Guernsey Baptisms Requests 1833-1840

[TobyO]

Hi Chris,

I’ve found deaths/burials for both of John Stevens’ 2 children that died in Guernsey:

John-George Stevens: ‘John-George, son of John Stephens was buried on 13th April 1835, age 3.’ (St Peter Port Town Church Burial Register, page 253). Buried in Candie Cemetery with his brother. His actual date of death is given on the monument as 8th April 1835 (Candie Cemetery, area 2 records).

William Henry Stevens was buried with his older brother in Candie Cemetery (area 2 records), St Peter Port, Guernsey. The records say the actual date of death is given on the grave monument as 'William Henry Stevens died 30th May 1839, age 1', 'Brother of John Stevens, age 3', 'Son of' John Stevens and Mary-Anne Avery. However, this burial doesn’t appear in the Town Church Burial Register for some reason?

The Candie Cemetery records/monument spells their names as ‘Stevens’.

Area 2 sits on the western edge of the cemetery, well away from the large monuments and expensive family vaults in the main part of this small Cemetery.

Regards
Toby

[TobyO]

Hi Chris
I’ve had a closer look at the 1841 census and the ‘Lady Clarke’ passenger emigration records for John and his wife.

Firstly, unlike the March 1841 census, where adults’ ages were rounded up or down, the passenger lists give us a more accurate indication of John and Mary-Anne’s dates-of-birth. (Their children’s DOBs are all accurately listed).

Secondly, I looked at John’s character referees and realised I knew who they were. They give us another clue to his occupation and place of work:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKD-JSS7-G?view=index

John Stephens was described as a ‘Shipwright’s Labourer’ on the 1841 census and a ‘Farm Labourer and Sawyer’ on the passenger records in September 1841; native of ‘Ipplepen, County of Devonshire’ age 35, who could both read and write. Neither of his parents were named as both were ‘dead’. A later page, presumably completed at the end of the journey, now listed his age as 36, so his birthday fell in the last quarter of the year. This narrows his date-of-birth to Sep-Oct-Nov-Dec 1805.

Under ‘Character, and person certifying the same’ he listed 3 men in St Peter Port as character references: ‘Alexander Thom, J.B. Arnold and John Mellish’. All three character referees were wealthy, respectable professional men who could vouch for John. Jean-Bienvenu Arnold was a Notary public and John Mellish was a merchant in St Peter Port (and by coincidence are both on my wife’s Guernsey family tree). His first referee was Alexander Thom, a shipbuilder who had a shipbuilding yard on La Piette in St Peter Port, so I expect he was John’s employer. His shipyard was where John would have worked as a shipwright’s labourer and a sawyer, cutting timber for the ships. La Piette was just a short walk one street away from Boullion where John lived. Alexander Thom, ‘Shipbuilder’, 25, also lived in Boullion with his English wife Eliza, 30, and their 2 small children and a servant, just two doors down from John Stephens and his family on the 1841 census.

St Peter Port shipbuilding yards: https://museums.gov.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=76910&p=0

Mary-Anne Stephens had no occupation on the 1841 census but was described as a ‘Housemaid’ and a native of ‘Modbury in Devonshire’ on the passenger list. Her only living parent was her father, named as ‘John Avery, a widower’. She was aged 29 and ‘can read’. Another page, presumably completed at the end of the journey, now listed her age as 30. Her birthday was probably in December as she’d been christened on 3rd Jan 1812 in Modbury, making her very likely to have been born in December 1811.

Regards
Toby

[Chris Nilsen]

Hi Toby,
Thank you for your continued interest in this family and the research you are doing for me.
I was wondering where you found the later shipping register that had John's age as 36 and Mary-Ann's as 30.
I have seen a shipping list from this vessel but it had the same ages (35 & 29).
I would love to see the other one if you can point me to it please.

I found the burial registers for the 3 burials in Sydney (George, Elizabeth & Mary-Ann).
All three state their 'Quality or Profession' as 'Lower Class'.
Any ideas what this might mean?
Could it mean that John (senior) had died and they were destitute?

Thanks again,
Chris.

[TobyO]

Hi Chris

The original passenger information came from the free ‘Family Search’ website. It’s in the same book as these other records (images 98 and 99). This section ‘Ship Return, A.  Report on The Immigrants’ was completed at the end of the voyage and contained a complete summary of the ship, it’s daily routine and it’s passengers on landing. I see that images 11 to 14 shows details of the ship and the voyage. The diseases on board were listed as ‘phthisis pulmonary (tuberculosis) common colds, bowel complaints’. 6 babies were born on board. They are all listed on image 12, including Mary-Anne’s boy.  Most immigrants also have details on their final destination, employment and wages. Lots of them were destined for Parramatta. The Stephens family are listed on image 21 but oddly they are amongst those with no employed details or destination. John is listed as an ‘Agric.Labourer’. This is the link to the page (image 21):

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKD-JSSW-P?view=index

As far as I can see, on arrival in late Dec 1841 they were maintained on board ship ‘All the full ten days’, but there’s no mention of any work.  On the next page it says of the families in this section they were maintained on board ‘All the full ten days’ adding ‘and gone to the Barracks, not employed’ ‘122 illegible illegible’. Clearly some had no work to go to and were maintained on board before being accommodated in some barracks. It’s hard to read the writing but at first glance the family had no work and nowhere to go...

According to the City of Parramatta History & Heritage website, the All Saints Cemetery was established in 1843. The cemetery has around 1500 unmarked graves which are mainly for the benevolent institutions and orphanages in the Township of Parramatta (and the inmates of the Parramatta Lunatic Asylum from 1846). The unmarked graves are recorded on 24 plaques attached to a solid Memorial Wall in the south-west corner of the cemetery. The 3 Stephens/Stevens were amongst the earliest burials in the cemetery.

Parramatta seems to have been a relatively poor farming area in the 1840s, with some mills and industries like tanning which were situated well away from the main city due to the smells etc., along with a poor quality water supply. I expect it was a very tough life out there.

‘Lower class’ would have mean ‘working class’ which would included agricultural labourers, skilled or unskilled, and the poor and destitute. It’s possible John had died, or was just unwell or unemployed. I suspect the family had very little capital when they arrived and it seems they had a hard time. I assume they’d have been provided with some sort of accommodation with employment, possibly on a farm. I suspect this means the Stevens family were probably recipients of some charity, which may well mean there are some local records available. The website has a research section, so you may be able to contact someone there to advise you on what records are available, as there seems to be lists for the orphanage etc. They often gave a reason why charity was given and dates. On the bright side, I checked the ‘Female Factory’ workhouse for women convicts and their children in Parramatta and they’re not in there. The website link is below as there are some good paintings of Parramatta during the 1840s on various pages which gives a feel for the place at the time. It’s an interesting read.

https://femalefactoryonline.org/essays/deaths-in-custody/

https://historyandheritage.cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au/blog/2017/01/24/all-saints-anglican-cemetery-and-unmarked-graves-parramatta

I also found a very useful and interesting video on YouTube touring through this cemetery called ‘All saints cemetery, THE FORGOTTEN ONES’, although it doesn’t paint a very happy picture!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmOA4oYX-Q4

My wife had a Guernsey relative (Alexander Agnew) who ended up nearby in Liverpool City from 1885-1917 so I’ve been researching these areas in Sydney. He was buried as a pauper, but fortunately appeared in court in 1905 for a fraudulent pension claim which provided some useful information! Another (William Agnew) was in Glen Druitt Road, north of New Gisborne near Melbourne for the gold rush in the early 1850s but I think he ended up poor as well. Information is thin on the ground for these guys.

Kind regards
Toby