COMPLETED - BIDLAKE, HOSE and WAKEFIELD Manawatu/Wanganui families

[taonga1]

When I got the marriage printout for Amelia's William, he called his step-father 'John Henry Wakefield' rather than William John or John William.  Any idea about that? 

I wish the authorities of the time had done their job and gotten the death certificate filled in properly!

[kiwilisa]

Haven't heard that one before.  Another twist to the story...

I keep going back to the Edward Gibbon lot as I recall reading somewhere that there was a bit of a scandal involving him and/or his brothers with regards to an elopement when they were still in the UK....

[johnbarr]

Some details of the scandal here:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/wakefield-edward-gibbon/1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon_Wakefield

John B

[taonga1]

Yes, I've read a lot about that scandal - it would have been too early to have produced our William Wakefield, and I believe several accounts state that the girl was returned 'unblemished'!

I've explored another possiblity - Felix Wakefield went to Australia with his wife, Marie Felice Baillie (the servant girl who he impregnated, then married and had a bunch of children with).  He abandoned her and took almost all the children with him back to England - I think he left her with the youngest. 

Nobody knows what happened to her after that, but I've spoken to someone who had older family members descended from children who may have been hers but maybe not his?  They were referring to a couple of his other brothers as 'uncles.'  There were a couple of names - I must find that correspondence to refresh my memory.  Might have been a Richard Wakefield and one other that none of the official sources recognise as Felix and Marie's children. 


Or it could just be legend!  I've got the Gibbon Wakefield family tree going back for ages, and we're certainly not anything official on there.

[johnbarr]

Felix Wakefield arrived in Lyttleton in Nov. 1851 on board "Sir George Pollock", to set up the 'Canterbury Association'.
 
Another passenger on same voyage was my 7 yr old Gt grandmother with her parents and siblings.

John B

[kiwilisa]

How funny is that?  I spent some time yesterday re-reading up on all that.  The possibilities are endless really since the 'boys' seem to have all been quite naughty lol 

Felix, Daniel and Arthur were in the Nelson area a bit and William Haywood around Foxton...

[taonga1]

Agreed - there is scope for a link there somewhere.  I did find, I think in the Chch library indexes, that there were 'Wakefield' children being brought down from the local Maori pa to be christened.  There's also a letter from one Wakefield complaining about a brother drinking too much and frolicking with 'Maori maidens.'

I suspect if there is a link, it would be a generation or so further back.  William John/John William/John Henry Wakefield was born approx. 1834.  Got to look for those maybe illegitimate links in other countries.

[kiwilisa]

The older sister Catherine seemed to be the 'surrogate mother' for a few of her nephews and nieces, perhaps an illegit or three could've been included?  I also found a site with parts of a diary written by Priscilla Wakefield, who was Edward Gibbon and co's grandmother.

Gotta explore every angle...

[taonga1]

It would be amazing to find those links, but I guess, now that it looks certain that 'our' William Wakefield who married Amelia Schwass was a step-son to Willliam John Wakefield, the Wakefields aren't our genetic line, whichever branch they came from.

Its rather exciting and frustrating at the same time to be starting over with a different family to research.  Here's hoping THIS ancestor isn't quite as elusive as the Wakefield one has been!