I would like to acknowledge the generous help and assistance of 'TobyO' from the rootschat.com genealogy forum.
Records from Guernsey are not online, and must be searched manually. TobyO searched and provided all the Guernsey records included in this document, and I am very grateful for his help.
John & Mary Ann Stephens' family arrived in Sydney on Boxing Day, 1841 aboard the ‘Lady Clarke’.
Although originally from Devonshire, from as early as 1831, to 1841 they were living at Guernsey on the Channel Islands.
John Stephens and Mary Ann Avery married in Guernsey, Channel Islands on the 30th Sept 1831. At the time Mary was about seven months pregnant. I have been told by a genealogist from Guernsey that this was not unusual and that women were often pregnant to prove they were able to bear children.
We know that John & Mary Ann had 7 children, six born in Guernsey and their last son born on the ‘Lady Clarke’ en-route to Sydney.
Two of their sons, John George & William Henry died in infancy and are buried in the Candie Cemetery in St. Peter Port.
The 1841 census for the Channel Islands shows John as a shipwright, living with the family at Boullion, St. Peter Port, Guernsey.
The shipping record of the ‘Lady Clarke’ states that John Stephens was born c1806 at Ipplepen, Devonshire.
His parents were both deceased by 1841.
His marriage record states that his father was John and that he was from the parish of Ipplepen.
The Bishop’s Transcripts for Ipplepen show no baptism for John in 1806 +/- 5 years. Perhaps searching the original register might show his baptism.
Of Mary Ann the shipping records states that she was born c1811 in Modbury, Devonshire. Her parents were John & Grace Avery (nee Hodge). This is confirmed in her marriage record.
Baptism records for Modbury shows that Mary Ann was baptized on 3rd January 1812.
John Avery married Grace Hodge on the 18th December 1807 in Modbury, Devonshire.
Mary Ann had five siblings; Elizabeth (1808-1881), John (1809), George (1814), Edward (1815) & Robert (1822).
It would appear that moving to NSW did not produce a great outcome for the Stephens family.
Records show that they were living at ‘Field of Mars’ in Ryde, Sydney. This area is now a nature reserve, with the Field of Mars Cemetery adjacent to it.
Various records in the 1840’s state their occupation just as ‘Lower Class’.
Their son George who was born on the ‘Lady Clarke’ died in March 1845, aged about 13 months.
Then their daughter, Elizabeth, died in March 1845, aged 10 ½.
Followed by Mary Ann in November 1846, aged about 35.
We know that their daughter, Mary Ann Stephens married Charles Packett in 1850, and then William Smith in 1867.
In all, she had 15 children in both marriages. She died at Jerry Creek, near Tumut in 1914.
The only other child of John & Mary Ann’s that we can be sure of is Selina.
Selina Stephens appears in a coastal shipping record, traveling from Sydney to Melbourne on 31-7-1854. She was 14 at the time and travelling with a John Stephens, aged 22. (Despite the age discrepancy, this is most likely her brother. Shipping records show that he mostly likely returned to Sydney aboard the ‘London 3’ in October 1857, a ‘mechanic’. This is the last definite record we have of him).
Selina Stephens married Robert Tombs on 29th Dec 1856 in Victoria.
We find two sons born to them, both born in Sydney. Robert John Tombs (1859-1933), and William (1861-1861).
Selina died in Campbell St, Sydney on 13th Feb 1861.
Robert remarried in Sydney the following year and had another six children.
The generally accepted view is that John Stephens died in the Liverpool Asylum on 21st May 1882.
There seems to be a lack of records to prove this, and as such, more information is needed.
There are too many records of a death of John Stephens to be sure of his death.
There is something though that suggests his death may have occurred much earlier, maybe as early as 1854.
As mentioned, Selina Stephens traveled to Melbourne at age 13 with her brother. She stayed there at least 2 ½ years before getting married. Her marriage certificate states she was aged 17 at the time. I have not sighted this marriage certificate to confirm this, but it should contain Selina’s parents’ names, and whether they were deceased or not in 1856. Obtaining a copy of this could prove very useful. Even without this, the question could be asked, if Selina’s father was still alive, would he allow his 14 year old daughter to move to Melbourne?
The other piece of interesting family history is in regards to Mary Ann Avery’s sister, Elizabeth.
Born in 1808 in Devon, she married John Puckett in 1837 at St. Helier, Jersey in the Channel Islands.
They had six children before also emigrating to NSW.
Arriving in Dec 1852 aboard the ‘Wilson Kennedy’, the shipping register for Elizabeth gives the following useful information - ‘born in Modbury Devon, parents John and Grace – father supposed to be living in Devonshire; Relative in the colony - sister Mary Stephens at Kissing Point.’
They settled in the area around Yass. John dying in 1869 and Elizabeth at Cootamundra in 1881.
There are a couple of dozen family trees posted on ‘Ancestry’ that state Mary Ann Stephens (nee Avery) died in 1898 and was buried in Rookwood cemetery on 28th Jun 1898.
There is no way this can be correct.
Looking first of all at the burial record we see that she was from Marrickville, Sydney.
The burial record (Plot: BBB_Zone B/#/2342) is for a Mary Stephens.
Also in the same grave is Theophilus Drinkwater who was buried there on 26th Dec 1911, aged 83 (born c1829).
When we look at the index of NSW deaths, we find a Mary Stephens who died in Marrickville in 1898 (Reg no. 6108). Her parents were James and Mary.
Yet we know our Mary Ann’s parents were John & Grace.
Next if we look at the newspaper report of her death we read:
STEPHENS.—June 27, at the residence of her son-in-law, T. Drinkwater, Cowper-street, Marrickville, Mary, relict of the late W. Stephens (late Stephens and Drinkwater, 300 Pitt-street, Sydney), aged 90 years.
If she was aged 90, that would give her birth year closer to 1808, not 1812.
Her son-in-law was Theophilus Stephen Drinkwater. He had married her daughter, Mary Emma Stephens in 1856 in Sydney.
Mary Emma Stephens was born c1837 and died in 1894 in Marrickville.
Her death index states that her parents were William & Mary. This is that Mary Stephens who died in 1898, relict of William Stephens, not John.
There is no birth record for Mary Emma in NSW c1837, nor a marriage for William Stephens to a Mary.
But there is an arrival of a William, Mary & Emma Stevens aboard the ‘Royal Consort’ arriving in NSW in Nov 1840. The ages for both Mary (32) and Mary Emma (3) fit for this to be correct for this family.
It is clear that this is a completely different family to our Mary Ann Stephens nee Avery.