Wakefield family of Nelson

[taonga1]

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.

[squally]

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.

[taonga1]

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.

[squally]

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.

[taonga1]

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.

[squally]

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.

[taonga1]

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. 

[squally]

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.

[squally]

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.