Oh boy...
Lucy2. I feel like I'm reading the climax of a mystery novel. This has taken all my attention now. Thank you for putting so much into this! How does one even make connections like these? I'm having to really think this timeline through. So let me write what I understand so far.
Does this timeline sound correct?
1884, Mr Beatty dies shortly after moving his Liquor licence from the
Albion Hotel to the
Masonic Hotel. 1885, December. Roseann Beatty is widowed, takes over the licence of Masonic Hotel, Wellington.
1886 May, Rose applies for an Extension of the licence
1886 to 1890 - James makes his move from Napier to Wellington, where he goes from being a Waiter, to a Hotelkeeper.
1890, June 2nd James Stevenson marries Roseann Beatty.
Rose had 3/4 Children of her own. Now aged Sixteen, Fourteen, Eleven and Nine. (Two of them, them
James &
Rosanne, appear on James' Rose's funeral notice)
Days later Rose Beatty/Stevenson Licence moves her licence to
Metropolitan.
James is a hotelkeeper, living on Molesworth Street. (Maybe before or after marriage?)
Agnes travels between Christchurch for work. 1891
April – Not even a year into the marriage, there is possible lawsuit instigated by James against his wife.
June – The Licence Committee find the licence name under Beatty doesn’t exist and ponder why it hasn’t been transferred yet to the husband of Rose Stevenson. They also decide single women shouldn't hold licenses in the future but doesn’t affect current holders. This may affect a future application in 1892…
July 4th - Agnes appears in Wellington before the courts regarding her husband. They mention she has 4 children. As itʼs the only time itʼs mentioned it could be a mistake with the paper, however since she declares that one baby was deceased itʼs possible this child was alive at the time. She may have been pregnant and had a stillborn this year, which would mean no certificates issued?
July 14th - The case is meant to be examined again with William Fullbrook present in Wellington.
October 19th - Maintenance set at 30s in favour of Agnes from William, Wellington Court.
1892 January – Mrs Stephenson’s interest in the
Metropolitan Hotel is deposed. Perhaps this is Rose reapplying for her application, instead going to an
Annie Smith. (This conflicts with the licence body saying Single Women shouldn't hold licences, unless Annie is a married woman)
Feb or March -
Margaret H M Fullbrook is
conceived.
October 29th – Margaret H M Fullbrook is
born.
November 7th – Agnes doesn’t appear in court for her maintenance case. Her husband William asks the court for the custody of his children, though he hadn’t made a formal application. His children would be about thirteen, eleven and seven years of age. I assume he would want baby Margaret to be left with Agnes.
1893.
James Stevenson lives at the
Royal Oak Hotel as a Waiter
Rose Ann is living in Belfast Street, Wellington City.
1894
August. James has since moved to Masterton, working as Manager of the
Club Hotel.
1896
James in living in Masterton as a Waiter, not far from Wellington.
Agnes Living in Hawke’s Bay, gets her divorce papers finalized, it’s here that in the papers she names James Stephenson who is a Waiter in Masterton
April – Announced that James is leaving The Club Hotel to go on to work at The Empire hotel. Perhaps owned by the same owner Joseph Mandell.
Another article on the matter
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP18960408.2.39James is manager of the
Empire Hotel as mentioned in a Newspaper article somewhere else too.
1907
November – James announces the transfer his
Brunswick Hotel Liquor licence to Thomas Butler in for 1908 March.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM19080129.2.80.4?query=%22James%20stevenson%22%20hotel%20wellington1911,
James lives the
Brunswick Hotel, as a Barman. Likely still run by Thomas Butler
Agnes lives in Wellington Central
1913
Rosanne Dies
1914
James lives at the
Albion Hotel (Same hotel his wife’s previous husband managed)
Agnes lives in Wellington North, after having come home from a short stint in NSW.
1919
James lives
Agnes lives in Hawke’s Bay. A few years later she visits Australia again in 1921 and 1924
1927
James dies. Is it a good chance that’s him? When he died, the writer could get away with saying James was a proprietor at that Hotel with no repercussions.
So with all these coincidences. I may need to order myself the 1890 marriage cert to see what exactly is going on here. I feel like I'm going to have to reply to this thread several times to keep up.
I’ll write to get the divorce papers and see what I can find. It may be slow process.
