Hello Nigel and John that is absolutely fantastic thank you both very much, I did wonder about Elizabeth Alexander but didn't have any evidence to link it. I had a walk round in Kingsclere a couple of weekends ago and located the old forge in George St which by my reckoning is where the Wheelers and Robert lived in 1841. I also found in the church yard in Ecchinswell a gravestone showing Richard Stevens died Oct 30 1854 aged 77 and his wife Mary died Nov 4 1851 aged 75, on your database you have a Richard baptised 28 mar 1777 same chap maybe. I have not been able to match but also found a John Stevens b July 16 1835 d jan 8 1892 and wife Margaret hard to read but i believe it is d sept 2 1925. also John Richard Stevens d 8 feb 1979, Dorothy May Stevens d 21 apr 1995, husband of the current Mrs Stevens who lives in the village, John 16 7 1938 to 9 5 2006. I have a little bit of work to do now, please let me know if you want photos of the stones once I get some cerificates back I will email you and send you copies if you wish. best regards Ady On 17 May 2010 00:14, Nigel St C Gerdes <nigel.gerdes@milnet.uk.net> wrote: > Ady, > > I think you have a result - see attachment. So pleased to be able to > help. > Look forward to hearing about the certificates when you get them. Looks > like > you can start tracing Elizabeth Alexander at Hurstbourne, Hants as well. > Please do drop a thank you to John, he works very hard helping trace > families > as do many others on the Rootsweb Kingsclere news group. We both have a > deep > knowledge of the folk in North Hampshire and often work together. His > database > is published on the web at: > > http://startx.co.uk:2317/Kingsclere? > > My smaller database using the same software is offline and concentrates > more > on the area around Basingstoke while John makes Kingsclere his core area. > We > overlap and keep correcting and refining our shared findings as we try to > map > out everybody in the area for which we have a great affinity and a shared > Smith family association going back to the early 1600's. > > Best wishes, > > Nigel > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Nigel St C Gerdes <nigel.gerdes@milnet.uk.net> > To: john lewis <zen57162@zen.co.uk>, eng-hampshire-kingsclere@rootsweb.com > Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 23:56:33 +0100 > Subject: Re: [King] John STEVENS born ca 1856 Kingsclere, Hants or near by > > On Sun, 16 May 2010 18:39:33 +0100 > > > > Nigel St C Gerdes <nigel.gerdes@milnet.uk.net> wrote: > > > Hi List, > > > > > > I am in correspondence with a researcher tracing their > > > Ecchinswell/Kingsclere STEVENS family. > > > > > > In the course of doing census searches I found in the 1881 census at > > > St Giles Reading, Berks at 23 Silver St an unmarried lodger called > > > John STEVENS giving his birth year as 1856 and a birthplace of > > > Kingsclere, Hants. His occupation was Shoeblack. > > > > > > He might be: > > > > > > Birth FreeBMD Whitchurch 1857 1Q 2c 176 STEVENS, John Alexander > > > > > > There is a Robert STEVENS and Elizabeth ALEXANDER on the same page at > > > Marriage FreeBMD Andover 1851 2Q 7 63. > > > > 1851 Census Hurstbourne Tarrant > > George Green, head, 36, grocer, Hurstbourne > > Mary , wife, 30, Hurstbourne > > Alfred George , son, 11, -, Hurstbourne > > John Alexander , son, 2 mo, -, Hurstbourne > > Robert Stevens, servant, 25, shoemaker, Ecchinswell > > Elizabeth Alexander, visitor, 32, -, Hurstbourne > > > > Is this too much of a co-incidence! > > > > John and List > > Terrific - A Result - The list working really well. Looks like Mary Green > could be the sister of Elizabeth Alexander. We now can go for the > certificates > with strong confidence. I had missed the visitor in the 1851 H/H and had > only > started thinking about a Stevens = Alexander marriage when I went looking > later in the area and spotted a FreeBMD birth for John Alexander Stevens > having seen a possible Stevens =Alexander marriage later in 1851 in > Andover > RD. John Alexander Stevens dies in 1883 St Pancras RD in London with a > given > age of 25. > > His father Robert by this stage had remarried to Jane Newby on 02 Oct 1870 > at > the Parish Church in Poplar. In the 1881 he was living with Jane at > Woking, > Surrey, as a Grocer and Shoemaker and in the 1891 was a Shoemaker and > Grocer > still living at Woking. A possible death for him age 88 is 1915 FreeBMD > Guildford 4Q 2a 123 and his wife Jane was born ca 1821 in Norfolk, with a > father Jonathan Newby who was a Farm Steward, has a possible death of 1894 > FreeBMD Guildford 1Q 2a 47. Jane and Robert do not appear to have had any > children and John Alexander's brother William Henry b 1854 Hants went on > to > marry Alice Emma Davey on 04 Aug 1883 at St Peter, West Hackney, Middlesex > (Wow - same church as were some of my Gerdes family were baptised at about > the > same time!). > > William Henry called his house in the 1901 and 1911 census 'Hurstbourne' > which > was a very helpful clue but stated on some occasions he was born at North > Waltham, Hants but finally stated in the 1911 he had been born near > Hurstbourne which is more likely since the FreeBMD looks to be Whitchurch > Hants RD for John Alexander Stevens. The family association with North > Waltham is not yet resolved. > > William and Alice Emma had three children Alfred William b ca 1885 Hackney > , > Ethel M. b ca 1886 Hackney and Violet A. b ca 1890 1 Nightingdale Road, > Clapton . The youngest was still with her parents in the 1911 census. > > A good development for the Stevens tree on the Kingsclere Website and a big > thank you to my e-mailer who provided the data for the search for William > Henry and his brother John who had proved, to date, hard to trace. Great to > see another person reunited with their Kingsclere Family. > > I will forward this email to her and I expect John you will get a big thank > you for spotting the last key piece in the jigsaw which I had overlooked. > > Regards, > > Nigel Gerdes > > > In 1861 Robert born Ecchinswell is in household of Henry & Emma Ford, > > Emma age 34, born Ecchinswell. Robert is described as brother. So that > > confirms Robert as a son of John Stevens & Mary Ann Rode. > > > > I think John Stevens must have died as Mary Ann Wheeler with 3 Stevens > > children is recorded in George Street, Kingsclere in 1841, Thomas > > Wheeler, 43, blacksmith is the husband (presumably). Too late at > > night to start checking for a marriage but will do so tomorrow. > > > > He did. Mary Ann Rode married John Stevens and after his death in 1828 her > second husband was Thomas Wheeler - so all is clear. Details are already > on > the Kingsclere Website. > > > Baptism entries have both Emma & Robert born Kingsclere Town but family > > could have moved to Ecchinswell and both thought they were born there. > > > > This Robert is recorded as a letter carrier in 1871, a boot/shoemaker & > > grocer in 1881/1891 but with a wife Jane. In 1871 he has a 14 year > > old son John > > > > Same Robert b ca 1827 Kingsclere Town see above for details. > > -- Regards Ady S