Over the past week or two, I've been in touch with the parish council at Heworth and a very kind and co-operative lady there offered (weather permitting) to walk round the graveyard to see if John and/or Elizabeth's grave could be found. I got this email last night:-
"It was a mild autumn day today, so my husband had a stroll in the churchyard as promised.
There are three visible Stephenson headstones of an appropriate vintage - perhaps there are more, as some stones are face-down and others are indecipherable due to erosion or surrounded by dense foliage. Three is surprising, as Stephenson is not an uncommon name in these parts, so we might have expected there to be more.
Unfortunately, none of those three seem to relate at first sight to "your" John and Elizabeth, but we have recorded the details for you in case you are able to make a connection.
Stone 1
Ann Stephenson, wife of Forster Stephenson - died 27/12/1831, aged 40 years.
Barbara Stephenson, sister of Forster Stephenson, died 23/06/1847, aged 72 years.
Elizabeth... (frustratingly, the remainder of the stone is badly eroded and any further inscriptions are completely illegible).
Stone 2
Benjamin Stephenson - died 16/12/1884, aged 67 years.
Ann Stephenson (wife of Benjamin) - died 27/06/1844, aged 36 years.
These are the parents of Mary Ann Craig, wife of Foster Craig (again a "Forster" first name, but without the middle "R" this time).
Mary Ann Craig (nee Stephenson) - died 29/12/1931 aged 89 years.
Stone 3
("The family resting-place of Forster and Elizabeth Stephenson of Felling Shore")
Joseph Gawen Stephenson - died 09/01/1867, aged 2 years 10 months.
Ann Stephenson - also died 09/01/1867, aged 11 months.
Elizabeth Stephenson - died 05/11/1873, aged 43 years
Forster Stephenson - died 16/09/1877, aged 50 years
Joseph Septimus Stephenson - died 29/03/1905, aged 36 years.
Elizabeth Ann Stephenson - died 18/05/1931, aged 70 years.
William Stephenson - died 03/12/1933, aged 81 years.
(because the second "Joseph" has the middle name "Septimus", you might assume that he was the seventh child and that therefore at least another two brothers or sisters are unrecorded).
I think you have to assume that the two "Forster Stephensons" are related, possibly "Foster Craig" also.
If any of this is of interest, we could easily take photos and send them to you.
Regarding the comments in my second paragraph, another lead you might consider is that Northumberland and Durham Family History Society ran a project some years ago to record headstones before the ravages of the weather, wanton vandalism and the craze to "tidy up" churchyards destroyed many monumental inscriptions forever. I'm fairly sure that St Mary's churchyard was one they planned to cover, so it could be worth your while to check with them. They are on the internet, at
www.ndfhs.org.uk"
So - not the best news but as she says, John and Elizabeth's stone(s) may be illegible or lying face down. Interesting though that there is a Joseph Septimus Stephenson on the 3rd stone. The lady who did the search isn't aware, of course, of the implications of the "Septimus" name. This grave must be of "our" Stephenson family. Does anyone have any info that connects any of the names on this stone? (Or any of the other 2 stones for that matter).
