R - Railwayman

Thomas Kelsey, my 2 x great grandfather was the youngest of five children born to Thomas Kelsey and Sarah Hulett in Shropshire England. Thomas was born at Norton near Stockton, his elder siblings at Dawley Bank, Dawley Magna, Hatton and Kemberton where his father was employed as an Ag Lab. See, I told you every family has at least one.

Although they were in Norton on the 1851 census just 8 weeks after Thomas' birth, for each subsequent census they were living in Kemberton, Shropshire. Thomas' father was born nearby in Hinnington and his mother was from Wellington.

By 1871 Thomas and his older siblings, all bar Henry, had left Kemberton and rural life behind them. Henry remained in Kemberton most of his life working as an Ag Lab like their father and raised a family of fifteen, three times the size of any of his siblings' families. George was married, living in Dudley and employed as a Railway Porter. Harriet was married and living in Blakedown, Worcestershire where her husband was Station Master . Emily was married and living in Tettenhall, Staffordshire with her husband a Roading contractor.

Thomas began his employment as a uniformed staff member of the Great Western Railway in March 1870. He is recorded as a Shunter at Brettell Lane Goods Yard in the Railway Employment Records. On April 2nd 1871 he received a pay increase of one shilling, to 19 shillings. The date of the payrise was also census night and Thomas is recorded there as a Porter. So not just a pay increase but a promotion too.

He received another pay increase in January 1872, and another the following month when he was also promoted and transferred to Wolverhampton as a Goods Guard. His pay had now increased to 22 shillings and would regularly increase up to March 1888 when he was recieving 32 shillings. 

He first married in 1875 to Mary James. They had 2 children before Mary died at their home in Junction Street, Wolverhampton in 1878. He was earning 31 shilllings at that time. His children went to live with their maternal grandfather and it is unclear exactly when they were returned to the care of their father. Thomas remarried in 1886 to Louisa Rudd. They had three children before Louisa died in 1890.

At the 1891 census, Louisa's father and older sister were living with Thomas and his 5 children. Clara was recorded as the Housekeeper, but three years later she married Thomas and they had a daughter of their own.

His employment record includes some warnings, but no accompanying fines. On 20 November 1885 for over-carrying two wagons, in August 1891 for leaving the train and not warning the signalman - which resulted in him being left behind, and again on 19 April 1893 for overcarrying a cattle truck.

He is noted as being "Away Ill" in February 1895 and again in October 1896 with a note that he had been paid up until that date. The last notation is 19 May 1898 "Will not resume, Deceased". 

Thomas died at the Stafford County Asylum from General Paralysis (syphillis). Not an uncommon predicament in Victorian times. Those periods of illness recorded on his employment record might be indicators of when his condition began to deteriorate. His wives don't appear to have suffered from it, in fact Clara lived until the age of 80. The children too don't seem to have been affected. Two died young, one as an infant from measles and the other from pneumonia aged 21 years. 

The growth and expansion of the Railway networks offered new opportunities for travel, to transport goods and to help develop the growth of towns and cities. DNA suggests that Thomas may have had other relationships, and his occupation provided the opportunity to be in other locations around the country. He certainly had a bit of time between 1878 -1886 when he was single, as well as prior to his first marriage. It might take some unravelling yet.

Q - Quarantines

Q is by far the trickiest letter yet to find an occupation for.

When I saw Quarrel Picker in a list, I thought is this a person who fights for their rights, who rallies against injustices ? There are a few people like that spread through the family tree I thought I could focus on. 

But no. A Quarrel Picker (apparently) was someone who cut and installed glass windows. Who knew ?

Quilters, Quizzers, Quidditch players, there aren't many occupations to choose from with this letter.

No Queens either, although one ancestor did proclaim she was the Queen of Spain - but that is another story.

Queen is really a title rather than an occupation anyway. An interesting fact I happened across was that about 15 million people emigrated from Great Britain between 1837 - 1901 (Queen Victoria's reign), mostly to the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Quarantines were Customs officials, in a role introduced from 1728. They had the responsibility of watching quarantine hulks anchored offshore to ensure nobody left them before their period of quarantine had expired after arriving from abroad. Some ports had quarantine stations situated just inside the harbour, as in Sydney, or on offshore islands as in Brisbane where I imagine guards, possibly still called Quarantines, were employed to ensure nobody left before their time was up.

A lot of the time they were the last point of defence stopping smallpox, typhoid and cholera from infecting the resident population. In 1919 it was the Spanish Flu they tried to halt. Quarantine camps were set up with tents or rudimentary wooden huts and patrolled to ensure nobody left.

Today Quarantines would be the equivalent of Managed Isolation Quarantine and Hotel Quarantine workers protecting the citizens of their countries while ensuring returned travellers serve their mandatory quarantine period to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

As there were in 1919, there are breaches and slip ups today. That's why half of Australia and all of New Zealand are in lock down again right now. There are other similarities too in the management of the crisis. Just as has occurred over the past eighteen months, Australia ignored their Federal structure of government and each State closed their borders and introduced management policies including closing all schools and making mask wearing mandatory.

I don't know if anyone in the family works in MIQ or Hotel quarantine, or whether anyone was involved in a similar manner for earlier pandemics, but you never know. Pandemics aren't going to go away, so there is every chance that in the future Quarantines will find themselves once more in the preferred job search stakes.

This document from the Royal Australia Historic Society has some interesting information and guides for finding original documents related to the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic and was produced for the centenary of that event.

https://www.rahs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Research-guide-final-version.pdf 

P - Pet Sitter

Pet sitting is a relatively new thing in the scheme of occupations. In years gone by pets weren't as pampered as they are today. They had a purpose; cats were mousers, dogs were assistants for shepherds or for hunting.

Wealthier ladies may have had lapdogs as early as the 1500s but this practice was often ridiculed in satirical cartoons as a frivolous behaviour. Mary Queen of Scots is reported to have had a lapdog. Clothes were even designed to have hidden pockets to secret a small dog, apparently.

However, it wasn't until the late 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century that pet keeping became more culturally acceptable. Pet ownership began to be seen as character building, teaching children to be caring and responsible. Victorians were interested in the home and domestic life, raising children was seen as very important for creating the right sort of morality in society. Keeping a pet was seen as a way for children to develop morality.

Pets, mostly dogs, began to be included in photographs with their owners, or with family groups. Queen Victoria kept a pet dog. Even poor working-class families might capture wild birds like linnets, thrushes and blackbirds keep them in a cage and feed them scraps. Middle class families, to signal their higher status might have bought more expensive pets, like pedigree dogs.

Dogs were very popular as they embodied values that Victorians admired; loyalty, steadfastness and courage. Pedigree breeding started to become popular at this time as well. Monkeys and exotic parrots were imported from the colonies and the wealthiest families may have kept these, not seeing anything immoral about keeping them as pets as we would today.

Rabbits were popular, giving boys (particularly) the opportunity to build a hutch and care for them single handedly. Cats however were still viewed more as a utility animal, their main purpose to be keeping the vermin under control. Their traditional association to witches didn't help either, and it wasn't until the 20th century that cats started being accepted wholeheartedly as a pet to pamper.

When we were younger if we went away on holiday, or for a weekend, a neighbour would feed the cat and we would do the same for theirs in return. Even now, that happens - staying at a friend's house to look after a pet or making daily visits to feed and play with them. In the 1970s boarding kennels and catteries began to open. Hotels for pets. Paid pet sitters.

For a few years from the mid 1990s to the early 2000s my sister-in-law was a Pet Sitter. Proprietor of Purrzazz Cattery on Cambridge Road until another opportunity came along. 

Juggling the drop off and pick up of "guests", feeding, cleaning, shopping for the business with the demands of raising a young family. Many guests became return customers, school holidays and Christmas were crazy chaotic times booked out months in advance. Some of us became assistants when we visited for our holidays. Our pet Sparkle came once, all the way from Wellington. I don't think she was very impressed about the whole ordeal, but like every guest at Purrzazz she was treated like the VIP she was accustomed to be.

The cattery is no longer there, the land now forming part of an interchange on the Waikato Expressway but google still has pictures which is lucky because I don't know where my actual photos are right now - and I am sure I still have a business card somewhere. 

O - Outlaw

Ornithologist, Optometrist, Obstetrician, Oncologist, Orderly, Orchardist, Ostler, Overseer, Outworker, Outlaw, Owler

A tricky letter, but now that I have been thinking, one that actually has quite  number of occupations to choose from...just nobody in my tree that fits the bill. When I frst saw Owler in a list I thought BINGO that's the one, possibly something to do with Owls and perhaps the collection of. But no, foiled again. Owlers were sheep smugglers, not admirers of those night time feathered friends.

Some of my Somerset ancestors had orchards of apples, but I don't know enough to be able to say they were Orchardists. They described themselves as Farmers and the apples I suspect became cider and most likely for their own use.

Perhaps Outlaw is the one to follow, not that Mary Brown was truly an outlaw in the sense of Robin Hood or Ned Kelly.

Mary Ann Brown was born in London about 1811.[1] It has been suggested by other researchers of this family that she was baptised at St Giles, Cripplegate; the daughter of Thomas Brown and Emma nee Newman.[2] However, this is unconfirmed. Mary was 5’ 2” tall with brown hair, light hazel eyes and a freckled, pockmarked complexion in the earliest record found describing her physical features.[3]

On 17^th December 1828, at about 4pm she visited the house of Edward Scott on Holborn Hill, where he also ran his shoemaking business.[4] She was with Mary Cannon a kitchen maid, who at nineteen was two years older than her.[5] While left briefly unattended in the parlour of Scott’s house they each secreted a parcel containing two pairs of shoes beneath their arms.[6] They would have likely been wearing cloaks which will have aided their cause, as it was noted that weather was wet.[7] One of Mr Scott’s servants noticed something amiss and alerted him.[8]

They were apprehended outside the house next door by Mr Scott and other witnesses who came to his aid.[9] Mary Cannon fought and tried to make her escape, but Mary Brown remained calm and protested her innocence.[10] They were taken to the watch house, and then to Newgate Prison.[11] It is not clear where the watch house was, but Newgate was a relatively short walk from the scene of the crime.[12]

Figure 1. Map of London 1851 – Cross’s London Guide. Source: Map and Plan Collection Online, London1851. Accessed 27 May 2018. http://london1851.com/cross13b.htm

They were tried at the Old Bailey on 15^th January 1829 for simple larceny; stealing four pairs of shoes. Mary Brown’s statement of defence was again that she was innocent, while Mary Cannon begged for the mercy of the court.[13] Neither of the Marys had a previous sentence recorded on their Convict Indent but both were found guilty and sentenced to seven years transportation.[14] They spent three months in Newgate and were transferred to the Sovereign before 27^th March 1829.[15] It sailed on 15^th April with a cargo of 119 female convicts, 22 children and 10 passengers.[16]

On arrival in Sydney on 3^rd August, Mary was assigned to Mrs Milson of North Shore.[17] Her husband James had been in Sydney since 1806 and in the early 1820s was granted a lease of 50 acres at North Shore.[18] In 1826 a bush fire destroyed many buildings and rebuilding was still underway when Mary arrived.[19]

The Milson’s new home Brisbane House, a grand home which looked over Lavender Bay, was not completed until 1831.[20] Their other home, Grantham, a sandstone bungalow stood on the site where Greenway Apartments and the James Milson retirement village now stand.[21] Both houses were demolished in 1925-26 during the construction of the harbour bridge.[22] On her Convict Indent, Mary’s trade was described as “Allwork”, she may have worked in the kitchen, or as a general maid.[23]

Figure 2.‘BRISBANE HOUSE’ ABOVE LAVENDER BAY, NORTH OF CLARK PARK (DEMOLISHED MID-1920S) ‘Brisbane House’ was possibly the first substantial stone house built in North Sydney. Source: At Home in North Sydney, ‘Brisbane House’, Accessed 27 May 2018. http://www.athomeinnorthsydney.com.au/brisbane-house.html.

On 10^th January 1831 Mary appears in the Gaol Entrance Books, admitted for making a false charge about her mistress.[24] She was sentenced to ten days in a cell and returned to service.[25] A few months later, she appears again. This time, 23^rd August 1831, for being frequently drunk. Her punishment was 3^rd class for 6 weeks and returned to Government due to abuse of her master.[26]

In April 1832 Mary was reassigned to Mary Dell of George Street.[27] This assignment was not published until October 1832 by which time she may or may not have still been in service with Mary Dell. She next appears in a list of absconded convicts in December 1832, described as having absconded from the Factory under a Colonial Sentence.[28]

After this, her trail goes cold for a few years. The lack of surviving records from the Parramatta Female Factory leads to conjecture as to her whereabouts. Again, similar to the speculation regarding her birth and parents, it has been suggested by fellow researchers that she may have been assigned to the man who became her husband from the Factory, or selected by him to marry.[29] However, there is no record of a marriage in the Applications to Marry records, nor at New South Wales Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Mary must have met Mowbray Bessell in 1834, or early 1835 as their first child was born in October 1835.[30] A second child was born in June 1837 and both were baptised in Sydney on December 25^th.[31] Baptism records for their third, fourth and eighth children record them as married but for Caroline and Emma born in 1849, Mary appears as Mary Brown.[32] Perhaps though, the minister recorded her maiden name in this instance.[33]

Mowbray was born in Mitcham, Surrey in 1803. [34] His background was vastly different to Mary’s. His father had been a Captain in the Horse Guard and was the first Secretary of the General Steam Navigation Company.[35] His grandfather had been a translator at the Old Bailey and his brothers were established in business in London and in China.[36] He arrived in Sydney on the Countess of Harcourt in September 1828 with a detachment of the 63^rd Regiment.[37] In 1834, when a newly arrived passenger on the British Sovereign advertised in the newspaper enquiring as to his whereabouts, he had left the regiment and found employment as an upholsterer.[38]

They relocated to Wollongong between 1838-1839, where Mowbray found employment as a brickmaker and where they remained for the rest of their lives.[39] It is noted as Mary’s place of residence on her Certificate of Freedom in 1840, so there must have been some formal record that has not survived, which allowed her to reside there.[40] Their third child was born and baptised in Wollongong in 1839 and they can be found on the 1841 census at Garden Hill.[41] On the census Mary is recorded as “Arriving Free in the Colony”.[42] Whether this was an error or an attempt to bury her past is unknown.

Figure 3. Robert Marsh Westmacott, ‘Wollongong from the stockade, April 20^th, 1840’. Watercolour on paper, National Library of Australia. Source: University of Wollongong, ‘The Story of the Illawarra Stockade’, Michael Organ, Accessed 28 May 2018.  https://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/stockade.htm. 

There had been a stockade in Wollongong since 1829 and the settlement was officially gazetted in 1834.[43] Dairying dominated the economy and mining began in 1849.[44] The family lived in Garden Hill, Church Street and Crown Street and for a time farmed near Dapto.[45]

Married life, companionship and motherhood must have agreed with Mary. She only appeared once more in court, in January 1865, as the plaintiff though rather than the defendant.[46] Together they raised a family of five daughters and one son (two other daughters died in infancy); when she died in 1873 she had seventeen grandchildren.[47] She and Mowbray are buried, with no surviving markers, in the Wollongong Cemetery.[48] Bessell Avenue, North Wollongong is named in honour of her son’s family.[49] His home stood on the corner of Bessell Avenue and Bourke Street, now the site of the Normandie Motel and Function Centre.[50]

[1] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.', https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18290115-50-off234&div=t18290115-50#highlight, Accessed 27 May 2018.

[2] Ancestry, Baptism Mary Ann Brown, 'England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line].',Original data: England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. Accessed 27 May 2018.

[3] Ancestry, Mary Ann Brown, Australia Convict Record Index 1787-1867, State Library of Queensland; South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Australian Joint Copying Project. Microfilm Roll 89, Class and Piece Number HO11/7, Page Number 41 (23), Accessed 2 May 2018.

[4] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[5] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[6] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[7] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[8] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[9] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[10] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[11] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[12] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[13] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[14] Old Bailey Online, 'Mary Cannon, Mary Ann Brown.'

[15] Ancestry, Royal Navy Medical Journals, Sovereign, 'UK, Royal Navy Medical Journals, 1817-1857 [database on-line].', Original data: Admiralty and predecessors: Office of the Director General of the Medical Department of the Navy and predecessors: Medical Journals (ADM 101, 804 bundles and volumes). Records of Medical and Prisoner of War Departments. Records of the Admiralty, Naval Forces, Royal Marines, Coastguard, and related bodies. The National Archives. Kew, Richmond, Surrey. Accessed 27 May 2018.

[16] Ancestry, UK Royal Navy Medical Journal, Sovereign.

[17] Ancestry, Convict Record for Mary Ann Brown.

[18] Dictionary of Sydney, 'Milsons Point', https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/milsons_point, Accessed 27 May 2018.

[19] Dictionary of Sydney, 'Milsons Point'.

[20] Dictionary of Sydney, 'Milsons Point'.; North Sydney Council, 'Walking', https://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/Library_Databases/Heritage_Centre/Leaflets_Walks_Publications/Local_walks/A_Place_to_Work_and_Play.pdf, Accessed 27 May 2018.; At Home in North Sydney, 'Brisbane House', http://www.athomeinnorthsydney.com.au/brisbane-house.html, Accessed 27 May 2018.

[21] Dictionary of Sydney, 'Milsons Point'.

[22] Dictionary of Sydney, 'Milsons Point'.

[23] Ancestry, Convict Record for Mary Ann Brown.

[24] Ancestry, Gaol Entrance Description Book Mary Ann Brown, 'New South Wales, Australia, Gaol Description and Entrance Books, 1818-1930 [database on-line].', Original data: State Archives NSW; Roll: 855. Accessed 27 May 2018.

[25] Ancestry, Gaol Entrance Description Book Mary Ann Brown.

[26] Ancestry, Gaol Entrance Description Book Mary Ann Brown.

[27] 'List of Female Convicts Assigned Between The 1st And 30th April, 1832', New South Wales Government Gazette, 17 October 1832, p344.

[28] 'Principal Superintendent of Convict’s Office’, Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 27 December 1832, p2.

[29] Terri Bryan to Claire Becker, email, 14 January 2003, original in author's possession.

[30] Birth Certificate of Eliza Bessell, born 20 October 1835, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New South Wales, 286/1835 V1835286/21.

[31] Birth Certificate of Jane Bessell, born 15 Jun 1837, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New South Wales, 287/1837 V1837287/21.; FamilySearch, Baptism Eliza Bessell and Jane Bessell, ‘Australia Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981’, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTCR-4S4 : 11 February 2018), FHL microfilm 993,952. Accessed 27 May 2018.

[32] Ancestry, Baptisms Mary Anne Bessell and Charles Bessell, 'Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011 [database on-line].', Original data: Sydney Diocesan Archives, Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Accessed 27 May 2018.; Ancestry, Baptisms Emma Bessell and Caroline Bessell, 'Australia, Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981 [database on-line].Original data: Australia, Births and Baptisms, 1792-1981. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. Accessed 27 May 2018.

[33] NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages, 'Registry Record', http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/Pages/family-history/registry-records.aspx, Accessed 27 May 2018.

[34] Ancestry, Baptism Mowbray Bessell, 'London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line].', Original data: Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: DW/T/6871. Accessed 27 May 2018.

[35] Karen Hill to Claire Becker, letter, 28 May 1990, original in author's possession.; Bryan to Becker, email, 14 January 2003.; Claire Becker to Terri Bryan, email, 15 January 2003, original in author's possession.; Anne Ingram to Claire Becker, email, 23 February 2003, original in author's possession.

[36] Hill to Becker, letter, 28 May 1990.; Bryan to Becker, email, 14 January 2003.; Becker to Bryan, email, 15 January 2003.; Ingram to Becker, email, 23 February 2003.

[37] 'Shipping Intelligence', Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 10 September 1828, p.2.

[38] 'Mowbray Bessell', Sydney Herald, 22 September 1834, p.1.

[39] Ancestry, Baptisms Mary Anne Bessell and Charles Bessell.; Ancestry, Baptisms Emma Bessell and Caroline Bessell.; Ancestry, Baptism Juliana Bessell, 'Sydney, Australia, Anglican Parish Registers, 1814-2011 [database on-line].', Original data: Sydney Diocesan Archives, Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney. Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Accessed 27 May 2018.; Ancestry, '1841 New South Wales, Australia, Census [database on-line].', Original data: New South Wales Government. 1841 Census: Abstract of returns. CGS 1282, Reels 2222-2223. State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood, New South Wales, Australia. New South Wales Government. 1841 Census: Householders’ returns and affidavit forms. CGS 1281, Reels 2508-2509. State Records Authority of New South Wales. Kingswood,  May New South Wales, Australia. Accessed 27 May 2018.; Death Certificate of Mowbray Bessell, died 9 May 1865, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New South Wales, 6453/1865.; Death Certificate of Mary Bessell, died 30 May 1873, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New South Wales, 7454/1873.

[40] Ancestry, Certificate of Freedom Mary Ann Brown, 'New South Wales, Australia, Certificates of Freedom, 1810-1814, 1827-1867 [database on-line].' Original data: New South Wales Government. Butts of Certificates of Freedom. NRS 1165, 1166, 1167, 12208, 12210, reels 601, 602, 604, 982-1027. State Records Authority of New South Wales, Kingswood, New South Wales. Accessed 27 May 2018.; Principal Superintendent of Convict’s Office’, Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, 4 November 1840, p1147.

[41] Ancestry, '1841 New South Wales, Australia, Census [database on-line].'.

[42] Ancestry, '1841 New South Wales, Australia, Census [database on-line].'.

[43] Aussie Towns, 'Wollongong, NSW', http://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/wollongong-nsw, Accessed 27 May 2018.

[44] Aussie Towns, 'Wollongong, NSW'.

[45] Ancestry, Baptism Mary Anne Bessell and Charles Bessell.; Ancestry, '1841 New South Wales, Australia, Census [database on-line].'.; Ancestry, Baptism Juliana Bessell.; Death Certificate of Juliana Bessell, died 11 April 1854, Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages New South Wales, V18541335/41A.; Ingram to Becker, email, 23 February 2003.

[46] 'Local News, Court of Petty Sessions', Illawarra Mercury, 17 January 1865, p.2.

[47] Death Certificate of Mowbray Bessell, died 9 May 1865.; Death Certificate of Mary Bessell, died 30 May 1873.

[48] Death Certificate of Mowbray Bessell, died 9 May 1865.; Death Certificate of Mary Bessell, died 30 May 1873.

[49] Mona Montgomery to Claire Becker, letter, 14 April 1991, original held in author's possession.

[50] Montgomery to Becker, letter, 14 April 1991.

N - Nurseryman

I've written about a couple of these people before. For as long as I can remember I knew that Frederick Cooper and Cooper's Seeds were "ours". Frederick was a younger brother of my 2 x great grandfather and was a baby when the family emigrated to New Zealand in 1841.

Frederick began his seed and nursery business with a nursery in Taranaki Street in 1860. After he married, he had business premises in Manners Street and later established Bijoux Nurseries in Lower Hutt. In the end, seeds and seed production became what they were known for into the 20th century.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 9 August 1881, page 1

Dominion 13 May 1916 page 13

DNA matches led me to discover that James, one of Frederick's elder brothers was in the same line of work. He established a nursery business in Invercargill about the same time as Frederick had done so in Wellington. James advertised trees and shrubs imported from Tasmania, where his wife was from, as well as a wide range of fruit trees and berries. James had a large nursery outside of Invercargill at Waikiwi which was later sold to James Lennie who continued the business into the 20th century.

Southern Cross 3 September 1898 page 8

Southern Cross 21 October 1899 page 15

Southern Cross 22 September 1900 page 6

John Cooper, my 2 x great grandfather had started his working life as a Tailor following the path of his own father, but in later life was listed as a green grocer and photographed outside his store in Kaikoura with Fruiterer painted on the exterior. While researching James, I came across somebody else with a nursery advertising in newspapers.

John's eldest son James appeared in street directories and on electoral rolls as a Market Gardener in Kaikoura. At some point after his father's death in 1895, James left Kaikoura and from as early as 1900 can be found living in Cheviot and begins advertising a nursery in newspapers throughout the South Island.  

My father has mentioned several times that some family are buried at the Homeview cemetery just north of Cheviot on State Highway 1 and having seen James and his some of his adult children on electoral rolls I had surmised it was his family which Dad was referring to. I didn't know though, that he also was in the nursery business.

Press 27 June 1916 page 1

Otago Daily Times 15 July 1922 page 3

So, where did these green fingers come from ? Is there a gardener hiding in their past who I have yet to discover or was it just chance ?

I am sorry to say, after reading lots of their advertisements they may have contributed to the suffering many of us hayfever prone endure by selling privet, escallonia and pine. But I am impressed on the other hand with the variety of fruit trees and berries they also sold. I wonder how many of the fruit trees found in the fruit basin of Cromwell and Central Otago today have come from rootstock sold by the Coopers.

Newspapers all sourced from PapersPast.