Wakefield family of Nelson

[taonga1]

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!

[glenys biggs]

Hi TAonga,
 i just googled William Berkett and up came an article about his deatj etc

[taonga1]

Ah - thank you.  I got my Williams crossed!  I was referring to William Wakefield, who was most commonly known as John  :-)

[glenys biggs]

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

[taonga1]

You'd need to find the right regional noticeboard for that, Glenys.  Click on the 'Forum' link above and select the region.

[Kgray]

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

[maria101]

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

[taonga1]

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.

 

[taonga1]

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!