STEPHEN ROBERT OFFEN was born circa 1878 in Ramsgate, Kent
(source : 1881 census). At his 1910 baptism, he gave his date of birth as 19th November 1880, but this
seems impossible as his brother George was supposedly born on
15th April 1880 and they can't have both been born in the same year (source : Janet Todd).
As Janet Todd surmises, "Stephen might have been born in 1877/8 as he is 3 in 1881 and 14 in 1891, but he was said
to be 21 on the 1901
census and when he married Sarah Taylor in December 1904 he was 24 which takes us back to 1880.
Some people can never make up their minds!". There is a birth registered in March quarter 1878 for STEPHEN ROBERT OFFEN
(source : Free BMD, district Thanet, volume 2a, page 872).
On the 1881 census, aged 3, he was living with his parents at 9 Bellavesta Terrace, St Lawrence, Kent.
On the 1891 census, Stephen (14 - no occupation listed, unlike brother George who is a scholar) is with
his parents and brother George at 11 Model Cotts, Ramsgate, Kent.
On the 1901 census, Stephen, a 21-year-old fisherman, was with his brother GEORGE at 11 Montague Road
in St Lawrence (Ramsgate), Kent, just along the road from their mother who was at number 7 (source : 1901 census).
The brothers were boarders with the GRIGGS family - Robert (29, general carman - on own account - possibly
George's employer?) and Harriett (29) and their three young sons Robert, Frederick and George (source : 1901 census).
This would appear to be their sister Harriet.
He married SARAH TAYLOR on 18th December 1904 in Holy Trinity,
Ramsgate (source : marriage register, courtesy of Janet Todd).
Stephen was 24, a bachelor, fisherman, address 7 Serene Place and Sarah was 19, a spinster, also at 7 Serene Place
(source : marriage register). The fathers were given as John Offen, decorator and Thomas Henry Taylor, lab,
and the witnesses were Thomas Henry and Emily Taylor (source : marriage register).
They lived at 33 St David's Road, Dumpton, Ramsgate (source : Brian Marsden).
Stephen Robert Offen was baptised as an adult on 14th August 1910 at St George's, Ramsgate, Kent and was recorded as
son of John & Mary Ann, 14 Trinity Place, labourer (source : baptisms register, courtesy of Janet Todd).
Stephen served in the army, in the Royal East Kent Regiment (the Buffs),
2nd batallion, during the Second World War (source : Karen and Nick Evans).
He was in Baghdad and El Alemein, and was at the presentation of the Stalingrad Sword (source : Karen and Nick Evans).
He died in 1947 (source : Karen and Nick Evans).
Sarah later remarried ? CHRISTY (source : Brian Marsden).
The Children of STEPHEN ROBERT OFFEN and SARAH TAYLOR:
DOROTHY SARAH OFFEN was born in
June quarter 1907 (source : Free BMD, district Thanet, volume 2a, page 1105). She was baptised on 29th March
1907 at Holy Trinity, Ramsgate, Kent, daughter of Stephen Robert & Sarah Ann, 7 Serene Place, labourer
(source : baptisms register, courtesy of Janet Todd).
STEPHEN ROBERT OFFEN was born on 23rd August 1908 and
baptised, as son of Stephen Robert & Sarah, 1 Herbert Cotts, gas lab, on 30th September 1908 at Holy Trinity,
Ramsgate, Kent (source : baptisms register, courtesy of Janet Todd).
He married DORIS JOSEPHINE LINK in 1935 in Ramsgate, Kent
(source : Collette Kendall).
ELEANOR JANE OFFEN was born on 20th October 1910 and
baptised, as daughter of Stephen Robert & Sarah, 14 Trinity Place, lab, on 12th March 1911 at Holy Trinity,
Ramsgate, Kent (source : baptisms register, courtesy of Janet Todd).
ALICE LETITIA OFFEN was born in Ramsgate, Kent
in 1912 (source : Collette Kendall). She died young because she had kidney problems (source : Brian Marsden).