My daughter-in-law challenged me to see if I could verify a family legend that they were descended from Joseph Priestley, the scientist (1773-1804) - which seems unlikely since he emigrated to the States and I imagine his children stayed there.
However, I have been able to trace the family back to the above. Charles was born c. 1831 in Barrow on Soar and married Eleanor Lister Turnbull. Their son John is the forebear of the NZ Priestleys.
Eleanor died in 1863 and he subsequently married Lavina/Lavinia Ellen Rouse. Together they had Charles (c.1869), Sarah (c.1871) Arthur (c.1873) and Joseph (c.1875).
I'm now stuck and wonder if (by a miracle) anyone has been tracing members of this second family?
Greeting's .... Found these burials for Priestley in Barrow-Upon-Soar :-
PRIESTLEY JOSEPH 5 DEC 1828 57 PUBLICAN PRIESTLEY WILLIAM 22 MAY 1831 80 BUTCHER BROTHER OF LATE SAMUEL PRIESTLEY ANN 18 DEC 1831 INF DAU OF JOHN & ELIZABETH PRIESTLEY ELIZABETH 1 APR 1832 71 WID OF SAMUEL PRIESTLEY JOSEPH 28 OCT 1834 20 SON OF LATE JOSEPH & ELIZABETH PRIESTLEY MARY 25 JUN 1848 78 WID OF SAMUEL PRIESTLEY FRANCES 8 MAY 1853 62 ABODE MT.SORREL WIFE OF JOSEPH PRIESTLEY ELIZABETH 1 OCT 1859 75 PRIESTLEY JOSEPH 12 DEC 1862 65 ABODE MT.SORREL PRIESTLEY SAMUEL 4 MAY 1863 41 ABODE MT.SORREL PRIESTLEY JOHN 17 DEC 1868 42 PRIESTLEY JOHN 5 DEC 1869 80 PRIESTLEY SARAH 17 MAY 1871 78
Thanks Mike for taking the trouble to post that info for me. There are a few possibles there and I'll see if I can follow them up in some way.
One of the problems is that the family moved around quite a bit (perhaps ministering to other Primitives?) and the children were born, variously, in Northumberland, Durham and Derbyshire. This doesn't mean that Charles's family did, of course, so it is worth a shot.