Lord John Garth, 1st Steadholder Garth, was a Grayson citizen and the founder of his steading. As he died an only child who left no sons to succeed him, and because his status as his Steading's founder precluded the Steadholdership from reverting to his father, the succession remained contested for two years until the Church and the Conclave of Steadholders discovered that the junior wife of Garth's father was pregnant. A compromise was reached, and the Church and Conclave agreed to recognize the child as heir to the Steadholdership if it was male, which he was.