps spring. We will be taking them up later.

The John Stapp of Fowey, England, who died in 1732 was found by our London teammate, Edward Cecil Step. He found his will. The will gave no clue as to the place of his birth or the maiden name of his wife-- but her first name is Elizabeth. John Stapp of Fowey died 2 March 1732. He was living at Polruan, which is on the other side of the estuary from Fowey. He had a number of sons and daughters and considerable property. He was a mariner, and some of his sons were mariners. One son, Thomas, was born 1719 and died in 1764-65. (At time of death he was Master on a ship in the British Navy.) There is little doubt that this is the same John Stapp who was first Master and then co-owner of the 180 ton "William and Ann" that came into the Virginia "Potomack" River area and later to the Lower James River Area in the years 1699-1701. Data on this may be found in the English Duplicates of Lost Virginia Records, by Louis Des Cognets, Princeton, 1958, pages 282-289. Mr. Scalf mentions this also in his book. The reader will note that his father has not yet been researched but our London team members feel sure his father will be one of the many sons of John Stapp of Buckinghamshire, England.

Going back to our flow chart we have a Joseph Stapp, b. ca 1642. This is a find by team researcher William E. Stepp of Virginia Beach, Virginia from Virginia Colonial Fleet Abstracts, Vol. II, Charles City County, Virginia, Court Orders, 1658-1-661, page 58 (from page 215). In this case we will quote the quaint writing:

"Whereas Wm. Tottersell now servt to Mr. Antho Wyatt and Joseph Stepp now servt to Capt. Thomas Stegge came into this country w'thout Covent apper- rit on their part for their service. And whereas by lre of Mr. John- Bird of London a Credible man, and a sealed contract on his parts, it appeareth that the agreemt w'th the sd servts parents or other friends was for eight years each of them. Itt is therefore ordered that the sd Tottersell and Stepp shall serve and complete the time of eight years aforesd from their arriveall, except an agreemt shalbe produced and proved from Engl--- for a different time."

and then the second item:

"Brother Stegge: My love and C inter salia. According to yo'r Desire I have sent yu two lustie lads out of our towne of Edmonton, one his father is a shoemaker his name is Tatersoale. I believe you nev'r met with such an arch youth and the other (meaning Stepp) his father is a Chapmen (meaning merchant or trader). I desire you may write to me of them, if they come safe because of my need to please their fathers. Ultra the boyes I being so sick could not bind them but agree for eight years and have signed and sealed my Indentures and gave my vucle (sic) order to bind them abroad."

Yo'r ev'rlo Brother to Command
London 21 Sber 1658
John Byrd
rec. Jan'ry 11, 59 (1659/60)

No history on young Joseph was picked up in our research. We do not even know if he arrived safely in America.

A quick glance at the flow chart under discussion will show that all three Stepps-- Joseph of Edmonton and our Abraham and Joshua, could all have been sons of John Stapp of Buckinghamshire. We hasten to add that this is not documented. We hope to so document in the future. It is too "neat" to be accidental.

In Mr. Scalf's book, page 210, his researchers list a John Stepp, traditional British Soldier, as the father of our known ancestors, Abraham and Joshua. Martha Stepp of Harlan, Kentucky has made the same observation. Our team was unable to document this British Soldier's existence and we know of no one else who has so documented. It probably comes under the classification of "family legend."

It was this writer's desire to give our readers as much background as possible as to the origin of our known ancestor, Abraham Stapp, 1650-1714. We have now told what we know and we can state that the "probable" ancestor of Abraham (and his brother Joshua) was John Stapp of Buckinghamshire, England. Our London team researchers will continue to research and verify.

In the beginning it was not our intent to delve into our ancestors across the ocean and we would content ourselves with what was "findable" on our own shores. As time evolved and we began to study various versions of the ancestors of Abraham Stapp we became more and more curious, so we set about to enlist team members in London (a-Step/Stepp of course!). We were able to find two excellent Step/Stepp researchers who have been researching the Step line for some 12 years-- and we have previously mentioned their names. We were lucky to find such experienced teammates to research far away England for us.

"The Stepp Family Chronicles" is primarily a story of John Stalp/Step, Sr. II of Rockingham County, Virginia (1765-1839), including what we know of