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Although the family history has apparently (by an amateur genealogist in South Africa around 1987) been tracked back to
Cornwall, England, and a coat of arms presented by King Henry the 8th,
this is the family web page for the Brent Stephens Family, who are now residing in
Trophy Club (between Fort Worth and Dallas), Texas, USA since March 1993.
Brent's father is William Kent Stephens, born and raised in East London, South Africa, and died in Port Alfred, South Africa from mesothelioma in December 15, 2000. "Bill" married married Pamela Hide and had two children, Linda Lee Stephens and Brent William Stephens (yours truly). The Hide family can be tracked back to Norway - see the Hide page for more information.
Linda married and divorced Nic Heideman, Mathematics Professor at Rhodes University, South Africa and taught Mathematics at Kingswood College in Grahamstown, South Africa before going back to University to study Chemistry where she has a Phd in Neuro Pharmacology and is working on post-doctoral work at Rhodes University. She has two children, Paul - a business consultant and Vicky an attorney.
Brent married Dianne May Tester in 1997 and after a stint as a social worker moved in Personnel Recruiting, and owned Personnel Management Recruiters for 5 years in Johannesburg before moving to Dallas, Texas in 1993. He owned a management consulting company, Consulting Expertise Corporation. for a number of years before joining Morgan Stanley as a Financial Advisor and in 2002 joined Legacy Consulting in a project management role. Brent and Dee divorced in March 2002. They share custody of their two boys, William and Jason Stephens who do well in academics and sport, both excelling in soccer (where dad was the coach up until about U14).
For the geneologically curious, the name William Kent Stephens was tracked back a few generations by my sister and she got as far as St. Ives in Cornwall, England. I went to St. Ives and from discussions with local residents found out that a ship from Ireland had apparently come over and wrecked on the coast carrying three familes: Stephens, Quick and Painter - these are now the most common names in the area, and there is Tregenna Castle - a castle of sorts on the hill (now apparently in time share, as a hotel looked more like a manor house to me...) The Stephens name has been spelt many different ways, there is also folklore that it originated from the town St. Ives itself. The Stephens is also commonly spelt as Stevens, and the different spelling forms apparently go back to the days when only scribes could write, so they would write it as it sounded, and some wrote it Stephens, while others wrote it Stevens. The residents of St. Ives apparently introduce themselves as "Stephens with a ph" or "Stevens with a v" depending on how it is spelt. The names Stephenson or Stevenson are apparently also related, standing for "son of Stephens". The coat of arms was created by a heraldry professional in Johannesburg from the description that he found in Burke's General Armory of Great Britain, I have found it more recently slightly different and with different colors for the spelling "Stevens" - whether that is by accident or design I could not tell you.
Rick Parsons (see links page) reports some history of Tregenna Castle that he gained from a brochure of the Castle (now a Hotel). In their brief history they say
"Tregenna Castle takes its name from the hill on which it stands. Its early inhabitants probably chose the location because it provided a superb vantage point for observing potential raiders and marauders. The building has a fairy-tale quality to it.
"It became a home to Samuel Stephens in 1774 and during this period substantial building work took place. Constructed of local granite, the house consisted of twelve bedrooms and in 1844, a further ten were added. The turrets which lend much distinction to the imposing building were added later as an afterthought.
"The Stephens family lived at Tregenna for a comparatively short time and in 1888 the Bolitho family of Bankers acquired the property.
"In 1887 the railway branch line from St. Erth to St. Ives was opened and the town soon started to receive the advanced guard of visitors and the Board of the Great Western Railway decided to rent Tregenna Castle for the purpose of establishing a hotel in St. Ives and a forty two year lease was signed. Many alterations were carried out, providing facilities for billiards, croquet, lawn tennis, archery and cricket - all within the grounds.
"GWR purchased the property in 1882 [sic], but any further development did not start in earnest until 1923. By 1932 the west wing consisting of forty nine rooms was completed, bringing the total number to ninety, as at the present.
"It was not until 1929 that plans for the golf course were finally approved
and work commenced.
...
"Tregenna Castle has played host to many prominent visitors. One notary was
Herr von Ribbentrop, the German Ambassador to Great Britain before the
Second World War. It was a widely held belief that St. Ives would never be
bombed, because Hitler has promised Tregenna to von Ribbentrop as a personal
residence after Germany had conquered Great Britain."
On the Stephens family, Rick reports:
The Stephens family originally lived in the middle of St. Ives. The mansion
house was described as Tregenna Place and Fore Street and may have been
quite extensive to link these two roads together - in 1871
"The MANSION HOUSE in Tregenna Place and Fore Street (a capital old-fashioned stone-built residence), with ground floor and one floor above, now used as the office of the estate, and as the dwelling house of the baliff or sub-manager; with front garden and also a kitchen garden and summer house and premises on the other side of Fore Street"
From the extensive listing for the sale it is evident that the Stephens owned a good proportion of St. Ives.
When Rick was asked if he could comment on the spelling of Stephens / Stevens and the Irish legend - he replied as follows:
"The three families from Ireland legend is strong and almost certainly has
some basis in fact, possibly soon after the arrival of the Saints (including
Ia herself) in the C5th - it will never be proved though. Surnames did not
become widely established until C14th, possibly later in these Celtic parts
as can be seen in Wales."
More recently we heard from Michelle Maloney in the UK who is related to William Kent Stephens (my great grandfather) and is researching the family roots. Here is the communciation that will help any genealogists!
On February, 2010 Michelle Maloney wrote:
“I googled images and found your site - this was a real breakthrough for me as I have been struggling with my family history research and was excited to find a mention of William Kent Stephens in East London South Africa.
I confirmed the graveside was one I had visited a few times and she replied:
“Well I am so pleased to find out that you have named your son William Kent. My Great Grandfather and his wife Ruth Emery Brown had 9 daughters and 2 sons. One, Victor died at around the age of 20 from leukemia, and his brother Walter died in his 50's [unmarried] from throat cancer and therefore the name William Kent stopped there in our family. [Although my sister has named her son Kent Chad...]
I contacted my sister Linda who had done some South Africa research before and she contributed:
“I remembered that I have copies of death certificates of garndfather, great grandfather and great, great grandfather (all William Kent Stephens) - all list the name of their wife and children (some of their married names too)!
Michelle replied:
Thanks so much for the email. I was really pleased to see the details from your certificates as we definitely do have a common ancestor - William Kent Stephens born Penryn 1835 who married Margaret O'Dea in Ireland, and died 1912 in Stellenbosch. My Mom cited 'Bridgit Catherine' as one of the Aunts - so perhaps Kate, who was your father's Aunt - is 'Bridgit Catherine' on the gravestone, but was just called Kate. I was given the same names for all of the siblings - not sure if Edith or Bridgit Catherine married Bishop Tait - Adeline married Mr Wellbridge. My Great Grandfather William Kent was born in 1892 in the Cape and married Ruth Emery Brown in 1914. Their children were Olga Schultz, Mary Hind, Carol, June Nilsen, Leonie, Gwen, Gloria Williams, Hazel Scott, Victor and Walter, and my Gran, Adeline. I am researching the Cornwall family and think that Richard may have married Mary Kent hence the beginning of our family tradition. I need to verify this, but from all the thousands of records I've trawled through this does seem to be where the 'William Kent' tradition starts [see parish records below].
Research continues…
"There was great rivalry between the STEPHENS and STEVENS of St. Ives. (it
comes from the Saint - Stephen as a Christian name, not a misspelling if St.
Ives). The ones who spell it with the PH are from the gentry family and
won't have anything to do with the ones with a V who were artisans. Don't
ever get the spelling wrong
My ancestor was William Kent Stephens born in 1892 in South Africa. The Kent name is curious in our family tree and I therefore feel there may be a link. We were told by my Gran and Great Gran that the name Kent must always be carried down through the generations because we are descendents of William Kent the famous English Architect and Landscaper [although he never married his mistress was the actress Elizabeth Butler].
William Brown married Mary Wakefield in Dublin and shortly afterwards they moved to East London in South Africa. Their daughter Ruth Emery Brown married William Kent Stephens in Cape Town on 10 Sep 1914. I am still trying to find out more about him - all I know so far is that his father was born in Penryn Cornwall. I also came across a lot of information on Treganna and Samuel Stephens, who in marrying Betty became a very important landowner in Penryn. There is also a William Kent Stephens born in 1835 in Budock Penryn which I think may be my ancestor's father or grandfather.
I also came across a Gravestone photo of a William Kent Stephens from East London who died in 1951. Buried alongside were his wife Maud Mabel, sister Bridget Catherine and another nee Stephens relative. It does seem that there are a number of generations with the particular name William Kent. My Great Grandfather had a large family of 9 girls two sons. He was killed by being run over by a train when the signals failed. My Gran always said he came from a very good family and never spoke much about him because she still experienced such painfulness at the memory of his demise.
If you have any more detail about this branch of your family I would be most grateful as I am sure there is a link because of the "William Kent" part!”
I am still researching the Cornish side and waiting for some documents from my great aunt in South Africa. I already have a very likely family in Cornwall and quite a lateral tree there - to pick up on once I can verify. At a quick glance my Great Grandfather who died in 1938 and your Grandfather who died in 1951 may have been cousins [brothers in the same family who both wanted to carry through with the name tradition?] I am also working on the William Kent [architect and landscaper] tree from the top down to try and link to the Stephens. I was contacted by someone else here in the UK trying to do the same so we are working together on this [quite difficult and time-consuming though].
I attach a photo of a gravestone [along with other Stephens] which may be your Grandfather who died in 1951 [along with others]. What intrigued me about these was that my ancestors had a sister Catherine and a sister Brigit.
I will let you know if I find out anything more - could you let me know your Dad's older sisters names?”
William Kent Stephens born Port Alfred, SA, died 14 January 1951 (age 62 yrs 3 months), East London, SA, married Mabel Maud (born Nicholls)
Children: Amelia Mabel Maud Rennie, Beatrice Francis Smith, Elizabeth Lilly Scholl, Grace Nicholls Kershaw, Winifred Kathleen Fischer, William Kent Stephens
William Kent Stephens born Rondeheavel, Cape, SA, died 27 January 1944 (age 81 yrs 3 months), East London, SA, married Cornelia Sussana
Children: Magdelina Francina Lloyd, Margaret Marion Godfrey, William Kent Stephens, John Alexander Stephens, Samuel Stephens, Ruth Elizabeth Gelderblom
William Kent Stephens born Penryn, Cornwall, England, died 11 January 1912 (age 76 yrs 9months), Stellenbosch, SA, married Margaret Odea
Children: William, Thomas, Kate, Emma (married Jevon), Julia (married Peake), Martha, Alice (married Egerton Wilson), Beatrice (married McDonald), Edith, Adeline
His parents were Richard and Mary Stephens.
We still haven't discovered how 'Brigit Catherine' is related as she doesn't seem to have been William Kent's sister.”
Richard Stephens marriage to Mary Kent, Falmouth Cornwall
William Kent Stephens born Budock, Penryn Cornwall
I will add all of your details into the tree I have and let you know when I receive the documents I am waiting for which should establish the cousin link. As soon as I can verify the Cornwall generation - if this family in Penryn is the correct one - I have a wide lateral tree ready to link into - [a family with generations of farmers which I've traced back to 1740 so far] - and hopefully on Mary Kent's side I can find the link to William Kent and Elizabeth Butler.”
From this it appears that I should have been William Kent the 4th or 5th and my son William Kent would have been the 5th or 6th!
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