This is labelled 'John Stephenson of Birmingham died June 1851' and sent to Howard Hingston by Mary E Stephenson as being a picture of his great-grandfather
Superscripted numbers are references to source citations at the bottom of this page.
John Stephenson:
Born 1778, Kilburn, N Yorkshire1
Died June 18512
This is labelled 'John Stephenson of Birmingham died June 1851' and sent to Howard Hingston by Mary E Stephenson as being a picture of his great-grandfather
Occupation: Comb maker3
Comb maker retired in 1851 census. Address then given as 265 Gt Colmore St Birmingham, with an unmarried servant Elizabeth Newman, aged 50 (b Birmingham).
Henry Stephenson = Mary Pritchatt > Family
Henry Stephenson:
Born about 1820, Birmingham4
Occupation: Brush maker and comb merchant5.
Cannot be identified in the 1881 census index though his wife is described as married rather than a widow.
Mary Pritchatt:
Alias Mary Stephenson
Born 1813, Edgebaston6
Died 13 December 18987
Buried 17 December 1898, Harborne Parish Church
Something of a mystery surrounds Mary, on which a study of 1861- 71 census data may shed light. TWH tried to get the full story and failed, and was convinced that there was a scandal being covered up. His father would not discuss his parents or childhood. His understanding was that Agnes was Mary's only daughter, that Agnes never knew her father, and that she was brought up by Mary on her parents' farm. He suspected that Mary was unmarried. He also left a note of information given to him by his aunt Gertrude saying that she recalled her grandmother Mary at 'Manor House Farm' Birmingham.
The 1851 census tells a different story, showing six children with a good spread of ages, and though there are no mementoes of Agnes' family, there are some relating to the Stephensons - two letters from Stephenson cousins on her wedding and a photograph of her father-in-law sent to her eldest son many years later. However, by the 1881 census when Mary was living at 42 Harborne Road she was described as the head of the household and with income from house property. Perhaps significantly, she is described as married rather than widowed. Two sons, George and Francis, are also listed there, together with a female servant of 16 called Elizabeth J Cox (b Fairfield, Worcester).
If TWH's identification of his grandmother's parentage is correct, and in other respects his information concerning family genealogy has proved reliable, then there are a number of other questions. Mary Pritchatt's marriage has still to be traced, though we now know that TWH was probably looking at too late a date. Another problem is in finding any other trace of Mary's parents. They cannot be identified in the 1851 census transcription for Warwickshire, and so the anecdotal evidence that they were a farming family cannot be verified.
1 : 1851 census gives age as 72
3 : 1851 census - retired comb maker
4 : 1851 census gives age as 30
5 : Brush maker given on Agnes birth certificate (he was the informant) comb merchant on Agnes marriage cert.
6 : Memorial card gives her age as 85, the 1851 census as 34.
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