S - San Francisco Minstrels

Daniel Chittenden isn’t a direct ancestor of mine. He is in my tree though, because he married my great-great-grandmother’s elder sister Eliza Laney. 

Eliza was born in Nelson, New Zealand in 1844, the first New Zealand born child for her newly immigrant parents. They had arrived two years before bringing their infant son, and her mother’s two children from her previous marriage. Her father Edward was reportedly the first baker in Nelson. Eliza and her siblings grew up in Nelson and Richmond where their father had bakeries and at one time a pub.

Daniel and Eliza were married in 1862 and had 11 children over the next 28 years. Reports of the celebrations for their Golden Wedding anniversary in 1912 appeared in the local newspapers.

Daniel has intrigued me for a bit. I often get side-tracked on random offshoot branches all over the tree, but it is often in these random searches of friends, neighbours and relatives where you find interesting information and links.

He was born in Maitland in New South Wales, Australia in 1838. From other people’s trees and my own research he appears to have had at least 7 siblings, the eldest two born in England but most of the others in various places in Australia. One of his sisters Naomi also married into the Laney family, marrying Eliza and my great-great-grandmother Sarah’s eldest brother William the year before Eliza’s marriage.

Daniel was a great cricketer, he appears a lot in newspaper reports of matches in the Wairau Valley where he played alongside my great-great-grandfather George Bartlett for the North Bank team. George was pretty great too ! (seems to have been a real talent of the male ancestors in several of my paternal family lines.)

Daniel was a dance teacher ! He advertised regularly in the local Nelson and Blenheim newspapers about his dance hall venues, welcoming students to learn the new dance steps. He also made appearances on stage in musicals sometimes accompanied by one of his daughters. Members of the wider family also appear to have owned a store, possibly a grocery or general store of sorts both in Nelson and in Blenheim. But where did this theatrical streak come from I wondered.

I started doing some hunting to see what I could see. Daniel’s brother Thomas was also involved in this musical enterprise hosting dance evenings in Nelson before his untimely death aged 26. Turns out his father George was in the theatre too, recorded in newspaper articles and advertisements as the Musical Director and member of the San Francisco Minstrels.

I found mention in newspapers of Chittenden people on shipping information, arriving from Melbourne, going to Melbourne or going elsewhere in New Zealand. So I changed tack. Instead of searching for “Chittenden” I began searching for “San Francisco Minstrels”, both at Papers Past and on Trove. They certainly travelled a fair bit ! 

In July 1861 it was recorded that the troupe had arrived in Wellington on the Prince Alfred and would be preforming at the Oddfellows Hall for three nights. In August they presented shows at the Mechanics Institute in Auckland.

“Songs, Glees, Choruses &c.,

Interspersed with

Witticisms, Repartees, Burlesques,

Dances &c, &c, &c”

In December 1861 they were performing at the San Francisco Minstrels Hall in Dunedin. They performed several shows in Nelson in May & June 1862 and later in June performed at The Royal Olympic Theatre in Manners Street, Wellington. They made a return visit to Wellington in October 1862 on their way to perform in Auckland.

Earlier than these performances though, the San Francisco Minstrels travelled Australia in 1858, visiting Tasmania, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria – even touring the goldfields including spending some weeks in Bendigo putting on shows at the Shamrock Hotel (which I used to walk past almost every day a couple of years ago !) entertaining miners there with their acts.

They were still touring in the late 1870’s. Whether George was still involved at that stage is uncertain. (More newspapers to read yet.) But perhaps this theatrical life explains why his children were born in various places around Australia…and may be why I am yet to find records for all their births. One article I found on Trove alludes to the troupe having also toured America !

It seems from reading between the lines of some of the advertising that some of their performances included black-face acts which are frowned upon and rightly condemned as being in bad taste in today’s society – but which were acceptable 150 years or so ago. (Even in my life time I remember seeing troupe’s perform as such on tv.)

Daniel’s parents and two elder siblings emigrated to Australia arriving in Sydney on the Westminster in June 1838. On the passenger list, George gave his trade as a Carpenter and Joiner. This was certainly a trade followed by at least one other of his sons. So being a performer was a secondary form of income ? I’m still not sure when they left Australia to make New Zealand their home, was it after the tour of 1861 ? Was that how Daniel and Naomi met the Laney family and their future spouses ?

So, Daniel Chittenden, uncle of my great-grandmother, what a surprise it was to find out about your family and the San Francisco Minstrels.