Francis Stevens (abt. 1833 - 1911)

Born about 1 Dec 1833 in Loughton, Essex, England

Husband of Maria (Mellsop) Stevens — married 14 Aug 1862 in St Brides, Mauku, New Zealand

Husband of Lydia Emma (Buck) Stevens — married 9 Jan 1867 in Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand

Husband of Ellen (Trumble) Stevens — married 30 Dec 1871 in St Peter's, Wellington, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 16 Feb 1911 at about age 77 in Hay Street, Oriental Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Lianne Trevarthen [send private message]

Biography

Francis Stevens was born at Loughton, Essex, on Ist December, 1833, the son of Francis Worrell Stevens and Barbara Vickers. At the age of 13 he was placed in a stockbroker's office in London, following in the footsteps of his father who was a Stockbroker. The family lived in the parish of Carshalton in Surrey.

He emigrated to New Zealand, sailing on the Golconda, sailed 5 September 1859, and arrived on the 24th December, 1859. He was 26 years old.

During his appointment in Auckland to the Deputy Adjutant-General's Office (later merged with the Defence Office) he married Mynie Stevens in Mauku at St Bride's Anglican Church [[1]](a double wedding) - the minister was Rev A Purchas^[1]. Theirs was the first wedding performed in the church.

Francis and Mynie Stevens had two daughters, but when Francis was transferred to Wellington Mynie and one of their daughter's contracted scarlet fever. Mynie and Maria died in March 1965, leaving Francis a widower with one young daughter.

Francis was appointed Chief Clerk of the Crown Lands Office, a post he held responsibly for many years.

He remarried on 9 January 1867 to Lydia Emma Sladen. They had two sons, Frank and Charles in 1867 and 1870. Lydia died on 11 June 1871, and Francis then married Ellen Trumble who gave him two more sons.

Around the time of his marriage to Lydia, Frank's father, also named Francis Stevens, was active in support of a proposal to construct a railway in Nelson. Some written exchanges between the Provincial Government of Nelson and himself appear in "The Colonist" [2], with Francis Worrell Stevens proposing the Provincial Council provide some incentive for the construction. He noted that he himself had experience of such large undertakings in England. Frank's father had come to New Zealand with his wife Barbara, but liked to dabble in projects and schemes.

When Frank married Ellen Trumble, also widowed, they built a home in Oriental Bay where they lived with his son Frank and daughter Clara, who had returned from living with her grandparents in Mauku.

The Alexander Turnbull Library, administered by NZ Archives has papers in relation to a property owned by Francis Stevens - a deed and a photograph of the property. They note the following: "A civil servant of Oriental Bay, Wellington; photograph of his house in album PA1-o-120, page 24, which shows the house of `Frank Stevens', at Oriental Bay, Wellington, ca 1881. (Possibly the F. Stevens who was one of the members of St Mark's Church first vestry; churchwarden 1887-1889, vestryman between 1876 and 1906, synodsman 1888-1890. See photograph album "St Mark's Parish", PA1-o-453, p 18)"

Francis Stevens retired on 1892, and died in 1911 at the age of 77.

One account of his passing read as follows:

MR FRANCIS STEVENS.

(PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON, February 16. Mr Francis Stevens, a very old resident of Wellington, died this morning, aged 78. Deceased was connected with the Commissariat Department during the Maori war, and afterwards was in the Defence and Crown Lands Departments. He acted as secretary to the New Zealand Rifle Association Meeting for many years.

External biographical novel

A book by Helen Reardon was written about the Stevens Family of New Zealand, and is available for purchase on Amazon.com. This is a work based on facts but with speculation and author augmentation, so may be classed as a fictional biography, or biographical fiction.

The blurb for her book (titled "Man of Vision: The story of Francis Worrell Stevens - The Story of the Stevens Family" - published in 2014) reads:

New Zealand was a vibrant, changing country in the late 1800s and the story of the Stevens family is typical of life in the colony during those years. The major events in this story are based on true facts but the day to day lives of the characters come from the writer’s imagination.

Francis Stevens arrived from England as a young man and spent many years working for the government, firstly in defence and later in the Crown Lands department. His third marriage was to wealthy widow Ellen Maclaurin (Trumble) who bought land in Oriental Bay and built several houses there.

His father Francis Worrall Stevens was an entrepreneur and inventor, who claims he was the first to design a postage stamp. This idea was later taken up by the famous Rowland Hill, much to the annoyance of Francis Worrell who at almost 90 years of age, travelled back to England from New Zealand to claim the honour.

Several streets in the Belmont area of Auckland’s North Shore, formerly called Lake Town, are named after the Stevens family.

File Size: 1048 KB

Print Length: 120 pages

Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited

Publisher: Helen Reardon (June 7, 2014)

Publication Date: June 7, 2014

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC

Language: English

ASIN: B00KUK0WOY

ISBN 978-0-473-28954-6

Sources

1. ↑ The New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1716, 20 August 1862, Page 2

• The New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1716, 20 August 1862, Page 2.
• New Zealand Marriage Index
• New Zealand Death Index
• 1851 England Census
• EVENING POST, VOLUME LXXXI, ISSUE 39, 16 FEBRUARY 1911 [3]
• PRESS, VOLUME LXVII, ISSUE 13970, 17 FEBRUARY 1911
• THE COLONIST, VOLUME X, ISSUE 703, 22 JANUARY 1867[4]
• Mellsop Family New Zealand website [5]