Wakefield family of Nelson

[Thamesite2017]

Hi
I would check back with any of the groups you have visited as in 3 years they will have indexed a heap more.
On the NZSG index CD is mention of some early purchases land occupations indexed by Motueka branch. looking at map its not too far from HOPE area, so I was thinking that may be a good lead. (So Nelson branch would be another option)
Reading various googles I see Motueka branch NZSG do research from the  Motueka district museum http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/index.php?option=com_nstp&task=showAccountDetail&accountIdSet=3144&Itemid=16 and the index includes early references to the Lankow family as well. It is $5 donation for getting started and photocopying. Email the museum and se if there are any leads for a start may be worthwhile 

The John Wakefield I've followed on another list ??r this one and althought there are death registrations we couldn't find where he was buried.
So there is def someone else out there researching this name, now if I can only track down which board it was....
Bye
Althea

[Lucy2]

 I suspect Dorothy Christina will be a sibling - Christina Lankow has several Dorotheas in her family tree. 

Burial - Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch

Dorothea Christina STRATFORD - born Nelson
died 20 January 1924 - aged 60 years

Dorothy Christina WAKEFIELD - m. Mark STRATFORD - 1881

Children:  Arthur (b. 1881), Edith (1883), Morris (1886), May (1889) :
[Auck. Cenotaph database:  Maurice (Morris ?) STRATFORD - n.o.k.  Mrs Dorothy Christina STRATFORD (mother) - Palmerston North.]

Lu

[taonga1]

Thanks for the Dorothy info, and I'd be ecstatic to find someone else researching the same names!

I found mention of the river drowning, which matches the 1870 BDM death entry for John Wakefield.  Just deciding if it's worth the $20 for the death cert yet!

Nelson Examiner, 4 January 1871
Death by Drowning - The body of a man named Wakefield, who lately resided at Richmond, was discovered on the river bed of the Wairau River, near Manuka Island a few days ago, by N.G. Morse, Esq., when returning home from his station.

Unfortunately the Malborough papers for 1870/71 aren't online.

[Lucy2]

You wouldn't name three daughters Clara Elizabeth, Mena Eliza and Eliza Amelia, would you??

Hmmm ... perhaps.      Especially in the event that one child has died, before her next sibling has been born.

I know there is no "apparent" death registration to be found for the child Mena Eliza, but it's likely she died in infancy.   (There are death records missing from the index - and probably some also, where a surname has been mis-transribed - thus making them difficult to find.)

Lu

[Thamesite2017]

1870Dec18  WAKEFIELD  John  Wairua  Marlborough 
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sooty/nzriverdrownings.html
River drownings at Sooty's home pages

Thanks for the Dorothy info, and I'd be ecstatic to find someone else researching the same names!

There is a STRATFORD RESEARCHER
http://www.genealogy.org.nz/Search_31.aspx

Bye
Althea

[taonga1]

I was about to say, that can't be my John Wakefield with a middle name of Wairua, not for someone born in England ... then I looked at the website and realised they've mis-typed Wairau for the river  :-)

I've been to the Library to check birth fiche, and Mena is right there, clear as day, and Clara is not.

So - the births confirmed as being in Nelson:  George Henry 1859, Annie Louisa 1861, Dorothea Christina 1863, Mena Eliza 1865, Thomas Henry 1867

Then, the intriguing one:  Alice Eliza Ann 1870 - who is named in other sources as a child of John Wakefield and Christina Amelia nee Lankow ... born in Riverton.

(I just asked my Cantabrian husband if Riverton is anywhere near Nelson and he laughed at me.

I have come across other Wakefield deaths in Riverton and thought they must be unrelated.  Guess I was wrong.

[taonga1]

Argh - don't mind me!  I should go back to my notes before assuming I remember anything! 

Tis Eliza Amelia who is supposedly daughter of John and Christina - not that there was an Eliza Amelia anywhere in the birth fiches  *sigh*

[Thamesite2017]

NZSG certs for Alice Eliza Ann she marries 1892 to BURTON, Dunedin
so fro your last post that is def not one you are after
Bye
Althea

[taonga1]

I found a fuller newspaper report for John Wakefield's death, 18 Dec 1870, Wairau River.

Nelson Evening Mail, 21 Dec 1870
FOUND DROWNED - We learn that Mr Morse, who has just returned from the Wairau by way of the Top House, brings word that in crossing the river near the Manuka Island, he found lying on the shingle the body of a man who had recently been drowned.  The corpse, which has been conveyed to the Top House, proves to be that of a man of the name of Wakefield, a resident of Richmond, and the Waimea South constable has been despatched to the spot to make the necessary inquiries.

Anyone know where/what the Top House was?  Or if police notes for Waimea South are archived anywhere?  I'm trying to discover if this John Wakefield had been married to Christina.