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Research in Other Countries => New Zealand => New Zealand Completed Requests => Topic started by: taonga1 on Friday 15 May 09 22:02 BST (UK)
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Any sleuths able to work two tangles out?
I want to order Clara's birth certificate, and William's death certificate, but I can't nail them down in the online BDM index:
They were living near Nelson, probably in Aniseed Valley, Waimea East, near Ranzau, which is now Hope.
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Clara Elizabeth WAKEFIELD
- Birth record? - about 1860
- Any other siblings? Other Wakefield births in that era, no parents named.
Evidence of her existence:
- Ranzau school prize - Nelson Examiner, 28 Dec 1865
- birth of son, George William Wakefield in 1878, with Alexander John Gray
- marriage 1879 to Alexander John Gray
- marriage 1928 to Harrison Cowman
- death 1929, aged 69 (Clara Elizabeth Cowman)
- Death certificate - states born in Nelson.
- Burial at Wakapuaka
There is a daughter listed for William John and Christina Wakefield in 1865 - Mena Eliza - with no further listings for a death or marriage. Is it a bad transcription for Clara? and with a wrong date?
Have searched the Nelson newspapers on Papers Past for 1860 and haven't found anything.
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William John/John William WAKEFIELD
- What ship did he arrive on?
- Where did he come from?
- Is he the same William John Wakefield who married Amelia Schwass in 1885?
- When did he die? Where is he buried? Want to order his death certificate - but which one is he?
Evidence for his existence:
- Named as Clara's father on her death certificate, 'John William Wakefield' and mother as Christina Lankow
- BDM online index - marriage in 1858 (in bride's field, no bride named)
- Marriage to Christina Maria Lankow - 1858
- Electoral roll - section 110 Waimea-east, Nelson Examiner, 5 Apr 1862, pg 3
- Electoral roll - 22 June 1867 - lists him as William, John Wakefield
- Marriage to Amelia/Maria Schwass - 1885 (or is this a son? with the same name?)
- IGI, b. 1831 (married to Amelia Schwass)
Cannot find a cemetery record for him, and the William and John Wakefields on the online BDM index don't appear to have matching birthdates. Of course, I'm only going by the IGI listing for an 1831 birthdate.
Have searched Nelson ship's lists up to 1860.
Christina's second husband was Hans Joachim Christoph (Joseph) Busch, and it would seem that the Busch, Schwass and Lankow families all arrived together on the Skiold arrival of German immigrants in 1844.
Any insights??
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Have you made contact with museums, NZSG branches in the area
JUst see for instance MOTUEKA branch and NElson have extensive indexes
http://www.genealogy.org.nz/Motueka_162.aspx
http://www.tdc.govt.nz/index.php?Historykeptalivebydedicatedvolunteers
BYe
Althea
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Hi taonga
Just want to compliment you on your presentation of information, here. All very easy to follow - well done ! :)
Aah yes, a bit of a tangle ... but probably just a process of elimination, and digging for some extra clues. ;)
Firstly, William John / John William WAKEFIELD :
If his first wife Christina has re-married, (Hans Joachim Christoph (Joseph) BUSCH) in 1877, then at that time, she is either a widow, divorcee, (or a deserted wife who has had her husband declared "dead"). Being a widow, of course, is the mostly likely ... and that means, Mr. WAKEFIELD had died prior to 1877.
The online (NZ) Death index doesn't show a "William" in this time frame ... however there are two "John WAKEFIELD" deaths - 1863 (perhaps unlikely if he is father of the 1865 child) ... and 1871. Neither listing records "age at death".
Do you have access to (the old) NZ BDM records on microfiche ?? It would be worth checking to see where both of those deaths were registered.
I'm assuming that you don't yet have the cert. for Christina's second marriage? A look-up of the intention to marry notice though, would confirm whether she was a widow.
[I note too, that there are two children from this second marriage - Alexander John BUSCH (1877) and Amelia Sophia BUSCH (1881) - parents shown as Christina and Joseph].
That IGI (submitted) entry for William WAKEFIELD / Maria Sophia Emilie SCHWASS (presumably "Amelia" ?) ... is a little odd ? Especially his age (1831) ? (Again, an ITM look-up might clarify that ? ) I wouldn't think that this "William" is the same person who married Christina in 1858).
Lu
continued .... next post >>
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have we looked at the JOHN 1871 on a previous thread??
Burial locator it is WAIRAU 1871 death rego
and 1870 a WAIRAU MArlborough entry
no ages
and there was a JOHN WAKEFIELD river drowning 1870-1875
Bye
Althea
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---- WAKEFIELD births :
"Mena Eliza WAKEFIELD" - birth registered 1865 ??
Hmmm ... (again) may be worthwhile looking at the microfiche
record for this (there are some weird "transcriptions" showing up in these online records). :D
[Of course if Clara had her son in 1878, then her birth year is probably unlikely to have been 1865 ? But when we're stumped, then every little scrap of info, is worth exploring further]. ;)
Did you also notice amongst the WAKEFIELD births, a "Dorothy Christina WAKEFIELD" reg'd. 1863 ?
And there is a "George Henry WAKEFIELD" (b.c. 1860 at Nelson) in an IGI submission - no parents shown there, nor on the 1859 online birth record.
So, determining where other WAKEFIELD births were registered (within a particular time-frame), might also be of help ?
Lu
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have we looked at the JOHN 1871 on a previous thread??
Burial locator it is WAIRAU 1871 death rego
and 1870 a WAIRAU MArlborough entry
no ages
Hi Althea :)
Mmmm .... I couldn't find that previous thread you mention ??
(But Wairau, Marlborough ... not so very distant from Nelson ??)
Lu
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Is this the one Althea was thinking of....?
Elusive Wakefields in Nelson ...
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,369984.0.html
Bren
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Thank you Alethea, Lucy and Kiwi ... I'm just working through all the ideas you've raised so far (it's such a pain having to go to work when there's genealogy to do!)
Alethea: I did visit the Nelson Provincial Museum 3 years ago and go through their index, taking notes of all the Wakefields. I know a lot more now though than I did then, and I should probably follow up on some of the new related surnames that I've discovered. Is the Motueka group the main NZSG group covering Nelson? I know, I really should join NZSG *blush*
Looking again at my notes from there, I've listed an 'Eliza Amelia Wakefield', daughter of John Wakefield, Farmer, and 'Christina Amelia Wakefield, nee Lankow' marrying James Coutts Dallas, both aged 22, 24 Je 1890 at Wanganui, born in Nelson.
You wouldn't name three daughters Clara Elizabeth, Mena Eliza and Eliza Amelia, would you??
Their correspondence file also listed Clara Mary Wakefield, daughter of William Wakefield and Amelia Schwass, b. 1886 Nelson, m. Wanganui 18 Sep 1909, aged 23. Something about Wakefields being born in Nelson and marrying in Wanganui??
Lucy: Thank you - I'm a Librarian by trade, and I know how easy it is to get facts tangled if they're not laid out!
I'm with you on that IGI submitted 1831 birth entry. It doesn't look right to me. I'm also becoming convinced that it's two different men; John marrying Christina, and then William marrying Amelia. Several sources would appear to be confusing things, with Maria/Amelia and John/William getting switched around.
I'll concentrate on searching for a John Wakefield death first, I think. Thank you Althea for those Wairau entries. I haven't brought up John Wakefield before here - on the first thread I did, I was trying to work out why I wasn't finding George William Wakefield's parents, Clara and Alexander, but it was because George was illegitimate and they married after he was born. The rest of his siblings are Grays.
Lucy: I suspect Dorothy Christina will be a sibling - Christina Lankow has several Dorotheas in her family tree. I've been working on George Henry Wakefield for the past few days! He was born around the same year as Clara Elizabeth, and he's also buried at Wakapuaka.
I went through every Wakefield listed in Nelson cemeteries and tried to put their family relationships together. George Henry's son Leslie George married Clara's daughter Florence Mary Gray - so both her mother's maiden name, and her married name, are Wakefield! No wonder it gets tangled :-)
Off to work on deaths.
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Sorry Althea - I have no idea how I snuck that extra 'e' into the spelling of your ID!
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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*
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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
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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.
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Anyone know where/what the Top House was?
A google search >> "The Top House near Manuka Island" << brings up some helpful info (also mentions MORSE).
[Scroll through the Linz article headed "Crown Pastoral Land Tenure Review" ].
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Thank you Lucy :-)
I found a brilliant article about it here: http://www.theprow.org.nz/tophouse
I think I'm just going to have to plonk down the $$$ and get the certificate - grrrrr. Don't like having to do that unless I'm more certain I have the right person!
Someone mentioned checking the Intention to Marry notices to see if his wife was a widow the second time she married. I've seen them indexed in Archway - is that the only way to get that information?
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Hi taonga
Yes, I mentioned the Intention to Marry (ITM) notice earlier.
You can post a separate look-up request for it, here on the board.
I wonder if the Nelson Evening Mail also carried a report of the inquest into the death of John WAKEFIELD ? These were usually held within a day or so of death, though in this case we learn from the article (21 December 1870) that the constable was being despatched to make enquiries, so given time for his travelling and return to Nelson, the inquest may have been delayed.
The inquest reports published in newspapers, often gave additional information about the deceased.
Lu
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Thank you for the idea about an inquest - I would expect there to have been one, but I've now gone through both the Nelson Evening Mail and the Nelson Examiner for a month after the event, and not found one. There are some crucial dates missing in Papers Past - about 4 days in the first week of January, and I'll bet my bottom dollar it's in one of the missing issues.
I'm getting the idea that there were certain classes of the population who just didn't make it into the papers unless they committed a crime. I've gone back to William and Christina's marriage year - 1858 - and I've started reading through every issue of the papers intending to read all the years covering the birth dates of possible children. They just never get a mention.
I'm also realising how patchy the search feature on Papers Past still is. When you look at the OCR text, it's so scrambled, it's hard to recognise. 'cognpetiense' for 'correspondence' !! I was going to read the NEM first, since it's not searchable, but since the NEX search is so unreliable, and since it's twice-weekly rather than daily, I've started there.
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Update on this thread:
Having seen the ITM transcription now for Christina Lankow and her second husband, Joseph Busch, I now know that John/William Wakefield had died, and I'm going to assume the 1870 Wairau River drowning was him, and order that certificate.
My other questions remain:
Where is he buried?
Where did he come from?
What ship did he arrive on?
Who were his other children with Christina?
Why can't I find their daughter, Clara Elizabeth, in any birth records?
Althea - if you ever remember who it was who was also searching for John Wakefield, I would dance a jig :-)
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Have tried searching the lists archives but can't find it, must have been PM, certainly spent weeeks trying to help the person find the burial
Have you looked a the NZSG fiche to see if it has any more info
Source NZSG Cemetery Fiche
Surname WAKEFIELD
Given Names John
Year of Death 1870
Record Number N/R
Record Type Misc
Age N/R
Location Wairau Marlborough U 20
There usually is something more
BYe
Althea
Did you look at the NZSG first families list and see if you can see common / possible names that may be family
http://www.genealogy.org.nz/Search_31.aspx
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Thank you Althea - the First Families database is interesting. I didn't know about that one! The only connected Wakefield I can find so far is Dorothea Christina. I think I can tie all the others to two other Wakefield families. Will go through with a fine tooth comb again.
I did email the Marlborough DC about cemeteries, as their burials aren't searchable online. The lovely lady there told me that the most probable historic cemetery he'd be at in their area had all its records lost in a fire in 1890. She's also given me a list of non-council graveyard contact people to try.
I'm trying to remember - would a death certificate for 1870 show the burial site too?
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Use the map to search by Wairau
http://fhr.kiwicelts.com/Cemeteries/NZ_Cemetery_Map.html and uyou can see possibilities
Bye
althea
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Death certificates pre 1876 do not show where a person is buried
Newbe
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Thanks for that Newbe ... and, darn!
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Well, I have the death registry entry in my hot little hand, and it contains very little information.
When died and where: 23 Dec 1870, Top House
Name and surname: John Wakefield
Sex: Male
Age: 50 (about)
Rank or Profession: Labourer
Cause of Death: Found drowned
Informant: Henry Williams, Coroner, Blenheim
When registered: 1 February
I was expecting him to be aged about 40 - 44, so their guess of 50 could be about right. I'm certain this is the right Wakefield death, but I was really hoping for a place of birth, or wife's name.
Where do I go from here??
I will contact the local family history groups in Motueka and Nelson.
I did find a John Wakefield in Oxfordshire, christened in 1830, who disappeared before the 1851 census. An American researcher thinks she found him on a ship to Australia with his brother Henry in 1852. One of the children in Nelson who may or may not be John's is named George Henry, so I'm wondering if the two brothers came from Australia to Nelson together.
Does anyone here know more about the LDS baptism documentation? The Oxfordshire John Wakefield caught my eye because he has a 1971 LDS baptism registered with the code for New Zealand temple. The American researcher said that wasn't proof that he was ever in New Zealand, and that baptisms could be processed anywhere in the world.
I guess I'll be visiting my local LDS family history centre too!
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Sorry if covered
did you try to get coroners report
http://www.archives.govt.nz/docs/pdfs/Ref_Guide_Pers_Identity.pdf
Bye
Althea
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Thanks for that link Althea - very helpful information about what Archives holds. I'd looked for an inquest in the newspapers but I hadn't thought about trying to get the report through Archives. It looks like they're all held in Wellington, and I'm there in early July so I'll have a look.
From the lack of information on the death certificate, I'm not sure the report would have much more identifying info, but I'll try anything.
Min
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... aaaaand ... ditto the info on the marriage certificate, darn it! He's definitely William John on that, no age, no origin, no parents, nada!
It was quite a buzz to see his signature in his own handwriting though :-)
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I just noticed your messages re William John and Christina Wakefield from last year. I think that my great grandmother - Eliza Amelia was one of their daughters. She married James Coutts Dallas and their daughter Violet Annetta was my grandmother. I have just started researching my family history and it is difficult to find out much about John Wakefield. My mother told me about his drowning and that's about all.
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Hello! Yes, Eliza Amelia is definitely one of our lot too :-) Our branch descends from Clara Elizabeth. I was just about to start ordering birth certificates to confirm siblings - maybe you have more information on that generation. (I have 8 possibles listed).
I've got William and Christina's marriage printout.
With John/William, I'm now working in the other direction - I've identified 15 possibles who originated in the UK, and I've been following each one to see where they ended up. So far I've eliminated 6 of them, 2 could be strong possibilities. I went to Archives and searched for inquest reports on the drowning, nothing there. It may be possible that he's buried at Top House.
I've got a photo of Christina from the Busch family book, if you'd be interested. She's quite elderly in the photo, but it was amazing to see family resemblances in her face.
Annetta Louisa was another sister - so a link there with your Violet Annetta. Must have been a family name.
Thank you! - lovely to find related people :-)
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Hi
Yes, I would love to see my great great grandmother's photo if possible thanks. Not many photos survive from my mother's family.
Re the printout of John and Christina's marriage, I haven't been able to find that on BDM. What details did you put in when you applied for it?
I have ordered a printout of John's drowning so that might reveal something. He's a hard man to track down. I was always told that he was related to Edward Gibbon Wakefield but I have my doubts.
I don't know much about my great grandmother Bida (Eliza Amelia) and her siblings other that after Christina married Hans Busch Bida and one of her sisters left home to live in Christchurch. I think they were very young - in their early teens. I don't know which sister. Intriguing!
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I've emailed you with more information.
Ah yes - THAT marriage entry!
Some of the early entries were entered differently. I didn't know what names I was looking for until I got Clara's death certificate, naming her parents (because her birth isn't in the index).
From that I knew I was looking for William John Wakefield and Christina Lankow.
To find William, you need to put Wakefield into the BRIDE's family name field - he's there in 1858 as Wm John Wakefield.
Most marriage entries have the bride and groom linked, but most of these early ones don't. They're listed separately. 1858/925 and 1858/582.
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my great grandmother was Martha Berkett, nee Busch i think that Christina was her mother, i would like a copy of the Busch book if that is possible
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Hi Glenys :-)
I'm fascinated, and want to find out more about how your Martha fits in. I've done a quick search through my records, and some online sources, and I can't find her.
I'm unaware of Christina having a daughter Martha. Christina's husband Joseph was married first to a Martha Mary Higgs, who of course became a Busch. She died in 1876. I have records from one unconfirmed source that they had a daughter, also Martha Mary, who may have died aged about 23.
The only Martha Busch I can find marrying on BDM m. George Lauer 1895.
The only Martha I can find marrying a Berkett is:
Martha Ellen Batie m. Harold Frederick Berkett 1920
(b. 6 March 1899, d. 1983)
Can you give me any more information?
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hello i got my great great grandmothers name wrong she was maria christina sophia Busch and she married william Berkett, and i think that they lived in the Cobb house in Hope that is now Hoddys
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On a rootsweb page Kiwi Adams has mentioned the two children of Christina and Jo Busch - Alexander John , b. 5 Nov 1877, and Amelia Sophia, b. 1881.
Taonga 1: (Sorry if this info is repeated - I wrote it but the message didn't appear on this website!) Re John and Henry Wakefield disappearing in 1852 from England, I think they arrived in Brisbane on the "Rajah Gopaul", 10 September 1852. I doubt if this is the John Wakefield we are looking for though; there are graves for John (1876) and Henry (1914) in the Toowang Cemetery in Brisbane.
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Strange - I was just looking at photos of the cobb house!
Hi Squally :-) - Yes, I have those children, and two more generations from them all written out.
I'd followed John and Henry to Brisbane and written them out of my search. Out of the 15 I started following from English census, I think I'm down to six now. I sure hope he didn't lie about his age on his Intention to Marry! I'll cry if the year of birth is wrong by more than a year or two.
Have you got Eliza Amelia's birth or marriage or death printouts yet? I've got two more to get before I start on her.
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Have just sent you her marriage certificate and death printout.
Do you know for certain who Christina Lankow's mother was? I thought she was Johann Lankow's second wife - Christina Sophia Margaretta Timmermann - but have been told that her mother was the first wife - Sophia Halle.
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Thanks so much for the printouts!
I hadn't heard there was an earlier wife - everything I've seen so far only mentioned Christina Timmermann, marrried to Johann Lankow when they emigrated on the Skiold.
I've now found reference to both marriages on FamilySearch - not by any means a definitive source, but I don't know much at all about researching German records.
Hard to say which one is Christina Lankow's mother unless we can confirm the death date of Sophia, or the marriage date of Christina Timmermann, and the birth date of Christina Lankow.
The FamilySearch records say that Sophia Halla married Johann in 1820, had four children (2 females in the record aren't named) and died in about 1834.
Then it says that Christina Sophia Margaretha Zimmerman (with a Z!) married him in 1835, doesn't mention any children.
Christina Lankow/Busch's death record would put her date of birth at around 1839. Elsewhere on Rootsweb it's 1834, somewhere I read that she was 9 when the Skiold arrived - it's a mystery!
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Hi Glenys - just doing a bit more digging ...
If your Maria Christina Sophia Busch is a sibling in the same family as Joseph Busch, then this page has more information for you (assuming that the Christina Maria Sophia is the same woman!)
http://burningviolin.org/family/Web%20Cards/ps04/ps04_391.htm
Still can't find a Busch and Berkett marriage (having tried a lot of spelling variations too) but there is a marriage record which looks wrong to me:
1840/293 Christina Maria Busch, no groom listed. - but this was several years before the Busch family arrived in New Zealand!
Lots of mysteries tonight :-)
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hi,
Maria who married William Berkett, parents were Sophia Christina Grebin and Hans Henrich Busch
Martha their daughter was born 30th march 1857, and married Philp Cross in 1877 he was the first postmaster at the port of Nelson and his father James was the first harbour master, and also one of the first white men to set foot on Nelson soil.
Hope this gives you more info, also Martha's parents are listed on the ship that brought a lot of the German immigrants out.
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just looked at the link and it looks as though the information i have is that the name has been changed around and that Christina is indeed the same person
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Yes, it looks like the same person to me. It happened a lot. My terribly elusive Wakefield is William in some places and John in others.
That page I sent you to also lists the name of the Busch book. I'm not certain that it's easy to get hold of.
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i am interested know where you fit into the family i have just read williams death notice in the papers past but i dont know where he came from, its so easy to spend hours on the computer.
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I've spent 4 years trying to find out where he came from and where he's buried!
The line I'm researching descends from William/John Wakefield and Christina Lankow, though their daughter Clara Elizabeth. It's linked to my daughter's birth family.
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Are you able to tell me what details are on William John Wakefield's Intention to Marry?
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Yes - it's in my folder here someplace!
... looking, looking ...
Got it - from my notes from visit to Archives at Wellington:
Pg 129/47
Date 2 Oct 1858
William John Wakefield, Bachelor, Farmer, 24 years, Residence Waimea South, length of time in district, 2 years
Christina Lankow, Spinster, 22 years, Residence Waimea East, Richmond, length of time in district, 14 years
At the protestant Episcopalian Church, Richmond, Waimea East, Rev. Samuel Poole
I've sent you a file of their marriage printout, haven't I? It didn't add much to the information - no ages or parents listed. One of the witnesses is a Doras Schroder - William and Christina lived as householders on section 110, Aniseed Valley, and Schroder is the surname of the leaseholder for that section.
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Glenys - can you send me a link to the death notice for William that you were reading in Papers Past? I've probably seen it, but you never know what new things might crop up!
The most likely Marlborough papers to have information on his death are missing for that crucial time period, and the Nelson papers are quite vague.
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Thanks for the info, Taonga. My goodness he is elusive!
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You're not kidding! Maybe we could work together on the research work.
New things are being made accessible online all the time, and you just never know when a crucial piece of information will suddenly pop up.
I have outlined a research plan of attack - for the time being, I think I've exhausted most online NZ information, but a genealogy mentor showed me some more avenues to try offline. My other major tactic is following possible individuals through the English census and working out where they ended up.
The other thing I'd like to try is finding diaries/archives from descendents, or living relatives, on other family branches, to see if there are any clues. The Busch family book, for example, had photos and a few bits of information.
I'm having a lazy day with my kids today and I really shouldn't let myself get sucked into genealogy for the day, but it's tempting!
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Oh - one new avenue that could be a wild good chase or could be on-the-money ...
I have a theory that William/John may have left to go gold-digging. There were several new claims causing a bit of an exodus of labourers at the time, and there's a rates roll just prior to that which was removing him as he'd left the district. I need to find out more information, but I'm assuming that the place he drowned in the Wairau may have been part of the route to the goldfields.
I have wondered if he actually left his marriage at that time, or if he was simply going away to try to make a living.
It could be worth searching out information about gold-diggers. Just a shame that searching for 'Wakefield' gives so many unrelated results.
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Re the death notice on John Wakefield, are you referring to the piece about his drowning? It's not a death announcement, but it is in Nelson Evening Mail, 21 December.
If he was living in Waimea South before he was married, he may have been working for someone who owned land there.
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I've got several of those one-paragraph references to his body being found, from several different papers.
Somewhere there was a longer piece about it.
I've never found either an inquest report nor a death notice - don't think they exist. The way the papers are scanned though, an awful lot of information remains hidden from the search tools. Lots of words don't scan correctly. (Click on 'view computer generated text' and you'll see how hard it is to follow! It's a miracle anything comes up on search!)
I need to contact someone with the Nelson school records and see if the children were taken out of school at the time that William/John 'left the district.' If the family went with him, there might be new school records elsewhere.
If they didn't go with him, I'd be interested to know where and how they lived - it would have been a long 7 years for a widow with up to 8 children on her own and no provider.
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I have his inquest report but it is barely legible and totally illegible when scanned onto my computer, but I think he was heading for "Mr Redwood's" when he was at Tophouse. The Redwoods were a big family that settled near Nelson, but one of them settled near Blenheim, so I am wondering if John was going to work in the Wairau valley.
I am going to pop into the library to get the books on Waimea South by Marion Stringer. You never know, there may be a reference to John as a worker.
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Omigosh! I never managed to find his inquest report! And I SEARCHED AND SEARCHED for it through Archives!
Where on earth did you find that??
That kinda kills my gold-digging theory :-)
I've recently seen an ad in an old Nelson history society journal for a book on the pioneer families of Aniseed Valley. Would be worthwhile finding that too.
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I ordered the inquest from Archives online.
As the inquest was carried out at Tophouse I suspect that he was buried there. JNW Newport, in his book "Footprints", 1962, mentions that at the site of the old accommodation house there were two mounds which were probably burial sites.
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I'd seen a mention somewhere about probable burial mounds at TopHouse and thought that was likely to be our Wakefield.
You must be a research genius, because I still can't find that inquest reference in Archives! Can you please link me to the right place? I'm really excited and annoyed to hear it exists, because I spent a fair bit of time with one of the Archives assistants combing through all kinds of places looking for it! (It was the same trip as when I found Clara's probate had glued itself to the envelope flap and I wasn't able to take it out and look at it.)
Do you think, in 1870, they would have called in a member of the clergy to conduct some kind of burial? There might be church records someplace.
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Don't know about a service. I get the impression the family was quite poor - he didn't have a horse when he was passing through Tophouse. When I have some spare time I shall transcribe the inquest and email it to you.
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Have finally found the reference number for John Wakefield's inquest if you prefer to have you own copy:
Archives reference: J1 1871/5.
I can't for the life of me remember how I managed to find the page in Archives - I've just tried now and can't find it, but if you contact them they will sort it, I'm sure. It cost $25.
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You're a gem, thank you :-)
I'll file the reference in my folder and see if I can view the original next time I'm down there. I spent a bit of time searching for it online too. Glad it's not just me!
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Hi TAonga,
i just googled William Berkett and up came an article about his deatj etc
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Ah - thank you. I got my Williams crossed! I was referring to William Wakefield, who was most commonly known as John :-)
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I am interested to hear from any one who lives in Deal, who may be able to help me find some distant relatives, of James Smith Cross, who traveled out to New Zealand in the 1800's
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You'd need to find the right regional noticeboard for that, Glenys. Click on the 'Forum' link above and select the region.
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Hi taonga1,
I'm not sure if you still check in on this thread but I'm a descendant of Alexander Gray and Clara Wakefield.
Alexander Gray was a cabinet maker and lieutenant in the Nelson City Rifles, he was the son of Captain Robert Gray and Anne Hymas McDonald. Apparently Clara was the household maid and Alexander obviously had an affair with her accounting for their first son being named Wakefield. Captain Robert Gray was the Merchant Captain or an officer aboard the Dona Carmelita and retired to Nelson to be a farmer. He was the son of Robert Gray and Charlotte Kettle, Robert senior was a merchant in London and must of died relatively young because Charlotte remarried to lieutenant colonel James Amos Kelly of the East India Company. Robert senior was born in Banffshire, Scotland and was the son of Alexander Gray the Minister of Ordiquhill, Banffshire and Mary Grant, the daughter of Robert Grant the minister of Cullen, Banffshire.
I've got other information about the Grays if you're interested but unfortunately don't know anything about William John Wakefield
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Hi TAonga, Did you know that Christina MArie Lankow had a son to my gt gt grandchild in 1852,Johannes william Theodor Lechner while he was away at the diggings in Australia. he was named Carl William Heinrich Lechner,( Henry,) registered separately under both names -he was born only days after Lechner arrived back in Nelson. He openly acknowledged him as his son but I have no idea what happened to him. Christina arrived on the St Pauli in 1842 with her family, I assume that William did not know of the pregnancy when he left Nelson -was only away about 9 months -and glad to get back too!
Maria
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Hi Maria! Yes, we've found a lot about that in the years since that post was made - my daughter's line is from the 1852 baby :-)
That would mean that you and my daughter are cousins on the Lechner side! It would be interesting to do a DNA comparison. The child went through a name change when his mother married. I corresponded with Doug Lechner, who wrote a book about the family history, but he died about 4 years ago. There's a LOT of information about JWT available online now that wasn't searchable when I began looking. He was certainly a character!
JWT's grave is in Rotorua, and I think I've located Carl Lechner/William Wakefield's grave in Te Kuiti.
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KGray! I'm not sure why Rootschat only notified me about Maria's recent post, but not yours from two years ago!
I did manage to untangle the Wakefield/Gray family connections. It turned out that there are actually two cousins who had the same names at one stage. Clara's child George William Wakefield became George William Gray when she married, and her older brother William had a son by the same name. There's still a big online family tree circulating which has the original error in it, and I can't seem to get the owner to change the mistake.
So many cousins around!
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Thanks Taonga -I have almost completed research on William(or Theo Lechner as he later chose to call hinself) my gt gt gt grandfather using some of Doug's booklet and the wonderful paper Past to fill in the gaps . My family never talked about him or his wife Mary Stanton, who also had an unusual life, and i think I now know why. But I wish I had known him -there is a lot to be proud about. I decided to try and find out about Carl and eventually stumbled on your posts as you patiently untangled it all -but still no Carl. I would love to know more about his life. If your daughter would like to read what I have done, I could email it to you -you may know a bit more about him or disagree with some of my assumptions! My e-mail is (*) It was very exciting to hear from you.
Regards,
Maria
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PS taonga1 e-mail error (*)
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