Steventon

This name, widely recorded in the Birmingham area, is of English locational origin from any of the various places so called from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal byname "Stif(a)", from "stif", stiff, plus "ing", people of, and "tun", a farm or settlement. These places include Steventon in Berkshire and Hampshire, recorded as "Sitiventune" in the Domesday Book of 1086 for the above counties, Stevington in Bedfordshire, appearing as "Stiuentone" in the Domesday Book and as "Steventon" in Feudal Aids Documents, dated 1284, also Stevington, Essex, entered as "Stiuenton" in the 1166, Pipe Rolls of that county. One Robert de Stevington, rector of Knapton, was recorded in Norfolk in 1321. On November 10th 1670 Anne, daughter of John Steventon, was christened in St. Sepulchre, London and on January 21st 1753 Josh Steventon and Elizabeth Jenks were married in Aston Juxta, Birmingham, Warwickshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edmund de Stewincton, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Cambridgeshire", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.