#52Ancestors, Week 24, Fathers' Day

I wrote about my Dad and my grandfathers as part of the #52Stories blog challenge last year, and also it isn’t Fathers’ Day in Australia or New Zealand until later in the year. I wrote about my great grandmothers for Mothers’ Day this year; so great grandfathers...these four are all DNA confirmed too.

Francis Davys 

was born 11 January 1854 probably at Hurstone Farm in Milverton, Somerset. He was the 3^rd son in the family. His birth certificate gives his place of birth only as Milverton. I was hoping it would narrow down the date when his parents had moved from Nethercott Farm near Lydeard St Lawrence where his 2 elder brothers were born, and where they were still living at the 1851 census. But no.

His father’s family had been associated with the Milverton area and adjacent parishes since at least the middle of the 17^th century. They were farmers, landowners or leaseholders, with connections to many other notable families in the district. When he was seven years old, Francis emigrated to New Zealand with his parents and five brothers. They arrived in Auckland in 1862, part of the Albertland scheme to settle at Port Albert near Wellsford. On arrival it became apparent that the information they had been given prior to leaving England was not at all what it had seemed. The land was not particularly arable, the transport options to travel from Auckland to the Hokianga were not entirely reliable and the settlement itself was floundering. Many settlers did not go and claim their land at all. It is unclear whether they made the journey, or whether they elected to stay in Auckland and not go to Port Albert at all. Auckland was still a fledgling city, but with a little more resource and infrastructure than Port Albert.

The family did stay in Auckland for a time and a daughter was born a year after they arrived. By the time he was fifteen and his second sister was born in 1869, they had moved to Tararu on the Coromandel Peninsula on the shores of the Hauraki Gulf. Here the older boys and their father were gold mining. By the late 1870s-early 1880s most of the family had moved again to the Waikato and taken up farming. Later some of his brothers ran a sawmill at Rukuhia, and one became a builder in Cambridge and owned a timber yard there. Francis lived in Papakura for some years after he married Sarah Hall there in 1885 before moving to Taupiri where he and his brothers had another sawmill.  

At the end of 1907 they moved again, to Tamahere, where they lived until the end of 1913 on the corner opposite the church. I believe they had a shop there and ran the Post Office. They moved to Hamilton in early 1914, where Francis died on 11 March that year.

William Cooper 

was born 1 February 1867 at Kekerengu, North Canterbury. He was the 9^th child and 4^th son in his family. His parents were both immigrants having arrived in Wellington with their parents in 1841 & 1842. William’s father was a tailor, probably employed at Kekerengu Station.  Some of William’s maternal uncles also worked on the station as shepherds and one as an overseer. They all had large families, so he would have grown up in a sizeable extended family with many cousins. When he was about four his family moved south to the township of Kaikoura where his father continued to find work as a tailor. His three youngest siblings were born in Kaikoura. When he was about nine or ten his mother left the family, taking with her the three youngest children.

William became a builder, learning the trade possibly from his brother-in-law Tom Cooke, the husband of one of his elder sisters. Tom had initially come to New Zealand with his cousin William who established a business as an ironmonger, builder and contractor. Tom left his young family and returned to England in the late 1880s though. So it may have been William Cooke then, not Tom, who taught this William his trade.

By the 1890s William had moved to the Horowhenua, perhaps via Wellington. He married Emma Bartlett in Manakau in 1894. Their first three children were born there before they moved to Levin in 1899 where he built the new Post Office which was opened in 1903. About 1910 they moved to the Waikato and farmed at Elstow near Te Aroha until about 1918 when they moved further north to Auckland, before moving to Hamilton in 1921. They spent most of the 1930’s farming again near Katikati, returning briefly to Hamilton where he had built houses. He also built a home in Mission Bay Auckland and they lived there for a couple of years, returning to live in Hamilton in 1943. Emma and William celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1944. Emma died in 1945 and a few years later William remarried.

He was reportedly visited by a man claiming to be his nephew from Australia, the son of one of his sisters who had left with his mother many years ago. This encounter was emphatically denied later, but was remembered by others who heard accounts of it at the time. He died 4 January 1961 in Hamilton.

John William Fuller 

was born 3 June 1866 in Christchurch, Canterbury. He was the 2^nd and youngest son of immigrant parents who had arrived in Christchurch in 1860. His father was a miller by trade and worked at and built a number of mills in early Christchurch. They lived in Fendalton, Riccarton, Avonside, Sydenham and Waltham. John was baptised at St Luke’s on the corner of Kilmore and Manchester Streets. The church was badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake and has since been demolished.

When he was almost twelve and his brother eighteen, his mother died. (So much for the story about her running off and their father needing to employ a wet-nurse ! Wonder where that story started ?) At this time they were living in Second Street, Waltham; sometimes described not as a street, but as a collection of houses. Today it is more Sydenham than Waltham and is named Sandyford Street and Byron Street. This location was close to the railway station and there were a number of mills and bakers in the area. In 1890 John appeared on the electoral roll at his father’s address in Stirling St Sydenham (now Cass Street). At this time his father also appeared on rolls for Ellesmere and Geraldine where he was working as a miller at Irwell and Pleasant Point. John was likely employed with the Railways by now, where he worked all his working life.

In the late 1890s he was living with his elder brother, his family and their father in Riccarton. It was here that he met his wife Edith Vose. They were married on 8 May 1901 in Sydenham. They lived their entire married life on the property which had been left to Edith by her elder brother Samuel and raised a family of five. John enjoyed photography and colourised pictures by hand. He was also a bit of an artist and some sketches survive that he made of the view from his window when ill in bed. He was also a fan of radio and would spend hours in his shed tinkering to receive a clear signal on shortwave. One afternoon his children hid outside and played a short recital to trick him – but that is another story. John died in Christchurch on 17 November 1942.

George Timms 

was born 20 August 1877 in Stamford Place Milverton, Warwickshire. He was the 2^nd son and youngest child in his family. When he was 6 months old his mother died, responsibility for his care and for his elder brother and sisters mostly likely fell on his eldest sister. In 1881, his second eldest sister was living out of the family home, in service. Alice aged 18 and Mary 13 were probably managing the house, perhaps with some support from their maternal grandparents who lived next door, while their father worked. In 1883, his father remarried to a widow who lived across the lane, this probably relieved Alice and Mary of some of their household duties.

At least two of his sisters moved away from Leamington, and most of his siblings were married by the start of the 20^th century. George followed a similar career path to his father and became a groom and then a coachman.  He was employed as the coachman at Cranford House, on Kenilworth Road when he married Laura Kelsey in 1901. The first two of their four children were born there before they moved back into Leamington.

In Leamington he became a motor car driver and later a taxi driver. Life threw Laura a few curve balls resulting in her becoming an absent parent and spending twenty years in an asylum. George raised his children mostly alone, depending on the eldest to help out in the home, in the same street where had had lived as a child. Life was strict though, if they saw him driving in the street they were not to acknowledge him at all. Since most of his sisters lived away from Leamington, and his brother lived some distance away it is unclear whether there was any other support available to the family. One aunt did live very close by, but from all accounts theirs was not a harmonious relationship.

His eldest daughters moved abroad to New Zealand in the 1920s. He died on 5 August 1939 from a fall down the stairs, perhaps a stroke.

#52Stories, Week 39, Grandfathers Part Two

My maternal grandfather Albert (Bert) Victor Fuller was born in Christchurch in 1906. He was the 3^rd child of the family and the 2^nd son.

They lived in Middleton Road (which was called Bowen Road originally) in the Wharenui Settlement (Upper Riccarton). Their land went from Middleton Rd toward McDowells Road (which is now Wharenui Road) and included the land which is now Colligan Street. It had originally belonged to his mother’s elder brother, but had bequeathed to her before she married. Her family were market gardeners, and many of the other residents of Middleton Road where in the business too. I’m not sure exactly what they grew (fruit I think) – but I KNOW there were a lot of raspberry canes. Along the road, heading back toward Riccarton Road, lived Aunts and Uncles from both sides of his family.

The little cottage they lived in, and I remember visiting is still there – a little changed, and swallowed up by in-fill housing all around it – if you know where to look.

His father worked with the Railways and was based at Middleton Station, just at the end of the road and down a bit. Blenheim Road wasn’t there then, just a dusty track to the saleyards.

At Sumner about 1908/9 - he is the littlest one in white

The family attended St Peter’s at Church Corner, although Bert and his elder sister Edie were both married at St Barnabas in Fendalton.

I will need to do some more research to be sure, but I would guess that he most likely went to Wharenui School which had opened in 1907 on Matipo Street. After Primary School he attended the Technical High School (or College – his reference, which Mum has, from the principal includes both names on it !) in Barbadoes Street for two years from January 1920 – December 1921. After this, aged about 15 he began his 5 year apprenticeship in fitting and turning with P & D Duncan on St Asaph Street.

After completing his apprenticeship he worked for a year or so with P & D Duncan before embarking on a career with State Hydro starting at Lake Coleridge and continuing at many of the construction sites around the country until his retirement when at Whakamaru in the Waikato.

Some things I know – he enjoyed a game of Canasta and an involved code of secret signals between partners was encouraged. He didn’t enjoy Elvis being played again and again on the radiogram so much. He played saxophone and xylophone and played in a band. He also like bagpipes – and Nana didn’t. Maybe there is some Scot connection hidden way back in that branch of the tree ?

He could make a sixpence disappear by rubbing it on his trouser leg ! Once when babysitting me while Nana was out at a meeting, she came home to find us playing cricket in the hallway – oops.

I remember enjoying tinkering with tools with him in the garage, and lounging in the shade on deck chairs.

He was Grandad as opposed to Poppa, but I always called him GonGon…which was apparently Gone- Gone, as they would come to visit and then go home. Gone. It makes perfect sense.

#52Stories, Week 38, Grandfathers - Part One

Back in May, I wrote about my grandmothers – now it is time to do the same for my grandfathers.

My paternal grandfather Thomas Walter (Walt) Davys was born in Taupiri in 1900. His father had a sawmill there, on the banks of the Mangawara (Mangawhare) Stream. That is the one that you cross as you leave Taupiri driving north, just next to Taupiri Mountain – flowing into the Waikato River.

He was the sixth child in his family and the 4^th son. His second christian name, Walter, was for his Uncle Walter – the gold miner. He became a big brother two years later. Some of his uncles must have also lived in Taupiri working at the sawmill. They had previously had a sawmill at Rukuhia. They were pretty talented cricket players the Davys brothers (senior) – often being mentioned in the sporting columns for their bowling and batting for Taupiri. Somerset cricket must have been bereft when the family left for New Zealand 40 years earlier.

The family lived in Taupiri until late 1907. His last day at Taupiri School was 30 September. From there they moved to Tamahere, south of Hamilton. He attended Tamahere School and later Hamilton High School. At Tamahere they lived behind the shop that was on the corner of Cambridge Rd/Tamahere Rd and what is now Airport Rd (but I don’t think it would have been known as that in 1907 !) leading to the Narrows bridge.

The shop also served as the Post & Telegraphic Office. In 1914 just after he had begun High School his father died. At some point after this, they moved into Hamilton. He left school in July after just 6 months and worked with his elder brothers as a baker in the bakery they ran in Oxford (known as Tirau these days, but if you look you might spot some buildings which still have the old name)

When he was 18 he joined the Territorials, his elder brothers had signed up and appear on Nominal and Reserve Rolls for WW1 but he was just too young.

I have heard he was a great gardener – that must be where my Dad got that from. He was the Chief Accounts Clerk at the Central Waikato Electric-Power Board.

I've heard stories about how annoyed he was with the Labour government's "black budget" of 1958 in which the Finance Minister Arnold Nordmeyer increased taxes on beer, tobacco, cars and petrol. So annoyed in fact that he had a picture of the culprit inside his tobacco tin and would curse him each time he opened it.

I don’t remember him at all, he passed away suddenly just a week before my brother Mark was born. I have recollections of other things at about this time in my life, so the memories must be there locked away for now – if only I could find the key.