An update on the Neal sisters arrival from Tasmania.
My grandmother is Ethel Neal, one of the sisters referred too.
John and Annie had a total of 8 children, John died in 1896 and Annie in 1898.
Clarence Herbert Carpenter Clark/Neal b 31 Jan 1877 Ringarooma - d 3 Sep 1910 Ringarooma. Clarence was illegitimate, father unknown, born a cripple, he never married.
William Edward Neal b 21 Nov 1878 Ringarooma - d 15 Jun 1911 Waituhi, Taumarunui, New Zealand. Never married and his occupation was a sawmill hand labourer.'
Samuel Osborne Neal b 20 Dec 1881 Ringarooma - d 26 Oct 1934 Taumarunui, New Zealand. He never married and his occupation, Bushman/labourer.
John Begent Neal b 26 May 1884 Ringarooma - d 12 Nov 1962 Auckland, New Zealand. John married in Auckland to Margaret McKay and they had 3 girls. Occupation Farmer.
Amy Harriet Neal b 29 Sep 1886 Ringarooma - d 25 Sep 1890 Ringarooma. Died aged 3 of Diphtheria.
Ethel Isabella Neal b 30 Mar 1890 Ringarooma - d 13 Dec 1977 New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. Married on 13 Sep 1911 in Taihape, New Zealand to Ernest Edward Manning. Ernest arrived approximately in NZ in either 1906-1907, He was born in Eldorado, Victoria, Australia. Ethel and Ernest had 4 boys, the youngest being my father.
Ruth Olive Christina Neal b 13 Jan 1893 Ringarooma - died 17 Nov 1918 Taihape, New Zealand during the Spanish Flu epidemic. Never married.
Amy Rose Neal b 4 Jul 1895 Ringarooma - d 3 Aug 1977 New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. Married in 1922 in New Plymouth to Frederick Cox. They had 2 girls.
When Annie died on 11 Sep 1898 within 4 months on 4 Jan 1899 Ethel and her 2 younger sisters, Ruth and Amy were admitted into the Female Industrial School, Launceston. Ethel was aged 8, Ruth 5 and Amy 3.
On the death of their mother William continued to care for Clarence. Clarence died in Aug 1910. After his death William went to live in New Zealand leaving in late 1910 where his brother John was living.
Samuel is listed in the 1914 Australian Electoral Rolls as being a labourer in Ringarooma but by 1916 he is listed in the NZ Army WW1 Reserve Rolls so I don't know if he lived in NZ prior to 1914 for awhile or not.
I am uncertain as to when John left Tasmania to live in New Zealand as I can not find the shipping records but it was before 1908 as John married in 1908 in New Zealand.
John in approximately 1910 - 1911 traveled back to Tasmania to bring his 3 sisters back to New Zealand to live. All 3 sisters living at the Industrial School until the age of 16.
I know my grandmother Ethel was extremely close to her 2 younger sisters and to her brother John. After all of those years since their mother died in 1898 the family were reunited again, not in Tasmania but New Zealand. When they first arrived in New Zealand John, Ethel, Ruth and Amy, Samuel and William they initially all lived in Taihape or the surrounding area for a number of years before all moving to other parts of the North Island to live.
Suzanne
