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Hello can anyone please assist me with a missing death of my ancestor James Stephenson, presumably in County Durham, in 1877?

I know the following about him in the last decade of his life and include this below.

Is it likely that the death is recorded in the regional register and somehow got missed off the national one?

If anyone please has any thoughts on this I would love to hear from you.

Thank you,
Jon

Residence
2 April 1871 • North Railway Street, Seaham Harbour, Dawdon, Durham

Will
11 July 1876
(Date of will.)

Occupation
19 December 1877 • Mariner in the Merchant Service
(Probate.)

Residence
19 December 1877 • Seaham Harbour, Durham
(Probate.)

Death
19 December 1877 • Seaham Harbour, Durham, England
(There is a burial for a James Stephenson in Easington in 1877 who was born c1788/9 on Durham records online but can't find bmd entry. Date of death confirmed on National Probate Calendar.)

Probate
14 January 1878 • Personal estate under £450
(National Probate Calendar.)

Hi for several years I have been researching the Stephensons or Stevensons of Whitby.

I wonder if anyone would please be willing to have a look at something with a second pair of eyes.

John Stephenson married Jane Shadforth in Whitby in 1775 (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBPRS%2FYORKSHIRE%2F13-0743_GB-YOR_PARISH-REGISTERS-N-PR-WH-1-24-1537-1900%2F00101&parentid=GBPRS%2FYORKSHIRE%2FBAN%2F300214229%2F2)

Their marriage and children's baptisms and burials show he was a skinner, labourer, tanner and fellmonger.

Their children were: John Stephenson (1777–?), Ann Stephenson|Stevenson (1778–1780), Francis Stephenson (1782–1782), Jane Stephenson|Steevenson (1783–?), Isaac Stephenson (1785–1884), Elizabeth Stephenson (1787–?), John Stephenson|Stevenson (c1788/9–1793) [perhaps identical with one of the following Williams], William Stephenson (1788–?), William Stephenson (1789–?) and my ancestor James Stephenson (1790–1877).

To confuse things, around this time there were another two John Stephensons in Whitby who were also both married to someone called Jane and they were a farmer and carpenter.

There is a burial of in 1792 of a Jane Stephenson wife of John Stephenson a farmer aged 43 years in Whitby. However this does not seem to be Jane Shadforth, and is presumably the Jane wife of the former who had Catherine Stephenson in 1767 and George Stephenson in 1769.

Jane Shadforth|Stephenson however is known to be dead by 1796 as she was not named in the will of her father Francis Shadforth. So maybe the 1792 burial is hers and this John was also a farmer.

In 1798 there is the marriage of a widower John Stephenson, a fellmonger, to widow Mary Hardy (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBPRS%2FYORKSHIRE%2F13-0743_GB-YOR_PARISH-REGISTERS-N-PR-WH-1-26-1537-1900%2F00050&parentid=GBPRS%2FYORKSHIRE%2FMAR%2F301660244%2F1).

However the signatures on this 1798 marriage and the 1775 marriage I am pretty sure are not the same.

This John and Mary Hardy had the following children: Reuben Stevenson (1799–aft 1833), Daniel Stevenson (1800–?), Henry Stephenson (1804–?), Sarah Stephenson (1807–1807) and Sarah Stephenson (1808–?).

John Stephenson who married Jane Shadforth was my late father's 3rd great grandfather.

My late dad's DNA has matches to the descendants of Isaac Stephenson born in 1785 (son of John Stephenson and Jane Shadforth) and also matches to the descendants of Henry Stephenson born in 1804 (son of John Stephenson and Mary Hardy).

I am really trying to work out if these two men were the same despite the difference in signatures on the 1775 and 1798 marriages.

My father's DNA also has a DNA match to a descendant of a Nanny or Ann Stephenson who married Thomas Stockton in Whitby in 1799. (https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBPRS%2FYORKSHIRE%2F13-0743_GB-YOR_PARISH-REGISTERS-N-PR-WH-1-26-1537-1900%2F00060&parentid=GBPRS%2FYORKSHIRE%2FMAR%2F301660328%2F2)

On this marriage a John Stephenson is a witness. Who is this Nanny and who is this John? Is the witness signature the same as the 1798 marriage?

If anyone can give me any thoughts on this I would be really grateful.

Thank you,
Jon

 

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I have recently had a little discovery on my Mellon Goodey family and am asking for some help with Catholic records in the Southwark and Bermondsey area of London.

I have previously posted about this family here:

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=769435.msg7101172#msg7101172

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=843247.0

My ancestor John Gooda (as was then known) married Mary Ann Mellon in 1826 in London.

Her parents were Henry and Frances Mellon who married in 1798 in London.

I know from examination statements in settlement records that they had a son John Mellon in 1800 and daughter Mary Ann Mellon born c1806 to 1811.

I have never found their baptisms and so assumed that they were either in a non conformiat chapel or something. However the name Mellon implies an Irish origin.

Recently the DNA ethnicity results have been split for parent 1 and parent 2 on ancestry and so I can now see the Irish in my dad's DNA comes from his mother. This is the side the Mellons are on.

I therefore had a look to see what Catholic churches were in the Bermondsey area and came across transcripts for East Lane Chapel, Bermondsey, which I ordered and downloaded this week.

To my surprise they show Henry Mellon and Frances Mellon as sponsors to a baptism there in 1815 and also their son John Mellon having his daughter Elizabeth Mellon baptised there in 1822.

Alongside this, the baptisms of the first two children of John Gooda/Goodey and Mary Ann Mellon, which I had never found until now, are also are to be found here: John Gooday [sic] in 1827 and Maria Anna Goodda [sic] in 1829.

I couldn't believe it really when I saw these records, which show the Mellons were Catholics and almost certainly prove the Mellon family were indeed from Ireland.

I am delighted with this, as firstly I am breaking a brick wall and also because the Mellons give me my first Irish ancestors in my tree.

I would therefore love to know what more might be contained within any records held by the R.C. Holy Trinity Dockhead, where the originals of these records are held.

Does anyome please know? I haven't found the baptisms for John Mellon in c1800 and Mary Ann Mellon in c1806 and it seems probably Frances Mellon, who was previously married to someone called Harley, also had earlier children.

What I am most keen to find out is if there might be other Catholic records held at Holy Trinity, Dockhead, which might reveal more. Are there membership records or anything like this?

I would please love some guidance on this, as I have previously never had any Irish Catholic ancestors to research before!

Thank you,
Jon

Hi I am having another look at the Whitby parish registers, again seeing if I am able to crack which John Stephenson married Jane Shadforth in 1775.

There are so many John Stephensons and I have been trying to unravel them on and off for a few years, but not easy to do!

Anyway, I have a baptism in Whitby on 22 January 1755 for a John Stephenson son of John and Ann Stephenson, Master of Whitby.

There is also a burial of a John Stephenson son of John Stephenson, Master of Whitby on 26 June 1752.

I think these may be the children of a John Stephenson, Master Mariner of Whitby, whose will dated 30 July 1774 and proved in 1790 names his wife Ann, son John and daughters Mary, Ann and Hannah.

His widow Ann Stephenson of Whitby's will dated 5 May 1790 and proved in January 1796 names their son John Stephenson and daughters Hannah Stephenson, Mary Knaggs and Ann Easterby.

Mary's first marriage allegation to John Hardwick in 1773 shows she was born in c1744-1745, so the parents are NOT the John Stephenson, sailor of Whitby, who married Ann Stangoe at Whitby on 18 December 1755.

Is "Master" an abbreviation of "Master Mariner"?

The Whitby baptisms for December 1758 and January 1759 show how hard the registers are to unravel as there is:

31 Dec 1758 Mary dau of John Stephenson, Sailor, born 8 Oct
02 Jan 1759 Henry son of John Stephenson, Master Mariner, born 1 Oct
03 Jan 1759, Hannah dau of John Stephenson, Master Mariner, born 21 Oct

Hannah is presumably the daughter of John and Ann above whose wills were proved in 1790 and 1796.

However these baptisms shows that there must have been three John Stephensons who all went to sea, one sailor and two master mariners!

It is very confusing as there were also at least another 3 more John Stephensons having children in the second half of the 1700s who were a carpenter, a farmer and mine who was a fellmonger/skinner/labourer. So at least 6 John Stephensons!

I know my John Stephenson who married Jane Shadforth in 1775 is stated on the 20 Oct 1788 baptism of their son William that their location was 'Poor' so presumably they were in the poor house? In which case he presumably had no money when he died to leave a will, but unravelling other John Stephensons in wills might help eliminate others!

Anyway if anyone can help with any of the above, I would love to hear from you.

Thanks,
Jon

Hi I am descended from the Mackey family of South Shields and am trying to confirm/recheck the work I did a good few years ago now to see if it is accurate.

My ancestor is Sarah Mackey|Stephenson (1793-1873), daughter of Daniel Mackey and widow Mary Sellars|Cousins|Mackey.

My father's DNA has matches to their son Richard Sellars Mackey born in 1806, confirming the identification of this Sarah.

William Brockie in his 1857 book states of the name Mackey:

'Mackay, Mackey, McKie, mac-Aogh, son of Hugh. Mackay, Pugh, Hewson, and FitzHugh, are in signification the same. Our South Shields and Newcastle Mackeys have a tradition that their ancestors came from Liddlesdale. Their great-grandfather lived at Dunterley, near Bellingham, in the early part of the last century. His son, Matthew Mackey, removed to Ponteland in 1745, and lived to the uncommon age of 105.'

I have been reading a lot about the origins of this surname this week to find out more, but firstly I need to try and work our my Mackey line.

Sarah had a brother Milbourne Mackey baptised in 1813, but he seems from later census and death records to have actually been born before that date.

From the name Milbourne, it looks like the father is probably the Daniel Mackey baptised in South Shields in 1756, son of Daniel Mackey baptised in 1730 in South Shields, who was the son of Daniel Mackey and Sarah Milbourne who married in 1717.

However while the burial of Sarah's mother Mary appears to be in South Shields in 1820, I can't find the burial of her father Daniel Mackey to know his age. He was a mariner so could perhaps have died at sea, but at the moment I have no idea. I need to do a chrck on the other Mackey variants listed above.

There are potentially other pathways from Daniel Mackey and Sarah Milbourne who married in 1717. They had a son John born in 1717 in South Shields and later a John Mackey (probably the same man) married in 1742 and had a son Daniel Mukkie in South Shields in 1744.

There is also a Daniel Mackey son of Thomas Mackey born in 1769 but I think he probably married Dorothy Wilson. So I am trying to workout all the Daniel Mackeys around South Shields and Northumberland which is a bit of a tricky task!

If anyone has any thoughts on the whole Mackey name or indeed the Daniel Mackeys, it would be great to hear from you.

Thanks,
Jon