W - Whanga-nui-a-Tara, Te

Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara, the great harbour of Tara, Wellington Harbour, Port Nicholson, Poneke.

Tara was a son of the Polynesian explorer Whatonga whose descendants lived in the area. Māori tradition tells that Kupe first discovered the harbour when he visited in the 10^th century. There are a number of places within the harbour whose names commemorate Kupe; Te Tangihanga o Kupe or Te Raranga o Kupe (Barrett Reef) and Te Aroaro o Kupe or Te Ure of Kupe (Steeple Rock). Kupe also named the two islands within the harbour; Mākaro (Ward) and Matiu (Somes). 

Legend tells that the harbour itself was once a lake in habited by two taniwha (guardian spirits). Whātaitai and Ngake. Whātaitai lived in the north of the lake where the harbour now is and the water was calmer, like his nature. Ngake, lived further south and was a little more cantankerous. He didn’t like being confined to the lake and could hear the waters of Raukawa Moana (Cook Strait) pounding to the south. He decided he would escape to reach the tumultuous sea. To gather speed he spun around at the north of the lake and headed off rapidly to the south, where he crashed into and through the rocks at Te Turanga o Kupe (Seatoun) and headed out in to the pounding sea. Whātaitai watched and then tried to follow Ngake but instead of taking the same route he chose a different path. The water was rushing out of the lake into the sea by this time and Whātaitai hadn’t built up as much speed as Ngake. He got stuck on the sand and stayed there for many generations until he was lifted high onto the land by a great earthquake. His soul left in the form of a bird Te Keo and flew high above the harbour and wept for the taniwha. Today the suburbs on the hills immediately below Tangi Te Keo (Mt Victoria) is named Hataitai.

European settlement began in earnest in 1840. It was into this harbour that two branches of my family sailed after four months at sea, The Coopers in 1841 and the Barratts in 1842. We used to joke that they had got blown in the harbour by a good southerly and couldn’t get back out. Turns out it could have been true. In Jenny Robin Jones’ book “No Simple Passage”, the London, arriving in May 1842 with my Barratt ancestors on board was in sight of land but had to turn back and sail away to ride out or avoid a storm.

The New Zealand Company led by Edward Gibbon Wakefield bought from Te Atiawa chief Te Wharepouri around 160,000 acres. Known as the Port Nicholson Purchase. This was 90% of the land surrounding the harbour. The remaining 10% known as the Wellington Tenths was seat aside for Maori and today more than 4500 descendants of the original "tenths" owners have their interests in the land managed by the Wellington Tenths Trust. Settlers were allocated two properrty lots; an acre in the township and another back country block worth £1 per acre. Maybe this is why I have often found my ancestors on two electoral rolls at the same time - once against their "town" address and additionally at an address outside the outskists of the main part of town. Unsurprisingly many were not happy with their share, apportioned sight unseen - and if you know Wellington, most likely not flat or arable ! 

Samuel Cooper was a tailor, his son John followed him into the same trade and had business premises on Lambton Quay next to the Eagle Tavern at one time. A couple of John's brothers ventured into the soda manufacturing business. Thomas reputedly was the first in Wellington to establish such a business. Another brother Frederick established a plant nursery and Cooper's Seeds. He was possibly assisted in this enterprise by his brother James who had a similar set up in Invercargill. Importing plants from Australia. DNA suggests this link, I have yet to confirm it. Their cousin Frederick Stagg ran a grocery business on Lambton Quay.

Wellington certainly gets some wicked weather and is the brunt of non-Wellingtonian’s jokes. I imagine my ancestors wondered on some days why they had chosen to come to such an inhospitable place. But then there are those great days, the harbour is like a millpond, the breeze just a gentle zephyr…You can’t beat Wellington on a good day.

Coolest little capital in the world.

 

V- Vose

Edward Vose was born in Liverpool, Lancasshire on the 12 April 1798 and baptised at Our Lady & St Nicholas on 20 May. The church record notes that he was the first child for his parents Thomas and Mary (nee Ellis), and that they had been married “in this chapel”. At the time of Edward's birth the family lived at Cheetham Brow and his father was a joiner. Eighteen months later at his sister Elizabeth’s baptism they were living in Vernon Street.

Nothing else is known of Edward’s early life. His military record indicates that he joined the Royal Engineers (later the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners) as a Bugler in 1815. The period of service from 31 December 1815 to 12 April 1816 did not count towards his service as he was under 18 years of age. He eventually became a Private.

Edward married Elizabeth Weller at All Saints Church, Frindsbury Kent on 12 November 1819. Not much is known about Elizabeth’s early life either, however as she was born in Gillingham, Kent it is likely that her father was also in the military. I haven’t yet found a baptism record for the child I believe is their first born. John Frederick Vose was born in 1820 and is recorded on the GRO Regimental Indices 1761-1924. By 1828 when my great-great-grandfather Edward Mark was born the family were living in Omagh, Tyrone, Ireland where Edward Snr and his regiment were employed on the Survey of Ireland.

At this time the family included four sons, with the possibility of a fifth child, looking at dates, whose existence has been lost to time. Two more children George Ellis and Mary were also born in Ireland. When son Henry was born in 1834, the family was back in England, living at Woolwich. Their youngest son, Cornelius Augustus (who also liked to call himself Augustus Cornelius) was born in October 1840.

Edward was discharged as medically unfit due to chronic rheumatism 4 April 1837; with no pension. It was noted that he had first been attacked by rheumatism in 1828 while in Ireland, in his back and limbs and had been subject to the complaint ever since. He was 39 years old. His total service was 21 years and 5 days.

At the census in 1841 the family were living at New Road, Woolwich. Edward was a Labourer. Missing from the census family group were sons John Frederick and George Ellis. John may have been in the military; he certainly was in 1851. The 1841 census did not enumerate ships in port, so he may have been on board a naval vessel or deployed overseas. George had died in 1838 aged 9. On this census, William is also marked as having been born in Ireland, but Mary is not.

In 1851 they were living in Ann Street, Plumstead and Edward’s occupation was recorded as Labourer Chelsea Pensioner. Edward (my great-great-grandfather) was 22 and a Labourer at the Royal Arsenal. This time he and Mary were recorded as having been born in Ireland. Eldest son John was living in Sculcoates Yorkshire with his wife Ellen. They had married in Chatham in 1847 and John was a Private with the same Royal Sappers and Miners. John and Ellen had returned to Woolwich by the end of the year, and that is where John’s death occurred. Charles and William weren’t living with the family in 1851 and I haven’t found them on the census so far. William married in August that year and Charles in April 1853. Mary died in mid 1854.

By 1861 Charles and his growing family were living in Toronto, Canada where he was a Painter. William was settled with his own family in Plumstead. I’m not sure where Henry was, or even if he was still alive, I have a possible death for him in 1860; the age and location seem correct. Cornelius was enumerated on board HMAS Hornet in Aden. Edward and Elizabeth though were still living in Ann street with their son Edward. Edward senior is recorded as a Blacksmith while son Edward was still a Labourer at the Royal Arsenal.

On Christmas Day 1862 their son Edward married Sarah Ann Daniels who on the 1861 census was Nursemaid to the children of Walter Mitchell, Assistant Clergyman at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Sarah was born in Wiltshire but had obviously moved to London for employment. I wonder how they met ? Edward died  in JAnuary 1870 and was buried at St Margaret's churchyard in Plumstead. By the time the 1871 came around Elizabeth was living alone in Villas Road. Her sons William, Edward and Cornelius were living in Mile End Town, Erith and Plumstead.

In February 1879 Edward and Sarah left England with their 4 children and emigrated to Canterbury, New Zealand. Elizabeth was back in Ann Street living with Cornelius, his wife and children on the 1881 census. She moved with them to Upper Earl Street and then Bramblebury Road where they were living at the 1891 census.

When Elizabeth died in 1892 she had 25 grandchildren living on three continents. She was buried with Edward in the St Margaret’s Plumstead Churchyard.

U - Uriah

Uriah Cooper has been sitting in my tree for some time. I feel that he fits. The fact that makes some people less convinced is his supposed date of birth.

As I see it, he is a younger brother of my great-great-great-grandfather Samuel Cooper. Samuel too has a pretty fluid date of birth, somewhere between 1789 and 1801 depending which document you are reading. I’ve not yet been able to find a baptism for Samuel, but I believe he (and Uriah) are the sons of John Cooper and Ann Pullman who married in Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset in June 1784. It appears from the church register that a sister of John’s also married that day.

There aren’t many Cooper families around this area so I think they have to all be connected. John and Ann had several children baptised in Stoke sub Hamdon and by 1797 had moved to Montacute where they had some more before John died in 1810. John was a tailor according to one story I read attached to someone's tree. My great-great-great-grandfather Samuel and his son John were both tailors too, so this new revelation seems like it could have an ounce of truth to it. My Dad and I spent a lot of Saturdays at the National Library in Wellington reading the microfilm copies of the church records for Montacute about seven years ago. We even managed to find evidence for my great-great-great-grandmother’s maiden name, but still haven’t been able to convince everyone who has it wrong in their trees to make the correction.

But back to Uriah. He is thought to have been born between 1798 and 1807. His death certificate in 1878 gives his age as 80, but who knows ? I remember being reminded recently about the literacy levels of our ancestors and that their numeracy skills were likely low too. Did they really remember which year they were born in, if they couldn’t write it down or have a document to refer back to ? And what were their addition skills like ? 80 might just have been a fair assumption made by his wife, the informant…who signed with an x.

My ancestor Samuel emigrated to New Zealand in 1841. Uriah had however left two years earlier and sailed on the Asia to Adelaide with his wife Elizabeth (nee Hockey) and three children. Some sources have only documented 2 children. He appears to have had a run in with the law before leaving England and spent some time in Ilchester Gaol.  He and his brothers may even have been involved in a riot which occurred in Montacute in the 1830s. I wonder if their wives and sisters were involved in the women led riot that occurred around the same time. You can read about the riots here. 

Uriah & Elizabeth stayed in South Australia for about 3 years before moving to Launceston, Tasmania. There they had six more children before moving again to Melbourne where their last two children were born. Uriah appears on the 1856 Electoral Roll living in Hawthorn, Melbourne. I am unsure where they lived in South Australia but it should be noted that there is a small settlement there, in the Adelaide Hills named Montacute after the birthplace of a financier of the Copper mine established there in 1843. I wonder if Uriah & Elizabeth knew John Baker ?

There is also a Montacute in Tasmania, near Hobart. This settlement was also established by a former Montacute resident. Captain William Langdon RN was the son of a former vicar of St Catherine’s in Montacute. He had been granted land in Tasmania in 1823, he regularly traded between London and Hobart and is reputed to have owned his own sailing ship. Other former Montacute residents are thought to have joined him there as well. Uriah though seems to have been further north. Uriah was a sawyer by trade and I imagine he would have had no shortage of work as settlers arrived and timber was required for building.

Uriah and Elizabeth had at least 13 children, not all of whom survived infancy, but many of who went on to marry and have families of their own.  He died at his home in Highett Street, Hawthorn. I know that the church records make the connection look pretty sketchy, but DNA matches are certainly pointing in the right direction. We all have matches coming up with descendants of Uriah, through at least 5 of his children and we and they also share matches with the descendants of their sister Ann. Contacting some of them is my next priority to compare information and see where can help each other.

T - Thomas

There are a fair few Thomas’ in our tree. It is a name which appears both as a first name and a surname. As a first name it is well represented across many families and many generations. Some families seemed to choose their children’s names from a very short list of names; so each Thomas might have an uncle Thomas and at least 3 cousins called Thomas as well ! As a surname, it is spread across many counties, provinces, states and countries.

I have a Thomas family I would like to find out a bit more about eventually. I’ll tell you what I know (or think I know).

John Thomas was born about 1790 in Llanfechan, Montgomeryshire, Wales. This information comes from census’ he is recorded on with his family. His wife Ann (maiden name uncertain) was born around the same time in Llanshaidr, Denbighshire, Wales. I have found them on the 1841, 1851 and 1861 UK census’. With a name like Thomas, in Wales you can never be entirely sure you have the right family, but I am fairly confident that I have the right one.

I found them when looking for the family of my 4 x great-grandmother Ann Thomas who I knew had married Henry James (another GREAT name to research !) in Brimfield, Herefordshire in 1843.

For a long time we didn’t do much research with this branch – I mean where do you start with Thomas’ and James’ ? We had Henry and Ann’s marriage certificate, and the birth certificates of both their daughters; Elizabeth & Mary who were born at Broadward Bridge near Clungunford, Shropshire. It wasn’t until we discovered that Ann had had another daughter prior to marrying Henry that the search began. We had been searching for a long time to find when Elizabeth (Aunt Lizzie) had emigrated to America. That turned out to be much earlier than the story relayed to us by Nana, and the passenger record indicated she was travelling to live with her brother-in-law...which meant she had another sister.

Finding Ellen then became the focus. She was about 5 years old at the time of the 1841 census. My cousin Jackie in the States had found what appeared to be the most likely record of baptism; in Llanymynech/Carreghofa in 1836. Below is the family in the parish of Llandrinio, Montgomeryshire. This was in the registration district of Llanfyllin and sub district of Llansantffraid.

 

John THOMAS         48      Sayer (sic)    Y

Ann                        48                          N

Richard                  21                          Y

Hugh                      11                          Y

Edward                   7                            Y

Evans                     6                            Y

Harriot                   16                          Y

Elen                        5                            Y

I am fairly confident that I have identified their daughter Ann as a servant at Jay House in Heath & Jay Herefordshire – just a hop step and a jump from Leintwardine & Bucknell which her (then future) husband gave as his birthplace in various census’.

In 1851 & 1861 John and Ann can be found in Domgay, still in the Llanfyllin registration district where John is a Sawyer, which ties in with the occupation given for him on the marriage certificates for two daughters. In 1851 their daughter Ann, her husband and two daughters were living in Dudley with the Duffill family. Another daughter of John and Ann, Mary, was married to Thomas Duffill, a tailor. Mary was in fact wife #4 of 5. Ellen hasn’t been confirmed on this census, she was likely to be in service elsewhere aged, about 15. By 1861 she had returned to Dudley and was married to John Duffill, her aunt’s stepson. Ellen’s birthplace on the census was transcribed as Slangyowich, which turned out to be Llanymynech !

Mary had died by 1861 and Thomas Duffill had married again. Ann and her family haven’t been located as yet (years of searching) on the 1861 census, but in 1871 Henry was a widower. We have a death certificate for Ann, not entirely sure it is the right one, but the age, location and date seem most likely. Ann was the informant on her sister Mary’s death certificate in 1859. If I could find the 1861 census, it would help make the 1865 death even more likely.

After the death of wife #5 the entire Duffill family, including Ellen, her husband and young children emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where “Aunt Lizzie” would join them 40 years later.

Ellen’s marriage certificate records her father’s name as Thomas Thomas (!), her death certificate states John Thomas (her grandfather’s name). Her baptism record implies that her father may be Edward Owens. But that is another puzzle, for one day. The Thomas’ seem to all vanish from records after 1861 too.

In amongst our DNA matches there are some glimmers of hope – people who have Thomas in their trees, or who have Duffill which for us can only mean a link to the Thomas’.

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.

R - Richard

Richard Gibson was born in Corraderran in the parish of Killeshandra, Cavan in Ireland in about February 1841. He appears with his family on a surviving piece of the Irish census taken on the night of 6 June 1841. It was a great census, with so much more information collected than the English census which was taken that same night.

He was the 12^th and youngest child in his family. By the time of his birth four of his elder siblings had died. George aged 16 in 1839, Margaret age 13 in 1838, William aged 1 month (a visitation of God) in 1836 and William Henry in 1840 aged less than 1 year. His 2^nd eldest sister Hester had already emigrated to America and was employed there as a servant.

This census recorded the population of Ireland as being 8, 175, 124 million. By the time the next census was taken in 1851 the population had dropped over 1.5 million. This was because of the Famine which was responsible for approximately 1 million deaths and the great migration which saw about a million people leave Ireland to start new lives in England and in the colonies.

Not a lot more is known about Richard's siblings and how they fared through the Famine. A brother James emigrated to New South Wales in the late 1850’s marrying in 1860. His bride has been born in Fermanagh, Ireland and emigrated as a baby with her parents and siblings in 1839. Another brother Ephraim emigrated to New York with his wife in the early 1860s.

Richard too, packed his bags and left Ireland, arriving at Twofold Bay, (Eden) New South Wales on 21 May 1867 as a passenger on the Lighthorse Brigade. Just over a year later he married the younger sister of his brother’s wife and settled into farming in the south coast hinterland; Kiama, Berrima, Burrawang, Jamberoo, Robertson before moving to Unanderra in his later years.

Richard and Harriett raised a family of seven children. They lost their eldest grandson at Pozieres in July 1916 and saw many other grandchildren grow and marry in their lifetime. They were great grandparents by the time of their deaths.

Richard was my daughters 3 x great grandfather. She has four 3 x great grandparents born in Ireland who emigrated to Australia and New Zealand and three of them are from County Cavan - but from completely opposite sides of the county.

How’s that for a Random fact – to round out this letter of the alphabet !

Q - Quilt

I have always secretly wanted to be a quilter. I hand pieced hexagons when I was at high school with friends, then put it all away.

When I was pregnant I decided to make a quilt for my baby’s cot. All hand pieced. It took a lot longer than I had envisaged. Thank goodness somebody else gifted us a cot quilt. That bought me another 12 months or so of time – although it made the job bigger because now I needed to make it single bed sized !

I did it though, and it kept her warm for many years – and is still holding together. I made some other quilts too. A patchwork square one for my brother – nothing fancy; and one for my parents which wasn’t so much patchwork or quilting; more a Escher inspired hand pieced twisted triangle which I appliqued on to a piece of fabric and then used that as the quilt topper.

In my cupboard I have some squares waiting for me to get out the sewing machine and whip up a new light quilt or throw, and in a box in the garage there are some bags of fabric which have travelled the world – waiting for me to make time and finish half done projects.

My love of handcrafts comes from my grandmother I think. She was a great knitter. I remember there were pieces of embroidery and tapestry too, some half finished at her home. I have a cushion she made with a tapestry cover, and a crochet blanket she made for my bed. There was a bargello cushion too, I wonder what happened to that one ? She crocheted a tablecloth with ecru cotton for Mum, hundreds of little squares individually hand sewn together. We all, my cousins and I and my daughter (her great granddaughter) were lucky to have home made knitted jumpers, cardigans – even dresses (except for the boys lol). I still have my knitted Noddy too, who last time I checked was still looking pretty good all these years later.

I remember her showing me embroidery stitches; lazy daisies, feather stitch and blanket stitch. Knitting was a shared task too, helping with the casting on, ribbing, cables…it takes a village, right ? We had a go at tatting together but neither of us really mastered it.

Cross stitch became my favourite for a number of years and Nana had dabbled with it too. A couple of years ago my daughter decided to give it a try, so it has passed to another generation. One of the first projects she completed was an unfinished one of Nana’s which had laid in the cupboard at Mum and Dad’s most of her life waiting for someone to pick up the needle again.

Life is like a tapestry. Everyone we meet weaves their way into our journey, some good, some not so much, like dropped stitches or knotty threads. But it is those interactions which make us who we are, and the little disasters (negative knitting and unpicking seams) give us the strength to carry on; to try again.

Family can be like a quilt; warm, enveloping, calming but giving you the freedom to leave while you spread your wings, knowing that the comfort and security they offer will always be there when you need it.

Right now, the whole world needs a great big quilt, and to know that everything will be alright. Eventually. Maybe I will get the sewing machine out this weekend.