Elizabeth STEPHENSON

Abt 1822 - 1897  (~ 75 years)

• Name	Elizabeth STEPHENSON
  Birth	Abt 1822	New Shield, Alston, Cumberland, England
  Gender	Female
  Baptism	10 Mar 1822	Alston, Cumberland, England
  Census	6 Jun 1841
  Residence	3 Jul 1848	Alston, Cumberland, England
  Census	30 Mar 1851	Chapel New House, Lambley, Northumberland, England
  Immigration	3 Nov 1857	Hobsons Bay, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  Death	13 Sep 1897	Broomfield, Victoria, Australia
  Burial	15 Sep 1897	Buninyong Cemetery, Buninyong, Victoria, Australia
  Person ID	I76	FHC006 - White Tree
  Last Modified	12 May 2020

  
  

  Father	Joseph STEPHENSON,   b. Abt 1779, Alston, Cumberland, England d. Oct 1836, Nest, Alston, Cumberland, England (Age ~ 57 years)
  Mother	Hannah TODD,   b. Abt 1788, Hudgill, Alston, Cumberland, England d. 26 May 1871, Alston, Cumberland, England (Age ~ 83 years)
  Marriage	17 May 1804	Alston, Cumberland, England
  Family ID	F199	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Peter ARMSTRONG,   b. Abt 1821, Kirkhaugh, Northumberland, England d. 4 Jan 1890, Cambrian Hill, Victoria, Australia (Age ~ 69 years)
  Marriage	3 Jul 1848	Allison's Bank Toll House, Gretna Green, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
  Notes	WESTERN MORNING NEWS, Thursday 28 December 1922 ROMANTIC WEDDINGS. FACTS ABOUT GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES. The announcement that the once-famous smithy at Gretna Green has been condemned as a danger to motorists, and is to be removed, is, it seems, not altogether accurate. The buildings made historic by the runaway marriages of former times were converted into a curio shop a number of years ago, when the blacksmith removed his residence to a house across the road. It this house, and not the older one, which is now sought to remove. As the scene many hundreds of runaway marriages, among them those of many titled persons and others who late in life, rose to fame, Gretna Green will go down to history as a rather romantic spot. References crop up from time to time. It is only few years ago that a batch of the original marriage certificates of between the years 1825 and 1854 was sold by auction in London. That batch contained some illustrious names, and must have been of high interest to not a few noted families. In the early decades of last century, and no doubt prior to that, runaway marriages seem to have been common enough. The couples always sought the border as the only place where they could be married with some show of legality without the necessity of publication of banns. But all of them did not go to Gretna Green for that purpose. There were obliging “priests” at other places, such Paxton, Lamberton Toll, and Coldstream. It must not be supposed that all these marriages were of a clandestine kind. They were not. The stern Nonconformist type of religion practised for generations in these wild moorland districts made marriage for certain couples impossible at their own parish church. Others disliked publicity given to a local wedding. Many attempts were made by such bodies as the General Assembly to suppress the whole system which made runaway marriages possible, but without success. It was not until 1856, when Lord Brougham (who himself was married at Gretna) carried an Act through Parliament making such marriages illegal unless the persons concerned had resided in Scotland 21 days, that a stop was put the proceedings. At the beginning of last century David Long, "the Gretna blacksmith," was the man to whom fugitive lovers went to be married. He joined hundreds. When the railway was carried to Gretna business in the matrimonial line, seems to have been brisk, and at times fifty marriage ceremonies would be gone through by a single "priest," so-called, whom there were no fewer than four competing for business. They actually had touts at the station. The most famous of the last who held sway until the passing of the Act was John Murray, of Sark Toll Bar. The toll bar is gone, just as the smithy may disappear. Marriages, however, did not take place at the smithy. They did either at the toll bar or at one other of the inns, one of which had for its sign a man and woman clasping hands over an anvil. As to fees, there was, of course, no fixed sum. Those who tied the nuptial knot would take a shilling or less from poor people. A half-crown was accounted a satisfactory sum, and a seven-shilling fee was looked upon as a stroke of luck. But the fees did not cover the whole of the expenditure. The man who performed the ceremony, if it can be so styled, kept an inn, where the newly-wedded couples, when they could afford it, spent a good deal of money in the entertainment of the “company,'' and in the main for the benefit of the landlord.
  Children	1. John Stevenson ARMSTRONG,   b. 26 May 1849, Stonehouse, Coanwood, Northumberland, England d. 14 Sep 1917, 404 Lydiard St north, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia (Age 68 years)   2. Hannah Jane ARMSTRONG,   b. 8 Nov 1850, Newhouses, Lambley, Northumberland, England d. 10 Apr 1917, Broomfield, Victoria, Australia (Age 66 years)   3. Joseph Wilkinson ARMSTRONG,   b. 28 Oct 1853, Stonehouse, Coanwood, Northumberland, England d. 9 Jun 1912, Wellsford Rifle Range, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia (Age 58 years)   4. Thomas George ARMSTRONG,   b. 30 Oct 1858, Winter's Flat, Victoria, Australia d. 12 Jun 1925, Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (Age 66 years)   5. Elizabeth Ann ARMSTRONG,   b. 18 May 1863, Cambrian Hill, Victoria, Australia d. 30 May 1889, Cambrian Hill, Victoria, Australia (Age 26 years)
  Family ID	F873	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	15 Jun 2019