Stevens genealogy. Some descendants of the Fitz Stephen family in England and New England (English Edition) [Kindle-editie] beoordelingen het boek quotes

THE Norman house of Fitz Stephen originally took its cognomen from the Christian name borne in honor of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. In the development of English surnames allusion to landed estates, to Christian names, or to occupations was characteristic—usually with corruption or alteration in process of time in either sound or spelling, or both, and almost invariably in spelling. The family of Le Despencer, for instance, with whom a branch of the Stevens family is connected, took designation from the high office at court of Dispenser or Lord Steward of the royal household, held by the earlier ancestors. The name grew to be Despencer, then De Spencer, and finally Spencer, by which corrupted form are now known the men of this blood—the Dukes of Marlborough and Earls Spencer. The " de " in most Norman surnames has long since been dropped. The De Wessingtons have become Washing-tons, the De Walgraves, by curious confusion, Walde-graves ; the De Winterwades, Wentworths; and a similar process of change has been usual.In like transition the name Fitz Stephen became Fitz Stephens, and then Stephens. And as spelling was long unsettled, the alphabetical letters being used with wide liberty, if somehow they conveyed the intended sound—the name came to be spelled in a variety of ways. The principal spellings, Stephens and Stevens, have been used interchangeably in repeated instances, as applied to the same individuals, both in England and America. The later American forms of Steevens and Stevens, as settled by distinctly traceable processes evidenced by old family documents, are well-known corruptions of the original. Among other spellings on both sides of the Atlantic may be mentioned Stephenes, Stepheyns, Stephyns, Stevyns, Steveens, Steevens, Steevans, Stevins and Schyvyns. The essential point in genealogy, of course, is actual blood descent; and alterations in the structure or spelling of a name, or even entire change of name, is of but incidental consequence. Varied form in the name is one of the well-recognized marks of an ancient family.The coat-of-arms of this house, as recorded by the College of Heralds, and continuously in use in the English and American branches, is settled as being: " Per chevron, azure and argent, in chief two falcons volant or." In ordinary English, this designates a shield divided by an inverted V, the upper half blue and the lower half silver. In the upper half are two falcons of gold in the attitude of opening their wings to begin flying. In some old descriptions the word " volant," which designates this attitude, is given as " rising "—" in chief two falcons rising or." Either description is correct, one being equivalent to the other. The crest is " a demi-eagle displayed or "—in other words, an eagle of gold showing in front down to, but excluding the legs, and with wings outstretched. It has been suggested that this eagle may have been intended for a falcon, or the falcons in the shield may originally have been eagles. And a certain color is given to this suggestion by the fact that in some instances the falcons have been called eagles,