William and Harriet Stephens of Ipswich, Suffolk

[jibba]

Hi all

Apologies in advanced for the length and if this has been posted in the wrong forum, but as you will see my request could be taken in several directions

I’m trying to find out more about my 4th Great-grandfather William Stephens. What I know of him is:

•   He was born c.1794,
•   Became landlord of the Horse & Groom pub in Ipswich c.1835
•   Died of consumption in 1839 and is buried at St Helen’s Church, Ipswich. The informant on his death certificate was an Eliza Fitzgerald who I cannot find in the 1841 census.

He married between around 1820 to Harriet Malden. Information on Harriet’s early years is also vague:

•   She was born c.1803 in Stepney, daughter of Samuel Malden a blacksmith. This is taken from her marriage certificate to her second husband
•   No baptism record has been found for her. There is a James Malden c.1800 also born at Stepney who also lived in Ipswich. A potential sibling?
•   Married James Smith in 1841 at Ipswich, an engineer. He died in 1854
•   Was landlady of the Horse & Groom till at least 1861
•   Died in 1876 at Ipswich

The 1841 census shows Harriet and their children living at the Horse & Groom and lists that all were born in England. However later census’ prove that this was not the case.

•   George: c.1821. Listed as a carpenter. Have not yet found in post 1841 census’
•   Charles: c.1824. Listed as an engineer. Have not yet found in post 1841 census’
•   Elizabeth:  1826. 1851 census lists her as being born ‘On the Sea’. She died in 1869
•   Harriet (my 3rd great-grandmother): 1828. Listed as being born in Ireland in 1851 & 1861. 1871 census lists her birthplace as Mullingar, Ireland
•   Sarah: 1833. Listed as being born in Ireland in 1851 & 1861. She died in 1871
•   James: 1835 in Ipswich and baptised the same year along with Sarah. Became an engineer in the Royal Navy
•   Jane: 1839 in Ipswich

So you can start to see the problem. I do not know what Williams profession was pre 1835 (merchant, solider?). Also I do not know where William & Harriet met/married or where their first two children were born, nor have I found any baptism records for the children born in Ireland

As above, I assume in 1826 they were travelling to Ireland and returned in 1833/34, but I have not yet been able to find any passenger lists that lists the family

Is there anyone who can help me with finding any of the missing details above?

[rosie99]

Not much help I'm afraid, but you will not get passenger lists between Ireland & England.

Rosie

[t mo]

personally it looks to me that this would be better on the Ireland board where you may find folk who can do look ups for you .
regards trevor

[jorose]

Mullingar points towards a possible Army link:
http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=WM&regno=15310007

I looked at the Regimental Birth Index, regimental birth index supplemental, chaplain's indexes etc, for the named kids but didn't see any except an Elizabeth, 1825, Isle of Wight, father in the 69th (not surprising, for earlier years these indexes are quite sparse).

There are at the NA actually two William Stephens who were in the 69th:
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C8785230
 born Aberdeen, served in the 69th between 1812 and 1833, discharged aged 37

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C8710399
 born Longstock, served in the 69th/2nd, between 1824 and 1830, discharged aged 23.

The first seems more likely as the other is too young to be the father of the earlier kids, and I think the Aberdeen William looks much more likely - does age 37 in 1833 line up with what you have on him from the death certificate?  The discharge date lines up with Sarah being b. 1833 Ireland but the family being settled in Ipswich by 1835.

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~econnolly/bnlextracts/bnl18280400.html
 - this shows that the 69th foot were in Mullingar around 1828.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C14305
http://thehistoryofmatt.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/william-hodge-11th-regiment-of-foot.html
 - some information on what you might get.  You'll see from the second link that family details are not included in this time period, but information on any service abroad and intended place of residence after discharge might help.

I'm having trouble finding anything on the "Malden" side.  What records do you have potential brother James on? If you only have Harriet's maiden name from the marriage certificate, I would purchase the birth certificate of Jane (if budget allows) to doublecheck the spelling.

[jibba]

Hi Jorose

Wow, what can I say! Thank you very much for finding all those sources. The William Stephens who was born in Aberdeen does appear to be my ancestor. All the dates listed match perfectly.

Reading through his service record, I discovered William spent eight years in the East Indies and fought at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and as such appears on the Waterloo Medal Roll which can be found on Ancestry and Findmypast

As you suspected, there was no next of kin listed in William’s service record. I’ll ask around if anyone has access to the Aberdeen parish records, although I’m aware that Scotland didn’t always have good record keeping.

I will also ask in the Military forum for help on tracking the 69th Regiment movements during William’s enlistment. This site - http://www.nam.ac.uk – lists that the 69th was in the Far East until 1826 when it switched to garrison duties back in England. So if William’s eight years in the East Indies was unbroken, then he would have left Britain c.1818. Given that his daughter Elizabeth was born ‘On the Sea’ c.1826, (which would fit that baptism record you found) it would mean Harriet must have travelled out there with him. This in turn would mean she was about 15 when they met.

As for Harriet herself, I probably should order their youngest child’s birth certificate to double check the spelling of her maiden name. I know that another descendant of this family has her surname spelt as Mauldin. If I use soundex searches against her surname, I get several more varieties including Melton and Milton.

As for her potential sibling, I got the name wrong in my previous post. There is a John Malden who was born c.1800 and died aged 40 in 1840 at Ipswich. Given that I cannot find a link for either William or Harriet to have travelled to Ipswich after his discharge, this John looked like a potential lead

[jibba]

Afternoon

Just a quick update. I've since discovered that the eldest two sons, George and Charles, died in 1846/1847. As for finding where they were born, I will have to hope that a register of births was taken by the 69th regiment when they were in the Far East.

I have posted a request in the Armed forces forum in the hope that someone will be able to point me towards the 69th movements during the period of William’s service.

I would be right in assuming that military vessels would have kept a record of what soldiers and civilians were on board when dispatched to place like the Far Eat? If so, have such records survived and does the military still hold these records?

[jorose]

NA says muster rolls list wives and children in married quarters but only from 1868.
Tracing him through the muster rolls would give you a better idea of where he was during his service, though:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/army-muster-1730-1898.htm

Certainly this baptism of a George in Cannanore in 1821 is starting to look more interesting:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FG4Z-SDD

There is also a William b. in the same location in 1819, a Mary Ann elsewhere in Madras in 1817, and this death:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FGPV-4HC

Especially interesting as Cannanore was the location of the 69th between 1819 and 1823:
http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=69th_Regiment_of_Foot

[Annette7]

Have found the following on familysearch:

Mary Ann Stephens  b.15/4/1817, bp.17/7/1817 Poonamallee, Madras, India, dau. Wm./Harriet
William Stephen b.6/3/1819, bp.21/3/1819 Cannanore, Madras, India, son Wm./Harriet
George Stephen b.5/1/1821, bp.14/3/1821      ditto                                ditto

So, is this George's baptism together with 2 older siblings?

The census' I have looked at show Harriet bc.1800 thought suspect she may have been a year or so older (she did marry a much younger man the second time).

Annette

[suffolk*sue]

Williams pension record is available on Findmypast.
He was born in the parish of St. Nicholas, Aberdeen.
He attested on the 16th June, 1812 in Aberdeen at the age of 17yrs.
By trade he was a hairdresser.

At the time of his discharge he was 37yrs 10months old.
5ft. 5 and a half inches tall
fair hair
grey eyes
fresh complexion.