Researching the Stephenson Family
Some years ago I began delving into the Stephenson and associated families at the request of the family. This has not been easy as apart from official records there are few clues that can fill out their stories. The following is a brief summary of some of the families gleaned from available records. Unfortunately much of it is quite sad as the records tend to document the bare life facts and not achievements or happy stories. Although the local newspaper The Morpeth Herald often gave detailed account of the local people the Stephensons are only mentioned in death notices. This could be a good thing as many of the newspaper items were reporting crimes and misdemeanours.
Most of the men were employed in the three main, and lowest paid occupations of their region and era. William and his son Andrew William were both platelayers – railway labourers who worked long hours for little monetary reward. Others were coal miners and agricultural labourers. Robert Stephenson, father of William and grandfather of Andrew William was a ‘tylemaker’ – making bricks and tiles. Only one ancestor, Randal Dixon, is mentioned in local directories as a farmer and employer.
Father and son Robert Stephenson (b1855) and Robert Stephenson (b1880) are the only Stephenson’s to have worked in more diverse occupations. Robert senior began work as a Draper’s assistant in his teens and by 1901 was a Draper’s Manager. His son Robert went to sea as a teenager eventually becoming a Ship’s Master.
Apart from the three siblings Mary Isabella, Joseph and Andrew Stephenson who emigrated to Canada and Australia, and their cousin Robert (b1880) in the Merchant Navy, none of the family would have travelled very far from their birthplaces.
A few selected events that I found interesting:
William and Catherine (nee English) Stephenson’s family
Joseph’s grandparents William and Catherine Stephenson appear to have had an uneventful married life for the first 20 or so years of their marriage. The marriages of their son Robert and daughter Eleanor to the Milburn siblings George and Margaret occurred in quick succession, and in 1881 their youngest child Andrew William married Mary Dixon.
Siblings marry siblings
Firstly 16 year old Eleanor[1] married George Milburn on 29 April 1876 at St Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne. This was also the same church as her younger brother Andrew William was to marry in a few years and probably for the same reasons. Although Eleanor and George’s oldest confirmed child was not born until 1879 it is likely that their first born was Mary Catherine who was born and died between July and September 1876. Much sadness was to follow with the death of their daughter Catherine in October 1892 and the death of George Milburn in 1893 just six months later in April 1893. In October 1898 daughter Eleanor died aged 19 years followed by her mother Eleanor in October 1899. This left just two family members, Margaret and Isabella aged 14 and 12, with no immediate family. It is not known who looked after the girls. At the time of the 1901 Census both girls are listed as ‘visitors’ at different homes.
In 1877 their 22 year old son Robert married Margaret Jane Milburn and on 8 February 1880 (Margaret’s 25th birthday) their son Robert (known as Uncle Robert) was born. Sadly Margaret died either during childbirth or shortly afterwards leaving Robert with a newborn baby son to care for. Baby Robert went to live with his grandparents William and Catherine Stephenson.
In the 1881 Census Robert was working as a draper in Bedlington. Three doors away lived his future second wife, Hannah Swann, living with her family. Their daughter Kate was born in 1890.
Andrew William Stephenson – teenage elopement
Youngest son Andrew William Stephenson’s longest trip was probably to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1881 when at 17 years of age he travelled from Stannington with his 16 year old bride to be Mary Dixon. Mary was in the late stages of pregnancy and both were under age to be married without their father’s permission. Getting married in their local church would have been the normal procedure but given their circumstances they may have been refused permission by the minister and/or their fathers. Not choosing any old church they married in the church of St Nicholas now known as Newcastle Cathedral. They both gave their ages as 21 negating the need for parental permission and both gave the same Newcastle address. Andrew William had been living with his parents earlier in 1881 and both were back in Stannington by the time their first child Mary Isabella was born shortly after their marriage. It is most likely they did not ever reside in Newcastle and simply gave an address within the parish so they could be married in St Nicholas. No family members are witnesses to the marriage.
Long marriage
Despite their sudden marriage Andrew William and Mary went on to have a long marriage with many children. They had thirteen children according the 1911 Census, the first census to record the length of marriage and number of children born to the marriage. The identity of nine of these children is known. Their eldest son William had died in the first quarter of 1900 aged about 16 years but the names of the four other children are unknown. All of these would have died as babies or young children as they were born and died between censuses. Although infant mortality was high in this era the tragedy of losing a child was equally as devastating then as it is today.
With eight surviving children, three were to leave Northumberland for distant shores whilst Andrew William and Mary were still alive. They undoubtedly knew that they would never see these three adult children again. Sad yes, but also exciting to know their offspring were pursuing new opportunities that they would never have had at home.
Mary Isabella Stephenson
Mary Isabella was the eldest of Andrew William and Mary Stephenson’s children and the second to leave England.
On the night of the 1911 Census (2 April) Mary Isabella is listed as a cook working in the home of George Grahame, a bank manager, at 24 Hide Hill Berwick On Tweed. On the same date her future husband Adam Mark was listed as a farmer living with his mother, grandfather, younger brother and his brother’s wife and child in Kyloe Ancroft, Berwick on Tweed. This was the same village where all of the Mark family had been born. Adam was listed as a farmer and his brother Adam was a shepherd.
Just a year after the Census Adam Mark and Mary Isabella Stephenson had married and had a baby boy. With both desperately poor and with no opportunities for improvement they decided to start a new life in Canada. The Canadian government had launched a concentrated policy to attract immigrants which peaked in 1914 with 400,000 British crossing the Atlantic to Canada.
Mary Isabella left Glasgow with her three month old son Adam on the ‘Cassandra’ arriving in Quebec on 22 July 1912. Her husband, Adam Mark had left from Liverpool and had arrived in Quebec on the ‘Canada’ on 26 May 1912. Their baby son Adam would have been not long born when her husband left for Canada.
Isabella and Adam Mark went on to have four more children in Canada and there are now a considerable number of Canadian ‘Stephenson’ cousins living on the other side of the Pacific.
Joseph Stephenson and Jack Rutherford
Joseph left Northumberland with his best mate Jack Rutherford in 1909. They sailed from London to Sydney and no doubt quickly made their way to the Illawarra. Although they had travelled 12,000 miles to a new country their destination would have been filled with many familiar faces. By 1909 numerous families from Cramlington were already well established in the Illawarra and especially in the Balgownie area.
Joseph and Jack went to work in the local coal mines and even made the news when they attempted to extract payment from work done with authorisation. They won their case.
Jack enlisted in the AIF on 27 April 1915 but Joseph was not medically fit for service due to a previous leg injury. When Jack safely returned from service a public welcome was held at the Mt Keira School of Arts with every local celebrity in attendance. Jack was given a gold medal and safety razor, with Joseph by his side as his guest.
Whilst Joseph and Jack were not brothers they were certainly the best of mates and this was known widely. In a news item in February 1916 declaring that a welcome home would be given to Jack when he returned he was named as ‘Jack Rutherford (Stevenson)’ [sic].
When Joseph and his family relocated to northern New South Wales Jack remained in Wollongong but sadly passed away in 1933 leaving a wife and three young sons.
Andrew Stephenson
Andrew was Joseph’s younger brother and the only other member of the family to come to Australia. He left England in 1926 with his wife Margaret and three young boys. It appears that youngest, ‘J D’, must have died on the passage as he is not mentioned in the death notice for his mother who sadly died in 1932, or in NSW death indexes. Andrew remarried in Wollongong in 1933 to Barbara Milburn and they had one daughter, Joyce.
[1] Eleanor was born in the second half of 1879 not 1880 as stated in other documents
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