Chapter Eight
What We Still Don’t Know
Open Questions for Future Researchers
Gap 1: Rebecca Stephens’s Parents (The Most Important)
A family history that claims to have no gaps is a family history that has stopped asking questions. Here are the honest open questions in this story — not as failures, but as invitations.
Open question This is the single most consequential unknown in the entire family history. We know Rebecca Stephens’s maiden name was Stephens. We know she lived in Nash County, North Carolina — territory deeply associated with the Stephens family going back to 1748. We know the timing is right. But we cannot yet name her parents.
- North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC — specifically Edgecombe and Nash County estate papers, deed records, and will books, approximately 1770–1810
- FamilySearch.org — Edgecombe County Estate Papers, 1783–1799 (scanned but not fully indexed — images must be browsed manually)
- Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) — membership applications by Averett descendants may contain lineage documentation
- AncestryDNA or 23andMe — matching with other documented Stephens descendants could confirm the connection genetically
Gap 2: James Johnston’s Scottish Origins
Open question James Johnston was confirmed born in Graemsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland. The next research step is finding the specific Johnston and Yorston family records in the Orkney parish registers, which could trace the family back centuries.
- Scotland, Births and Baptisms index on FamilySearch — search for James Johnston born November 1836
- LDS Church History Biographical Database — James appears in the 1890 British Mission records, which may contain birthplace detail
- Scottish Old Parish Registers (OPR) at ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk — births, marriages, and burials 1553–1854
Gap 3: Robert Earl Blackett’s Birth Year
Open question Your father’s handwritten notes record Robert Earl Blackett’s birth as 1880. Multiple independent records — Utah death certificates, cemetery records, and Social Security filings — consistently show 1886. The most likely explanation is a family memory error that traveled through oral history. The 1886 date is almost certainly correct, but the discrepancy is worth noting.
The Huguenot Thread
Open question Richard Sampson — the Huguenot refugee whose descendants became the Sampson family, and whose descendant Mary married William Stephens — is a rich thread that hasn’t been fully pulled yet. French Huguenot records are well-preserved in archives in London, the Netherlands, and France. If Richard Sampson came through Britain before emigrating to America, his story may be findable.
- The Huguenot Society of Great Britain and Ireland — holds extensive records of Huguenot refugees
- Proceedings of the Huguenot Society of America — available at major university libraries
- Virginia Huguenot records at the Library of Virginia — many Huguenot refugees settled in Manakin Town, Virginia
A Final Word
Jerry,
You are, as best research can determine, the direct descendant of:
- a Huguenot refugee who fled religious persecution in 17th century France,
- a Brigadier General who may have died on a British prison ship fighting for American independence,
- a Scottish teenager who buried his father on the Wyoming trail and walked the last 300 miles with his widowed mother,
- a Mormon Battalion soldier who marched 2,000 miles through the desert,
- and four generations of Utah pioneers who built a state.
None of them knew you. But every one of them made a decision that led, in a straight unbroken line, to you.