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My husband received an e-mail enquiry from a Sleeper researcher. I am posting the reply here in case it is of more general interest. His information about the Sleeper family of Chadwell is derived from his interest in the local history of the Chadwell area in south Essex. In the medieval documents that mention the family, the spelling is usually Sleper.
The earliest reference to John Sleper that has yet been traced is 1383 when he was appointed by John Merlawe and Thomas Ellerboke to deliver possession of lands in Chadwell to John de Ingelby. (Christ's Hospital Records at Hampshire Record Office, W/H2/14) In 1419 John Sleper witnessed a land transfer (Calendar of Close Rolls, Henry V, Volume II, membrane 8d) and in 1444,Thomas Sleper was a party to a grant of land from William Pert of Aveley to Thomas Farthing and his wife, Joan. (Merton College Catalogue of MSS, Volume XII, Essex ) In 1492, John Sleper of Chadwell died and in his will, he ordered that his house which he dwelt in should be sold. His will included a bequest of twenty shillings to Thomas Sleper, who was also a witness to the will.( Essex County Record Office, D/AER/1/152)
An abstract of title prepared in the early 17th century (Essex County Record Office, D/DRu/T1/214A, 16 Henry VI ) provides more details of the relationship between family members. In 1436, Thomas Sleeper, and his wife Jane received land previously owned by Thomas’ father John Sleeper and his wife Agnes. There seems to be a naming pattern in which the eldest son is named for his paternal grandfather. A reference in the same document to a Thomas Sleeper the younger in 1421, suggests that a subsequent son could be named for his father.
A plausible reconstruction of the family is that at the end of the 14th century a Thomas Sleeper had two sons – John and Thomas. This John married Agnes and was the father of a second Thomas; this Thomas married Jane and was the father of the second John and he in turn was the father of the third Thomas. This gives five generations of the Sleper family at least four of which lived in Chadwell in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Following the death of John Sleper in 1492, his house in Chadwell (which became known as Sleepers) was sold to the Tyrell family. There are no known references to the Sleeper family in Chadwell after 1500. Thomas Sleeper was apparently alive at the end of the fifteenth century, but not living in Chadwell.
There is no information about where the Essex family went after it left Chadwell, and it would be very difficult to link them to the Bristol family.
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