6 Family

Histories

Origins and Pioneer

Settlement on the

West Coast: Holmes,

West, Todd, Lysaght,

Wright & Cusack

Families

PETER HOLMES MA

DRAFT DECEMBER 2011

I

Contents

Contents ..................................................................................................................................................... 1

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 0

Figures ........................................................................................................................................................ 0

Tables.......................................................................................................................................................... 1

CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................................................. 1

JAMES AND SARAH CUSACK .................................................................................................................... 1

THOMAS AND BRIDGET WRIGHT .......................................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 16

THE HOLMES AND KELLY FAMILIES ....................................................................................................... 16

HUGH AND JANE HOLMES and RICHARD AND AGNES HOLMES ........................................................... 18

CHAPTER 3 ................................................................................................................................................ 26

THE WEST FAMILY ................................................................................................................................. 26

CHAPTER 4 ................................................................................................................................................ 35

THE TODD FAMILY ................................................................................................................................ 35

THE LYSAGHT FAMILY ........................................................................................................................... 41

Index ......................................................................................................................................................... 48

Further Reading and Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 50

Appendix 1 Census of Scotland 1871, Parish of Wishaw, the James Kelly and Hugh Holmes families ...... 53

Appendix 2 Census of England 1871, Parish of Northfleet, Kent, William Todd and Family .................... 54

Appendix 3 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co. Lanark, Hugh Holmes and Jane Kelly Marriage, 1868.............. 55

Appendix 4 Census of England 1861, Parish of Northfleet, Kent, William Todd and Family .................... 56

Appendix 5 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co. Lanark, 1876, Marriage of Richard and Agnes Holmes ............ 57

Appendix 6 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark, 1877, registered birth of James Holmes ...................... 58

Appendix 7 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark 1881, registered birth of Jane Holmes. ......................... 59

Appendix 8 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark 1864, Registered death of Mary Kelly ........................... 60

Appendix 9 Birth Certificate, Henry William Todd, North Aylesford, 1862 ............................................... 61

Appendix 10 Census of England 1841, Parish of St Dunstan, the Dinenage family ................................... 62

Appendix 11 Census of England 1881, Parish of Northfleet, Kent, William Todd and Family ................... 63

II

Appendix 12 Census of England, 1891, St Andrews Road Gravesend, Kent .............................................. 64

HOLMES FAMILY TREE .......................................................................................................................... 65

CUSACK FAMILY TREE ........................................................................................................................... 66

TODD FAMILY TREE ............................................................................................................................... 67

THE CUSACK GENERATIONS .................................................................................................................. 68

ARCHIVED PERSONAL DOCUMENTS ......................................................................................................... 69

Introduction

This history is largely a collection of family fragments, such as photos, memorabilia, and certificates that

begins to relate with some conjecture, the three or more difficult months of sailing journeys undertaken

by a family group and individuals across two oceans to continue or begin in some cases their life journey

at new colonial settlements in New Zealand. The circumstances that may have created such a long term

separation from parents and siblings cannot be understood at a personal level but sometimes the

historical context can provide an insight various social issues and problems facing the general population

of Ireland and the UK/Scotland early in the eighteenth century. These by themselves do not provide the

holistic explanation of why such an important journey might be considered and undertaken but indicate

any underlying issues such as poverty and employment often seen as the main driving force or push

factors behind immigration. The pull factors must also be considered against difficult voyages of three

to four months that took place over a 27 year period between 1865 and 1892. Changes in social

conditions and the consequences for those contemplating immigration from England and Ireland are

complex but do not appear to have much effect on the flow of immigrants over such a lengthy period.

Despite the difficult voyage and the endless pull of familial relationships the decision to undertake what

would be a virtually permanent separation could only have been based on the limited experience, time

and resources at their disposal. However in the histories documented below there is one instance of a

return voyage recorded by Felix West when he returned to the UK temporarily, departing from

Wellington after he had retired aged 69, arriving there on June 1903 and returning to NZ the following

year.

Thomas and Bridget Wright Ireland/London-Auckland “Ganges”

12 February 1865

Felix West

Northamptonshire, UK

Holmes Family Assisted, Glasgow, Scotland-London-Wellington “Westland”

31 October 1883

James and Catherine Cusack Assisted, Cork, Ireland, Plymouth-Auckland “Doric”

24 February 1885

Harry William Todd Gravesend Kent, London-Wellington RMS “Coptic”

22 September 1892

Ellen Lysaght

Co Cork, Ireland

Except for the Wright family who had a ten acre land grant in the South Auckland Te Maketu (Rama

Rama) area that provided a good reason to stay, all the other family members migrated south to Nelson

with the exception of Catherine Cusack who did remain in the Auckland area and eventually married

I

Sydney Griffin seven years later in 1892. Meanwhile her brother James had met and married Sarah

Wright just 2 years after their arrival in 1887, probably while working as a farm hand on the Hon W F

Massey farm in Otahuhu south Auckland. Margaret Ellen was born in Maketu in August the following

year, 1888. The New Zealand economy was depressed at this time and may have been an incentive to

move south and James Augustus was born in Wellington almost exactly 1 year later in 1889. Then by

1891 the family was settled in Belgrove Nelson where permanent railway employment provided for the

family until James retired in 1930. However, something happened that took the family north when

Sarah may have been pregnant with Mary Catherine who was born in Mangakino in 1898. Events

surrounding this journey remain obscure, whether Mangakino was a necessary stopover on the way to

Auckland or there may have been some other purpose to travel to Mangakino. Land at Mangakino had

only just been acquired by the Government of the day in 1896 when it was described as “native bush

and a pumice wasteland, barren, unoccupied and unfarmed” ( http://www.mangakino.net.nz/about-

mangakino/history.html ). Just two of the ten children in the family did eventually return north, notably

Augustus who married and lived in Ngaruawhia and Margaret, who married in Nelson but later went to

live in Lower Hutt, Wellington.

Just two years prior to the Cusack’s arrival in Auckland, the entire Holmes extended family, James and

Agnes, James father, their four children, as well as James brother Hugh and his wife Jane who was

Agnes’s half sister all arrived in Wellington in 1883. There was perhaps a prior intent to arrive close to

Nelson and the West Coast perhaps, given the development of coal fields there and their mining

experience in the Lanarkshire coal fields. They were settled in Denniston by 1885 when records show

that Hugh Holmes, the first New Zealand born of eleven children arrived early in January 1885. Despite

their isolation given the access problems to the Denniston plateau and the traditional mining

background, James Kelly Holmes (28), the eldest son, born in Scotland in 1877 had found alternative

employment in Tadmor area when he met and later married Margaret Ellen Cusack (18) at the Kohatu

(Motupiko) railway station on 23 August 1906. James Cleveland Holmes was born in Nelson on the 22

October of that year. Unfortunately, complications set in and Margaret died on the 28 October. As a

result of family decisions James Cleveland was adopted by James parents, Richard (57) and Agnes Kelly

(47) who were living at either Granity or Waimangaroa.

Harry William Todd was a relatively late arrival in Wellington in 1892 from Gravesend, Kent, aged 31. He

soon moved on to Westport where he met and married Elizabeth West at the Todd residence the

following year, 1893. Her parents had been married in Wairau, Marlborough in 1865 and had moved to

Westport where her father Felix had established himself as a pioneer baker by 1870.

Many Irish families followed Irish naming conventions, the Cusack family were no exception

Oldest son named after the Father's father 2nd son named after the Mother's father 3rd son named after the Father 4th son named after the Father's oldest brother

Oldest daughter named after the Mother's mother 2nd daughter named after the Father's mother 3rd daughter named after the Mother 4th daughter named after the Mother's oldest sister 2nd wife's oldest daughter named after the first wife, using her full name

Figures

Figure 1 Period view of Michelstown, circa 1880. .................................................................................................. 1

Figure 2 The Cusack Michelstown cottage and property, (courtesy Kerry Miller 1998). .......................................... 2

Figure 3 Engraving from the London Illustrated News, views of the tragedy 1845 - 1851 ....................................... 3

Figure 4 James Cusack 1906 -1930, Tadmor Ganger [Voller p.210] .......................................................................... 3

Figure 5 Emigration from Co Cork, London Illustrated News, May 10 !851 ............................................................. 4

Figure 6 Excerpt from the SS Doric passenger manifest showing James and Catherine embarking on 24 February

1885 ................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Figure 7 SS Doric, 4744 tons, built 1883 by Harland & Wolf .................................................................................... 5

Figure 8 Margaret Ellen, circa 1904, aged 17, born Te Maketu 1888, and James Augustus circa 1910, age 21, born

7 Ebor Street Wellington, 1889. ...................................................................................................................... 6

Figure 9 The Cusack residence, Tadmor 1919 .......................................................................................................... 7

Figure 10 The Cusack family, Motupiko, circa 1904. From the left, Margaret Ellen, James, Beatrice, Catherine,

William Joseph, Sarah, Beatrice Elsie, Walter and Leslie. James Augustus is absent...................................... 7

Figure 11 Construction of the Belgrove Tunnel. 1890. (http://www.theprow.org.nz/the-nelson-railway/) ........... 8

Figure 12 James Cusack retirement ......................................................................................................................... 8

Figure 13 Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI Issue 297, ........................................................................................... 8

Figure 14 Sheridan letter. Ararimu South November 7 1906 ................................................................................... 9

Figure 15 Transcript of the 1901 Ireland Census .................................................................................................... 10

Figure 16 Original 1901 Census of Ireland .............................................................................................................. 10

Figure 17 Transcript of the Census of Ireland 1911 ................................................................................................ 11

Figure 18 Cusack Family Group Record p.1 [Oct 2011]........................................................................................... 12

Figure 19 Cusack Family Group Record, p2 ............................................................................................................ 13

Figure 20 Cusack Family Record, p.3 ...................................................................................................................... 14

Figure 21 Cusack Family Record, p.4 ...................................................................................................................... 15

Figure 22 The “Westland” voyage, 81 days, October 1883 .................................................................................... 16

Figure 23 Shaw Saville & Albion Line full rigged Barque, iron hulled “Westland”, built in 1876, 1186 tons. ......... 17

Figure 24 The Westland's voyage from Plymouth .................................................................................................. 17

Figure 25 Report from the quarantine of the Westland at Somes Island ............................................................... 18

Figure 26 Quarantine notice in the Evening Post ................................................................................................... 18

Figure 27 Denniston circa 1900, courtesy Archives NZ. .......................................................................................... 18

Figure 28 Map of Lanarkshire area, including Wishaw. ......................................................................................... 21

Figure 29 Immigrant arrivals in NZ, 1840 – 1914 Courtesy NZ History Online.

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/immigration/home-away-from-home/summary ............................. 21

Figure 30 Vehicle leaving Denniston in the 1920s (courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library) ..................................... 22

Figure 31 Richard and Agnes Kelly bay villa 33 Peel Street Westport, 1939 (courtesy Google Maps 2011). .......... 22

Figure 32 James Kelly Holmes Family Group Record .............................................................................................. 23

Figure 33 Richard James Holmes Family Group Record. ........................................................................................ 24

Figure 34 Richard James Holmes Family Group Record, cont’d. ............................................................................ 25

Figure 36 Archived records of the former Golden Gully Sluicing Claim .................................................................. 26

Figure 35 Record for the Felix West dwelling and shop in the 1870 Buller Electoral Roll ...................................... 26

Figure 37 Early Westport and the Buller River landing, circa 1870 (Mathews 1957) ............................................. 27

I

Figure 38 Reference to West’s Bakery, Westport 1872, [Mathews 1957:54] 11 . ................................................... 27

Figure 39 Extract from the 1870 Buller Electoral Roll............................................................................................. 28

Figure 40 The business section of Gladstone Street, c 1869, around the time of Felix and Ellen’s arrival. and

probably before the great fire (Mathews 1957) ............................................................................................ 28

Figure 41 Gladstone Street and the original Post Office (Mathews 1957) ............................................................. 29

Figure 42 Grey River Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2265, 11 November 1875, Page 2 ................................................. 29

Figure 43 John West aged 5 years in a painful accident. Grey River Argus, vol. XIII, issue 1533, 3 July 1873, p.2. 29

Figure 44 Extract from the 1900 Buller Electoral Roll matches 1895 records. ........................................................ 30

Figure 45 The SS Athenic, built 1901. ..................................................................................................................... 30

Figure 46 Extract from the Tongariro passenger manifest, 1903. .......................................................................... 31

Figure 47 Extract from the 1905 Westport Electoral Roll ....................................................................................... 31

Figure 48 Deck of the SS Tongariro c 1903 ............................................................................................................. 31

Figure 49 Descendants of Felix West and Ellen Lysaght 1887, p.1 ......................................................................... 32

Figure 50 Descendants of Felix West and Ellen Lysaght 1887, p.2 ......................................................................... 33

Figure 51 Descendants of Felix West and Ellen Lysaght 1887, p.3 ........................................................................ 34

Figure 52 Staplehurst, Kent, circa 1900. ................................................................................................................. 35

Figure 53 Arrival and passenger list, RMS Coptic, September 1892. ...................................................................... 35

Figure 54 Harry William Todd ................................................................................................................................ 38

Figure 55 Mariage of William Henry Dinenage, Southanpton, 1850. ..................................................................... 39

Figure 56 Passenger manifest for the RMS Coptic, 3 August 1892 ......................................................................... 40

Figure 57 The RMS Coptic of 4,448 tons, 70 1st class passengers (Courtesy

NationalLibrary,http://digital.natlib.govt.nz/get/12754?profile=access). .................................................... 40

Figure 58 William Bartholomew Todd Family Group Record ................................................................................. 43

Figure 59 William Bartholomew Todd Family Group Record, cont’d. .................................................................... 44

Figure 60 William Bartholomew Todd and Sophia Dinenage 1838, p.1 ................................................................. 45

Figure 61 Descendants of William Bartholomew Todd and Sophia Dinenage 1838 p.2 ......................................... 46

Figure 62 Descendants of William Bartholomew Todd and Sophia Dinenage 1838 p.3 ......................................... 47

Tables

Table 1 The Cusack family born 1857 - 1874 ............................................................................................................ 2

Table 2 List of Working Collieries in Wishaw area, circa 1860............................................................................... 20

Table 3 Felix West Electoral Roll entries 1870 - 1906 ............................................................................................. 30

Table 4 Marriage Record William Bartholomew, 1838, Nth Aylesford .................................................................. 36

Table 5 Todd family records in the Northfleet Census, 2 April 1871 ...................................................................... 36

Table 6 1881 Census records for Sophia Todd [ancestry.co.uk] ............................................................................. 37

Table 7 1881 Census Record transcript, William Todd ........................................................................................... 37

Table 8 Census of England 1861 ............................................................................................................................. 38

Table 9 Todd family records in the 1861 census [rootsuk.com/census]................................................................ 39

Table 10 Mr.H W Todd Coptic passenger manifest transcript, 1892 ..................................................................... 40

Table 11 Ellen Lysaght, County Cork, 1834 ............................................................................................................. 41

1

CHAPTER 1

JAMES AND SARAH CUSACK

The Cusack family, James [27], Sarah [24], Margaret Ellen [2 yrs], James Augustus [1 yr] arrived in the

Nelson area from Auckland via Wellington where James was born, [7 Ebor St., 7 August 1889] and the

Cusack family became an established identity in Nelson, Tadmor, Motupiko areas for nearly 40 years

until James retired and the couple moved into Nelson in 1930. James was well known in athletic circles

in the Nelson area for a number of years competing in many events including the shot put, hop step and

jump, high jump etc between 1893 and 1904, following a strong Munster Co Cork sporting tradition.

Little is known of the next

19 years of their

retirement and no

telephone records for this

period appear to be

listed, electoral rolls may

give their address if they

owned property. The

address given on James

death certificate, 6

Rentone St Nelson is a

small extant villa with a

small porch added more

recently. He suffered

“several” years of senility

prior to his passing

according to his death certificate on the 15 August 1949, and then was followed the next year by Sarah

on the 9 July 1950. The Wright family meanwhile, Thomas John and Bridget were already established in

south Auckland having arrived on the Ganges, 13 Feb 1865 having taken advantage of the Waikato

Immigration incentives including a land grant. Sarah was born in Rama Rama the following year where

she would meet James some 22 years later and they married on the 4 May 1887 in Te Maketu before

moving south.

The journey for James and his older sister Catherine [Kate] began near Mitchelstown, County Cork,

Ireland sometime in 1884 – 85 traveling by mail coach, taking about 5 hours to Cork city. This early

postcard shows the main street c1900 Mitchelstown which is just 24 1/4 miles NE from Cork where they

would have left by ferry to cross the Irish Sea for Plymouth.

The family dwelling was a small cottage, probably part of an estate, since James father was employed as

a gamekeeper, according to records [James death certificate, 1949].

Figure 1 Period view of Michelstown, circa 1880.

2

The Castle, built between 1823-1828,

“demesne, which comprises 1300

statute acres, is embellished with

luxuriant plantations, and includes a

farming establishment on an extensive

scale, with buildings and offices of a

superior description” The total number

of houses in Mitchelstown in 1831, was

535, most of which are well built and of

respectable appearance with 3545

inhabitants. Their house with a James

Cusack named as tenant, is recorded in

the Griffiths Primary Valuation of

Tenements, Parish of Glanworth. The

immediate lessor being the Lord

Chancellor for a net annual value of 8 shillings, the description describes the lease as a “house and

garden”.

Table 1 The Cusack family born 1857 - 1874

Glanworth or Glanore is 5.5 miles SW of Mitchelstown,

some historical details [1837] of the parish can be found at

http://www.from-ireland.net/lewis/cork/d/glanworth.htm.

The Griffiths Valuation began in the south in 1848 with the

Cork area surveyed between 1851 and 1853, unfortunately

this timing would tend to preclude the James Cusack of

interest since he would have been to young to own such a

lease. Parish records [Mitchelstown] confirm the family details and cite Corracunna as the townland,

not Caherdrinny approximately 7 miles [11km] south. According to the locals this was the Cusack

cottage [Kerry Millar 1998], however there is no indication if this location is based on the Griffiths

Valuation map reference or not. Unfortunately there is no Griffiths listing for a Cusack in Corracunna.

There is a Johanna Cusack listed at Coolyregan, daughter of James is a possible link to her mother.

James Cusack of Corracunna [the wet bogland of the firewood] or Caherdrinny [according to the Griffith

Valuation] in the Parish of Mitchelstown, married Margaret Luther on the 21 February 1860, it is noted

from the Parish records that Catherine was born 7 September 1857, 3 years before their marriage. In all

there were seven children recorded in the current Diocese of Cloyne. There is no certainty either in

locating James parents, although a Patrick Cusack of Kildorrery who married a Margaret Birmingham

circa 1841 is a possibility. Kildorrery is certainly within the so called “marriage field” [15 miles] from the

townland of Corracunna.

Not much is known of James and Catherine’s siblings, except for a note regarding Mary Cusack, who

married a Michael Howard in 1896, with Margaret as her bridesmaid. There is also apparently no record

of a subsequent marriage to a Mr White nor any other member of the family. Some evidence for this

marriage arises from a request made in 1925 by James for a copy of his entry in the Church of

Mitchelstown Baptismal register. A note accompanying the copy explains that James sister Mary was

Catherine 7 September 1857

Johanna 6 March 1861

James 11 February 1863

Ellen 8 October 1864

Margaret 20 February 1871

Mary 9 January 1873

Honora 7 June 1874

Figure 2 The Cusack Michelstown cottage and property, (courtesy Kerry Miller 1998).

3

now Mrs White living in Cooleregan. The copy is sponsored by Johanna Cusack [aged 64 in 1925] and a

Michael Molan. Johanna obviously remained in the area and may not have married, Mary also it

appears remained local. This request for a copy was made only 5 years before James retired, perhaps

for personal reasons with retirement imminent. The additional note regarding his sister Mary’s married

status is perhaps an indication that family communication had been essentially lost over the years. Local

descendants therefore may be difficult to trace.

There must have been some security for the family to have withstood the widespread effects of the

famine, evictions (ejectments) and the subsequent severe depopulation of most counties in Ireland to

America and beyond from the early 1840’s to late 1880’s, there were still large numbers of evictions

creating landless peasant immigrants forced into immigrant status. An account of conditions

encountered by immigrants departing from Cork in 1851 is reproduced from the London Illustrated

News of May 10, 1851 in the following reference1 (Figure 3,Figure 5).

Figure 3 Engraving from the London Illustrated News, views of the tragedy 1845 - 1851

A further more detailed insight into conditions endured by Irish peasants

with the impact of land reforms, famine and politics on traditional social

structures is given by Robert James Scally in “The End of Hidden Ireland”2.

James and Catherine followed, what was by the end of 1884, a well

established route out of Ireland, probably on foot or cart/carriage to Cork for

the ferry to Plymouth to embark for Auckland, New Zealand as their chosen

destination aboard the SS Doric (Figure 7) where they duly arrived on the

evening of the 24 February 1885.

1 The Depopulation of Ireland. London Illustrated News, 1851. http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/FAMINE/ILN/ 2 Scally, R., J. The End of Hidden Ireland: Oxford University Press, 2007

Figure 4 James Cusack 1906 -1930, Tadmor Ganger [Voller p.210]

4

Figure 5 Emigration from Co Cork, London Illustrated News, May 10 !851

This was the fourth voyage for the Doric, bringing 308 passengers in total. The Doric sailed from the

Royal Albert docks, London at 3.20 pm on January 5 to embark passengers at Gravesend, then to

Plymouth for mail and more passengers and on to ports of call at Tenerife, Cape Town and Hobart for

coaling. A full account of the voyage can be found in the NZ Herald of February 24, 1885. A personal

diary of the voyage by Thomas J Coy is held by the Australian National Library in Canberra. The

passenger list from the Auckland library records is available3. The total cost of the assisted passage to

the government is listed as £30, with a £5 pound cash contribution paid by the immigrants and a 10s 6d

fare to cross to Plymouth. By comparison other fares were £14 14s to get to Australia and just £8 8s to

North America. To put these costs in context, in the 1840’s for example, the cost to construct a lower

order single room mud walled dwelling occupied by majority of the rural population was between £3

and £6. Even with assisted passage, the cost to immigrate to NZ represented a considerable investment

of capital or savings, not to mention emerging from a traditional community culture of scarcity of the

townlands into an aggressive and competitive commercial world that was the immigrant business of the

day.

An 1871 list of land owners in Ireland shows Cork county listings for 1 acre and up, but does not give any

listing for any Cusack or Lysaght. It cites the population at 438,434 with 74,399 inhabited houses4.

Given the Cusack family appear to hold no ownership or lease of land, they must fall into the category of

landless labourers or cottiers [Scally, 1995:72], who held small plots of land in some years but not

others.

3 http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/passengers/passenger.html

4 Land Owners in Ireland. : Genealogical Publishing Co.Inc., 1871.

5

James immigration in

1885 is probably not

connected with any

issue over division of

land as sometimes

occurred with the

eldest son.

James married Sarah

Wright on the 4th May

1887 at Te Maketu.

Sarah was a first

generation New

Zealander, born at Te

Maketu in 1866,

daughter of Thomas

and Bridget who

arrived from Ireland

aboard the “Ganges” in

1865.

Thomas Wright,

stonemason, was born

either in Enniskillen in

1837 or nearby in

Clonfeacle, Co Tyrone 11

April 1838. They arrived

to take up a Land Grant

allotted through the

Waikato Immigration

Scheme at Te Maketu

[present Rama Rama].

The land grant was lot

170 and unfortunately

was eventually lost due

to a mortgage default

and is now part of

Stevenson’s quarry holdings. Both Thomas and Bridget died in 1917, on the 29th and 21st of October

respectively and are buried in the Rama Rama Catholic cemetery on Pratts Road The move south from

the south Auckland area by James and his wife with their first child, Margret Ellen, may have been

prompted by a search for longer term employment. James Cusack and Sarah Wright of Te Maketu were

married on 4 May 1887. Economic conditions in NZ between 1885 and 1900 were known as the “long

depression”, a prospect far from ideal for newly arrived immigrants.

Figure 6 Excerpt from the SS Doric passenger manifest showing James and Catherine embarking on 24 February 1885

Figure 7 SS Doric, 4744 tons, built 1883 by Harland & Wolf

6

This much is known in retrospect, but for James and Catherine’s arrival on the eve of this economic

uncertainty must have caused some concern, 1885 also marks the closing years of assisted passage for

UK and Irish immigrants which may have presented some incentive to move abroad while it was still

possible.

Historical records show 1885 as the tail end of the great migration [1871-1885], and the next few years

actually reveal the net loss in the migrant population to the Antipodes. If they received any news from

abroad concerning economic conditions in NZ prior to their departure, it must have made for a difficult

decision to leave Ireland and family and also to eventually remain in NZ when there was considerable

incentive to either return or like many others, move on to Australia.

Catherine eventually married a Te Maketu local, Sidney John Griffin, but not until 1 September 1892 and

they continued to remain in the district. It is of interest to note that Catherine lowered her age by 10

years to 18 as entered in the “Doric’s” passenger list (Figure 6), possibly to avoid disqualification by the

assisted immigration scheme regulations, even though papers were required and the age limit for single

women was 30.

Casual farm work for James in those first married years was probably seasonal, such as the threshing

mill operated by the Hon. W. F. Massey and as a farm worker in Otahuhu for three years, according to

the article “Tadmor” in the local news

of August 19, 1930. Margaret Ellen,

their first child was born at Te Maketu

[now Rama Rama] on 30 August 1888

just prior to their move to Wellington.

The first of the next generation of

Cusack family in NZ are named after

two of James older siblings, Ellen and

Margaret. Their second child, James

Augustus Cusack was born the following

year at 7 Ebor Street in Wellington on

the 7 August 1889, while James was

employed on the Wellington

reclamation project. The year James began employment with an Alan McGuire on the Belgrove tunnel

contract.(Voller 1991:208)5

Frances Cusack was born during this period of employment in 1891 at Belgrove. The Cusacks appeared

to have remained in Belgrove, at least until 1896 with Thomas born in 1892 and William Joseph was

born 15 Aug 1896. Mary Catherine arrived surprisingly in Mangakino on the 21 June 1898. Jame’s sister

Catherine did not marry until 1892, so there may have been another significant reason besides an

overdue reunion perhaps to make a trip north with Sarah most certainly pregnant, it’s not known

whether they were proceeding north or returning south when they stopped in Mangakino. Entries are

noted on the Motueka electoral rolls for 1903 and 1905-6 for James and Sarah, this electoral area

5 Voller, L. C. Rails to Nowhere: The History of the Nelson Railway. p 208, ed. anonymous: Nikau Press,

1991.

Figure 8 Margaret Ellen, circa 1904, aged 17, born Te Maketu 1888, and James Augustus circa 1910, age 21, born 7 Ebor Street Wellington, 1889.

7

probably covered Motupiko. James retirement at Tadmor as a railway “servant” is featured as “An

interesting Career” in The Tadmor newspaper. He had been stationed at Tadmor for the last 24 years,

beginning therefore in 1906. His employment record may supply more details of where the family was

located during his total of 32 years of service with the railways. Some of it may have been spent nearer

the Addington Picton line while he was working on the Dashwood Pass tunnel [70.4m long] between

Seddon and Blenheim, probably after moving to the area from Wellington. During the following years,

he was owner and trainer of the racehorse Irish Tom as well as taking a prominent part in many local

athletic events between 1893 and 1904. James and Sarah retired to Nelson in 1930.

James athletic status in a number of events, including hammer throwing, shot put and jumping were

probably due to the exemplary

achievements of one Michael Cusack,

sometimes known as “citizen Cusack” born

in nearby county Clare in 1847, just 6 years

older than James. He was a colourful

character as well as a great athlete and

shot put champion and organized the first

athletic clubs and eventually the Gaelic

Athletic Association in 1884, just before

James and Catherine left the country. Such

profound social change and athletic

opportunities created by Michael Cusack

must have made the move difficult for

James, nevertheless he continued to

pursue his athletic interests and achieve a

certain reputation and distinction(Figure

12)6.

Margaret Ellen married Richard Holmes

just eight years later at Kohatu Railway

station and Post Office 22 August 1906.

The Kohatu [Motupiko] station had been

established on the Nelson line in 21 June

1899, but later closed on 7 Oct 1930. Now

the line and any evidence of rail or

residential activity has been removed or

lost completely over the last 77 years.

James Cleveland Holmes was born in the

same year as their marriage on 22 October

1906, at Wai-iti, midway between Kohatu

6 Nelson newspaper August 19, 1930, James Cusack retirement

Figure 10 The Cusack family, Motupiko, circa 1904. From the left, Margaret Ellen, James, Beatrice, Catherine, William Joseph, Sarah, Beatrice Elsie, Walter and Leslie. James Augustus is absent.

Figure 9 The Cusack residence, Tadmor 1919

8

and Nelson. Soon after James was born, Margaret Ellen was

probably moved to the Cleveland nursing home due to birth

complications in Nelson where she died on the 28 October

1906. The medical record attributes her untimely death to

“paralysis due to cerebral pressure with puerperium”, which

is defined as the six week period lasting from childbirth to the

return of normal uterine size.

Cerebral pressure may have been caused by an undiagnosed

pregnancy associated pseudotumour cerebri or benign

intracranial hypertension. Diagnosis may be delayed because

symptoms are erroneously described to toxemia of

pregnancy. James was not baptized until several days later

on 3 November 1906, Richard James must have decided to

memorialize the occasion by adopting the name of the

nursing home as James middle name. Margaret Ellen’s aunt

Mary Catherine did pass on to her daughter Josephine

Houston, nee Tunnicliffe, some family details concerning the

events of 1906. This was a great loss to James and Sarah who

“never got over the tragedy”.

Richards parents, Richard and Agnes Holmes came up

to Nelson from Westport and took James Cleveland

back to the coast where he was raised “to believe his

father did not take enough interest in him”. His

father, James Kelly Holmes married Mary Annette

Blanchett 3 years later in 1909. They had a family of

Figure 12 James Cusack retirement

Figure 11 Construction of the Belgrove Tunnel. 1890. (http://www.theprow.org.nz/the-nelson-railway/)

Figure 13 Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI Issue 297, 1 November 1906, Page 3

9

3 boys, Don, Noel and Barry. James Holmes died of cancer on the 18 January 1935 and was buried at

Tadmor 20 January. Close family connections with Maketu (Rama Rama) in South Auckland had not

been lost over time, and may in part explain motivation for the Cusacks trip north 8 years earlier in 1898

with a brief but formal letter of sympathy from a Mrs. Sheridan of Ararimu South dated 7 November

1906 (Figure 14Error! Reference source not found.). It may have been an accepted form of address at

the time but no endearment to begin the letter is unusual. Ararimu is close to present day Rama Rama.

No doubt news was also received in Michelstown by James and Margaret and family. James would have

been 73, James could not write so left his mark “x” as his signature on the 1901 census, a transcript from

this census is tabled below. There are errors in the ages given so the corrected ages have been

appended to highlight errors. The grandchildren are correct as given. This census was taken in the

Brigown Parish, Mitchelstown, Coolyregan and is probably the same cottage photographed in 19987

(Figure 2).

7 Courtesy National Archives; http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000587267/

Figure 14 Sheridan letter. Ararimu South November 7 1906

10

James Cusack Head of family

Roman Catholic

Cannot read or write

74 (68) Agricultural Labourer

Margaret Cusack

Wife “ “ 70 (69) House Keeper

Margaret Daughter “ Can read and write

28 (30) Domestic Servant

Mary “ “ “ 26 (28) “

Ellie Russell Grandaughter “ 3 Scholar

Thomas Russell Grandson “ 2

Figure 15 Transcript of the 1901 Ireland Census

Figure 16 Original 1901 Census of Ireland

Basic details of the same cottage are also recorded in the census of 1911, however 10 years have passed

and the extended Cusack family has increased to 8. Unfortunately by this time James’s wife Margaret

has died and the head of the household has passed to Mary’s husband William Whyte aged 31.8 Mary

married William Whyte sometime between 1901 and 1905 since the oldest child William is aged 6 on

the 1911 census. At this time Mary would probably have formally adopted Ellen (Ellie) Russell who was

her former partner’s child from a previous relationship and therefore is recorded as a step daughter

within her marriage to William Whyte in the 1911 census.

8 Courtesy http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Mitchelstown/Coolyregan/438785/

11

The cottage is recorded in both the 1901 and 1911 House and Building Census Return as a private

dwelling which had between 2 and 4 rooms with walls of a perishable material such as mud or wood and

2 windows in the front of the house. These details present a similar configuration to the cottage in the

photo taken by Kerry Millar in 1998, with two front windows and probably just two rooms side by side,

although presumably it was no longer occupied given the open door and the new dwelling alongside.

William Whyte 31 yrs Head of Family

Mary Whyte 34 Wife

William Whyte 6

Margaret Whyte 4

James Whyte

Ellen Russell 13 Step Daughter

Thomas Russell 12 Son

James Cusack 77 Father in Law

Figure 17 Transcript of the Census of Ireland 1911

THOMAS AND BRIDGET WRIGHT

Thomas and Bridget Wright [parents of Sarah Cusack, nee Wright] came with the fist significant wave of

emigrants in 1865. By 1883 when the Holmes family sought passage, the second peak had passed

around 1875 and numbers of assisted migrants was almost insignificant with net immigration numbers

at their lowest in about 10 years. James Cusack and Catherine Cusack took advantage of the assisted

passage arrangements and sailed with increasing numbers of migrants during the fourth but smaller

peak in 1885. These overall numbers remained much the same until 1892 when Harry William Todd

caught the fifth peak in numbers around 1892 from what had been a net loss (Figure 29).

The origin of these peaks can be seen as a result of among other things, the reinstatement of the

assisted passage scheme by the NZ government, in 1871 until 1880.

12

Family Group Record for James Cusack Page 1

Produced by Legacy on 3 Oct 2011

Husband James Cusack LDS Ordinance Data

Born B 11 Feb 1863 Michelstown, County Cork Ireland

Christened E

Died 15 Aug 1949 Nelson New Zealand

Buried 17 Aug 1949 Nelson New Zealand

Father SP James Cusack (1833- ) Mother Margaret Luther (1832- )

Marriage SS 4 May 1887 Maketu, RamaRama, Auckland

Wife Sarah Wright

Born B 1866 Maketu, RamaRama, Auckland

Christened E

Died 9 Jul 1950 Nelson New Zealand

Buried

Father SP Thomas John Wright (Cir 1837-1917)

Mother Bridget Lawlor (1839-1917)

Children

1 F Margaret Ellen Cusack

Born B 30 Aug 1888 Maketu, RamaRama, Auckland

Christened E

Died SP 28 Oct 1906 Nelson New Zealand

Buried

Spouse SS James Kelly Holmes (1876-1935) 22 Aug 1906 - Kohatu [Motupiko]

Spouse SS James Kelly Holmes (1876-1935) 22 Aug 1906 - Kohatu, [Motupiko]

2 M James Augustus Cusack

Born B 7 Aug 1889 7 Ebor st Wellington New Zealand

Christened E

Died SP 2 Sep 1975 6 Russell Ave Ngaruawahia

Buried 4 Sep 1975 Hamilton Park, Hamilton

Spouse SS Violet May Thorne (1893-1972) 4 May 1914

3 F Frances Bridget Cusack

Born B 1891 Belgrove Nelson New Zealand

Christened E

Died SP

Buried

Spouse SS Harold James Cox ( - )

Marr. Date 17 Apr 1941 - St Mary's Church Nelson NZ

4 M William Joseph [Sgt] Cusack

Born B 15 Aug 1896 Belgrove Nelson New Zealand

Christened E

Died SP 12 Mar 1979 Richmond Nelson New Zealand

Buried Marsden Valley Cemetery Nelson

Spouse SS Mary Irene Chant (1913-1942)

5 F Mary Catherine Cusack

Born B 21 Jun 1898 Mangakino New Zealand

Christened E

Died SP 8 Sep 1975 Nelson New Zealand

Buried

Spouse SS Newton Isaac Tunicliffe (1896- ) 19 Oct 1918

Figure 18 Cusack Family Group Record p.1 [Oct 2011]

13

Family Group Record for James Cusack Page 2

Produced by Legacy on 3 Oct 2011

Children (cont.)

6 M Walter Leslie Cusack

Born B 7 Oct 1900

Christened E

Died SP 5 Aug 1987

Buried

Spouse SS Ida May Swallow ( - ) 1927 - Greymouth

7 F Beatrice Cusack

Born B Dec 1901

Christened E

Died SP 15 Sep 1904

Buried Wakapuaka Cemetery Catholic Block Nelson

Spouse SS

8 F Beatrice Elsie Cusack

Born B 15 Oct 1905 Motupiko New Zealand

Christened E

Died SP 22 Aug 1989 Nelson New Zealand

Buried

Spouse SS [Capt.]William B Ricketts (1909- ) Wellington New Zealand

9 F Margaret [Irline;Eileen] Cusack

Born B Jun 1909 Nelson New Zealand

Christened E

Died SP Sep 1996 Trentham, Lower Hutt

Buried

Spouse SS Patrick Dennis Roughan ( - )

Marr. Date 22 Mar 1932 - St Mary's Church Nelson

10 F Beatrice Cusack

Born B Dec 1901

Christened E

Died SP 14 Sep 1904 Nelson Hospital, Nelson New Zealand

Buried

Spouse SS

Research Notes: Husband - Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 1, 3 January 1893, Page 3The sports held at Ricbmond in the Richmond Park passed off very successfully..... Running High Jump First prize lOs, second5s— Satherly, 4ft 11 in, 1; Cusack, 4 ft lOin, 2. Putting the Weight. First prize 12s 6d, second 5s.— Cusack, 34ft 1Oin 1,Satherley, 34ft 8in Hop, Step, and Jump. First prize 15s, second 5s.— Simpson 35ft 91/4 in, 1, Cusack, 34ft 3/4 in, 2. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVII, Issue 64, 17 March 1893, Page 2ST. PATRICK'S DAY SPORTS.The St Patrick's Day Sports were held this afternoon at Trafalgar Park. 'lhe train from Belgrove brought a Lumber of countryvisitors into town and the attendance at the Park was considerable, fully 890 persons being present. The day was a perfectone,...................Throwing the Hammer, 161bs. — First prize £2, 2nd prize £1. J Cusack, 99ft lOin .... .1 J J Corcoran 92ft lOin....... 2There were four entrants. This event was taken out of its place because there were not sufficient competiters for the BicycleMaiden Handicap. Before the competitors had all had their throws, | the stick attached to the weight broke. The Committeehowever decided to award J. Cusack 1st prize and J. Corcoran second prize.;........... Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 273, 28 December 1894, Page 2MOUTERE SPORTS.(From our own Correspondent.) The sports at the Moutere on Boxing Day were successful to an unexpected degree. The MotuekaBand enlivered the proceedings during the day. The attendance far exceeded expectations, and the general opinion expressed wasthat the arrangements were carried out on the best principles. In the evening tliere was a clance in the hall which was as successful?as the day's amusement. No hitch arose during the dav, and there is not the least doubt that trie Committee will be able next yearto add considerably to the prize money all through the programme. Appended you will find a list of the events and their winners.

Figure 19 Cusack Family Group Record, p2

14

Family Group Record for James Cusack Page 3

Produced by Legacy on 3 Oct 2011

Research Notes: Husband - (cont.)Mr May, Moutere Store, contributed a box of toys for the children, which caused a great deal of amusement for the young people.Points Handicap ; 100, 200, and 300 yards : Dencker 1, O'Connor 2, Hunter 8. Hop, Step, and Jump : T. Schwass and J. Cusacktied. Quarter-mile : O. Dencker 1, G. Hunter 2, P. O'Connor 3. Putting the Weight : J. Cusack (sor.) 22ft, Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 28, 2 February 1895, Page 2FRIENDLY "SOCIETIES' SPORTS.Yesterday was beautifully fine for the annual sports of the Friendly Societies. As usual the various Societies assembled at theirLodge rooms and afterwards met at the Oddfellows Hall.. Thence, headed by the Garrison Band they marched to the BotanicalReserve ........................Putting the Stone. First prize £1, 2nd 10s. Cusack, 30 ft 2 in, 1 ; McGrath, 25 ft 4 in, 2 ; Reeves, 24ft 9 in3, ..........Chicken in the Pot. Ist prize, 10s ; 2nd os - Lipscombe 1 ; Cusack and Reeves tied for 2nd place. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 57, 9 March 1895, Page 3ST PATRICKS DAY SPORTS. HANDICAPS, TO BE RUN MARCH 20thPUTTING THE SHOT. J Cusack scr , E Woodward 6ft J. O'Connor 6ft T McGrath 8ft W Woodward 6ft W Gay 8 ft Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 88, 16 April 1895, Page 4FRIENDLY SOCIETIES' SPORTS AT MOTUEKA.The anniversary sports of the Friendly Societies were held on the cricket ground at Motneba yesterday, and were witnessed by afairly large number of spectators, a number of excursionists from Nelson going ovev in the s.s. Lily. During the day the MotuekaBrass Band enlivened the proceedings by playing several selections...............Putting the Stone. First prize 10a, 2nd 5s ;— JCusack, 32ft l0in, 1 ; F Starnes, 32ft 3in, 2; O Trewavas, 31ft 8in 3. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXX, Issue 18, 22 January 1896, Page 2Information is to hand, .from a reliable private source that .the reinstatements committee of the New Zealand Amateur AthleticAssociation met at Chrisicburch last evening, wheu all tlie ' Nelson applicants (or re-instatement as amateurs were favourablyconsidered. The following Nelson, members were mentioned and will receive their certificates at an early date : —Messrs Gully.Levien,' Brawer, Barnett, Miranis, Forguson, and Cusack. it is believed that the athletes named are quite eligible to enter for theamateur events at the sports event to be held on Anniversary Day Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXX, Issue 28, 3 February 1896, Page 2FRIENDLY SOCIETIES' FETE.ST. PATRICK'S SPORTS.In addition to those reported in last evening's Mail, the following events were completed at St. Patrick's Sports yesterdayafternoon on tho Botanical Reserve ..........Throwing tlie Hammer (handicap) : Ist prize, 10s; 2nd 5s— J. Ingram (30ft), lO8ft 7in, 3; V. Gay (38ft), 103 ft 6in, 2 ; J. Cusack (scr), 97ft 7in, 3. Five competed.: Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXX, Issue 67, 19 March 1896, Page 3The attendance at the Friendly Sooietiea' sports on Saturday afternoon was not so large as one would have expected, seeing thatthe weather was bo favourable. Today's holiday ovidently dashed with Saturday's meeting, and many consider that the Committeewould have done the oorrect thing by holding the sports to-day if that could have been arranged and the ground obtained..........Long Jump (amateurs only) — Penney ) (Gin), 15ft 9in, 1; Cusack (scratch), 16ft 2in, . 2. There was one other .competitor. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 62, 15 March 1897, Page 2MOTUPIKO ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION.SPORTS MEETING. { Tho Motupiko sports were held in Mr Thomson's paddock on Friday, the 12th instant, being postponedfrom the 10th on account of the very wet weather. There was a very good attendance of the public in the circumstances andconsidering tho state of the rivers. As for the sports, every evont was well contested besides bringing out a good field............Putting tho Shot— Cusack 1, Holland 2, Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXI, Issue 92, 20 April 1897, Page 2SPORTS AT FOXHILL.The inaugural sports meeting at Foxhill yesterday under the auspices of the Foxhill Athletic Association proved successful inevery way. The weather was perfect and ; it waa not surprising that there was a very huge attendance of Nelsonians and peoplefrom all parts of tho district. The sports were held in Mr J. Gaultrodger . paddock, kindly lent for the occasion.................Puttingthe Shot (handicap) ; Ist prize 10s, 2nd 5s— Cusack, sor, 38ft l0in, 1; Wells, with handicap 6ft, 3in, 38ft, 2; Holland, withhandicap 6ft, 37ft 6in, 3 Throwing tho Hammer (handicap) ; 1st prize 10s, 2nd 5s -Cusack scr, lO6 ft 1in, 1 ; Hollan ', with 40fthandicap, 105 ft 4in,.......

Figure 20 Cusack Family Record, p.3

15

Family Group Record for James Cusack Page 4

Produced by Legacy on 3 Oct 2011

Research Notes: Husband - (cont.) Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXIII, Issue 78, 4 April 1899, Page 2FOXHILL SPORTS.Officers :— Patrons, Major Franklin, Mr J A Wilkinson ; President, Mr J. Gaukrodger ; Vice-Presidents, Dr fearless, Messrs J.Bird, B. Lines, 0. Newport, T. Holland, W. Coloa, sen. ; Judges, Messrs R. Ellis, ,1, Mead, D. Thomas, J. Cusack ; Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXIV, Issue 95, 25 April 1900, Page 2MOTUPIKO.At tlic meeting of householders, Mr R. Ellis was voted to the chair. 'The follow, ing u-ci-o elected the School Committee for theensuing year :— Messrs J. Cusack, R. 11. Coleman, W. Mead, VV. Coleman. A. E. Coleman. Mr K. II Coleman was - electedCliairman, and Mr A. E. Coleman : Secretary. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXIV, Issue 267, 10 November 1900, Page 2MOTUPIKO ATHLETIC SPORTS.The fifth annual meeting of the Motupiko Athletic Association was held yesterday in Mr Kenyon's paddock, Motupiko,Although tho attendance was not so largo as at former meetings due no doubt to counter attractions, the function was still wellattended and proved a success...............Hop, Stop and Jump Handicap— J. Cusack (ser) tisft Tin, 1; J. Haase (2ft) 2 Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXV, Issue 72, 1 April 1901, Page 3FOXHILL SPORTS.' HANDICAPS100yds; 7 yd handicap 200yds; 12 yds, 400yds 20yds Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 67, 5 April 1904, Page 2SPORTS AT MOTUPIKO.There was a large attendance at the annual sports meeting at Motupiko, I quite a number of people from town and tire surroundingdistricts being present. The day was pleasantly spent by picnic parties as there was plenty of shelter from the unfortunate rainwhich marred an otherwise perfect Easter.........Throwing the Hammer— J. Cusack, scr 126 ft, 1. F. Gibbs, 25ft handicap, 100ft, 2.Four competed. Standing Three .lumps Handicap.— J. Cusack (ser) 20ft (iin, 1 ; W. Mead (iliu) 2Sft !!in, 2. Seven competed. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 297, 1 November 1906, Page 3THANKS. " MR and MRS CUSACK and MR HOLMES desire to Thank Drs Hamilton and Pearlers for their attention, and allkind friends and neighbours for their help and sympathy in their late sad bereavement; also Mrs I Watson for her kind and skilfulnursing. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, 10 November 1909, Page 1

General Notes: Wife - In the estate of Thomas Wright, Northern District, Provincial District of Auckland, 21 Oct 1918, Joseph Wright of Mangaweka,Farmer, Sarah Cusack [nee Wright] and Mary Watson, wife of James Watson, Te Aroha......the estate declaration signed by Sarah,storekeeper, Tadmor. Sarah travelled north for this family occasion. See complete copy in the collected documents.

Research Notes: Wife - Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXII, Issue 160, 15 July 1898, Page 2ALARM OF FIRE.The fire bells rang an alarm at 11 o'clock this forenoon, and the Brigade promptly assembled at the locality, which was anunoccupied three-roomed wooden cottage in Gloucester street, at the rear of the Carlton boarding house. Mrs Cusack, who livesnext door— only a few feet away— f

Last Modified: 3 Oct 2011

Figure 21 Cusack Family Record, p.4

16

CHAPTER 2

THE HOLMES AND KELLY FAMILIES

The Holmes including Agnes’s father James Kelly arrived in Wellington aboard the “Westland” on

Wednesday 31 October 1883, just 2 years prior to the arrival of the Cusacks in Auckland. The Westland

left London on the 4 August under Captain Moffat, with 321 passengers aboard bound for Plymouth (11

Aug 1883), Tenerife and Capetown and finally Wellington &

small ports having suffered some storm damage, three crew

drowned and flying a yellow flag indicating infectious diseases

aboard according to the item on page 3 of the Evening Post of

the 31st, see extract opposite. The quarantine9 10 (Figure 25,

Figure 26) was soon lifted and passengers were able to

disembark. However due to structural damage the Westland

apparently was unable to continue the voyage as planned and

passengers for small ports it is assumed, found passage aboard

smaller local vessels regularly plying various coastal routes to

the north and south. Passengers arriving on these vessels are

generally listed in the local shipping columns, unfortunately in

this instance; the Nelson Evening Mail lacks any mention of any

passengers from the Westland at least for the month of

November. Given the stress of the voyage, and 3 young children

especially Hessie at 3 months, Richard and Agnes may well have

decided the family should recuperate and stay temporarily in

Wellington before moving on to Nelson as indicated on the

passenger list. It must be remembered that their trip began

with a short trip of 15 miles north west to Glasgow from

Wishaw, Lanarkshire, by carriage since the Lanarkshire

passenger rail link with Glasgow would not be open for another

year and then by express train to London, a long day’s journey

9 Courtesy Papers Past, Evening Post, Volume XXVI, Issue 107, 2 November 1883, Page 2 10 Courtesy Papers Past Evening Post, Volume XXVI, Issue 106, 1 November 1883, Page 3

NELSON (MARLBOROUGH) Holmes Richard 30

Holmes Agnes 24 Holmes James 5 Holmes Mary 3 Holmes Jane K 1

Holmes Hessie 3 mths Kelly James (with Holmes party)

65 Figure 22 The “Westland” voyage, 81 days, October 1883

17

of at least 12 to 13 hours. An extract from the ships passenger manifest lists the family group.

Throughout this journey, Agnes as

well as Richard would no doubt have

been thankful for the presence of her

father, James Kelly. Agnes’s mother

Mary Kelly [nee McGowan] had died

in Wishaw in 1864 when Agnes was

just 5. Those aboard must have had

at least one memorable experience

besides illness, storms and accidents.

Although there is no known record

such as an entry in the ships log, the

Captain would not have known

before departure on the11th of the

cataclysmic eruption of the

Indonesian volcanic island of

Krakatoa August 26 and 27, 1883 and

the resulting tsunami was confined to the Sunda Straits fortunately, but the enormous dust cloud

generated by the blast caused major atmospheric disturbances for some time and might have been

noted. This extract below reported in Wellington Evening

Post places the Westland within sighting distance of the

Crozets on the 4 October, about 5 weeks after the

eruption but probably still visible in the northeastern

skies.

The Crozets is an isolated archipelago in the Indian

Ocean, located midway between Madagascar and the

coast of Antarctica, Crozets mark the only places where

the Crozet Plateau breaks sea level, it consists of 5 large

and 15 tiny islands about 2500 km southeast from

Durban.

From the family records, they settled on the West Coast

in the mining community of Denniston. At least four of

the children were born there between 1885 and 1892.

The twins William and Robert born in Waimangaroa in

1886, unfortunately did not survive, they died at 6 days

and two months respectively. William died of

convulsions from a premature birth and unfortunately for

Robert, as well as the premature birth he subsequently

contracted and succumbed to Marasmus disease. Then on

27 March 1894, Mary at age 15 born in Camnethan, Scotland contracted pneumonia/syncope and died.

James, the eldest son was just 9 when the twins died.

Figure 23 Shaw Saville & Albion Line full rigged Barque, iron hulled “Westland”, built in 1876, 1186 tons.

Figure 24 The Westland's voyage from Plymouth

18

Isabella, also born in Denniston 1888, never married and

died in Granity in 1922 aged 34 of Hemiplegia/Tubercular

Laryngitis. Hemiplegia refers to a condition of paralysis

or abnormal movement to one side of the body and can

be present at birth. Tubercular Laryngitis is a secondary

infection associated with pulmonary tuberculosis,

although not usually fatal, it was seen to be in this case.

Survival for this family and the mining community in

general on the West Coast given their relative isolation, a

difficult climate, relatively undeveloped living conditions

and limited access to medical assistance, even for longer

term illness was a marginal situation for emigrant

families compared to established mining communities

they had left in Scotland.

HUGH AND JANE HOLMES and RICHARD AND AGNES HOLMES

Hugh and Richard Holmes and probably Thomas as well since they all were close by age emigrated from

Belfast, Co. Antrim in Northern Ireland to Scotland looking for work in the coalfields between 1862 and

1868. They do not appear on the 1861 Scotland Census until Hugh’s marriage registration to Jane at 6

Russell Street Cambusnethan appears on the 14 April 1868. Their Irish ancestry is apparent from New

Zealand records, Hugh and Richard were born to Robert and Hessie Holmes (nee McKay often

referenced Mckechie or McKechnie11) in 1848 and 1849 respectively in Co Antrim, but at the time of

Hugh’s marriage to Jane Kelly at Russell Street his parents are listed as Robert Holmes and Jane Holmes

(nee McQuachon).12 Among all searchable records, the 1901 Census of Ireland shows a single entry for a

11 Courtesy Colin Reddy; Westport Genealogy and History Group, PO Box 236 Westport 12 Appendix 3 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co. Lanark, Hugh Holmes and Jane Kelly Marriage, 1868.

Figure 25 Report from the quarantine of the Westland at Somes Island

Figure 26 Quarantine notice in the Evening Post Figure 27 Denniston circa 1900, courtesy Archives NZ.

19

“Hessie Holmes” of Donegal aged 28 who was the wife of a “John Holmes”, clearly not persons of

interest. From the Westland passenger manifest, Hessie was just 3 months old on the voyage to NZ, and

married William Dunn in Denniston, an Engine Driver from Durham England on 26 August 1903.

However the Census of 1911 shows William as a mine manager in residence at Granity, and Hessie still in

residence at Denniston until 1928 when the NZ Electoral Roll13 begins to record addresses in Wellington

area, Brooklyn, and Island Bay. Family records show a son J Dunn as a Junior Postman probably living

with Hessie in Wellington in later years.

The ferry service from Belfast to Stranraer in Scotland began in 1862 and was about a three hour

journey. Assuming Hugh, Richard and Thomas left Ireland together they would have travelled on the

ferry from Belfast directly to the Scottish coalfields in Lanarkshire sometime the late 1860s, only an hour

or so in those days south of Glasgow, and another three hours from Stranraer.

Hugh (21) married Jane Kelly (22) in 1868 in Wishaw (mother Mary Reilly) who was born in Wigtown

located just east of Stranraer on the 5 June 1846. Richard nearly 7 years later married Agnes Kelly

(mother Mary McGowan), Jane’s step sister (mother Mary Reily, deceased) who was born in Charles

Street Glasgow some thirteen years later in 1859, although the time and place may not be correct.

Richard and Agnes marry in Wishaw on the 3 January 1875, after Hugh. By this time Hugh and family,

consisting of wife Jane and daughter Mary (b, circa 1874) were living 14 Branchal Road, Wishaw next

door to Richard and Agnes at number 12. They may have been employed at the Branchal Colliery,

thought to be working at the time, but nominally did not begin working until 192414.

James Kelly Holmes was their first child born on the 19 June 1877 at 12 Branchal Road when Richard (28)

was registered as a coal miner and literate so was able to endorse the registration.15 The next child,

Jane followed naming down the paternal line, was born at 37 Camnethan on the 20 March 188116.

Soon after Hugh and Jane were married in 1868 they moved sometime before the census in 1871 into

11 Sunnyside Row, with Hugh’s younger brother Thomas, a labourer and a sister in law Rosanna aged

22, with Hugh and Richards father James Kelly widower, aged 60, son Henry, 14, daughter Agnes aged

12 and son James aged 9. James son Henry was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire in 1857 so James and

Mary had immigrated to Glasgow area sometime prior to 1857. After that they were living at Park

Street Wishaw when Agnes Kelly’s brother James Kelly was born on the 2 August 1861.

Mary unfortunately contracted Phthisis Pulmonalis or Tubercular Consumption and died after an illness

of several months at 6 Russell Street Wishaw17.

11 Sunnyside Row was largely comprised of Coltness Iron Company housing among other similar row

blocks in the Wishaw and Larkhall areas in which there was a large mining workforce of between 10-

20,000 consisting of a turbulent mix of Protestant and Catholic Irish as well as native Scots miners.

Strikes were not uncommon and large scale evictions had taken place there in 1863. Cultural prejudice

was a divisive force in the work place and in the streets of Wishaw to the extent that many Irish miners

13 http://www.ancestry.co.uk/ 14 http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/ 15

Appendix 6 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark, 1877, registered birth of James Holmes 16 Appendix 7 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark 1881, registered birth of Jane Holmes. 17 Appendix 8 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark 1864, Registered death of Mary Kelly

20

were lured abroad by better employment opportunities given the failed strikes and lost wages

(approximately 15p/day) and assistance provided by miners unions.18

However, the Laslett reference to Sunnyside Row omits to reference the pit complex of at least 12

working pits in the Wishaw area in 186019 (

Table 2). Among them Sunnyside is listed an Arch. Russell Company. Given the census address and the

proximity of the Sunnyside Colliery rather than the others listed below, it could be assumed that this

was where Richard and Hugh may have found employment.20 Agnes‘s mother, Mary McGowan died in

1864, 4 years prior to Hugh and Janes wedding. James Kelly had been married previously to Mary Reilly,

Jane’s mother. James Kelly aged 60 was left a widower but still head of the family and employed as a

Watchman in the 1871 Census of Scotland.

Table 2 List of Working Collieries in Wishaw area, circa 1860

Overjohnstone Glasgow Iron Company

Sunnyside Colliery Archd. Russell

Wishaw, Iron Works Robt Bell

Shieldmuir Glasgow Iron Company

Wishaw No. 2 Pit Scott and Gilmour

Glencleland Kerr,Pender, and Mitchell

Muirhead Wishaw Scott & Gibb

Netherton Archd. Russell

Wishaw No 1 Pit Scott and Gilmour

Green Glasgow Iron Company

Wishaw Merry and Cunninghame. 31 Clydesdale Wishaw

Clydesdale Archd. Russell

but it also gives the name of her mother as Mary Kelly as expected but her maiden name is shown as

McQuachon and Reilly not McGowan shown on , Similarly, Hugh’s mother is shown as Jane McQuachon

not Hessie McKechnie.

Hugh and Richard’s parents, Robert and Jane probably remained in Ireland, since Hugh and Richard were

both born there in 1848 and 1849 respectively, but sometime between 1861 and 1868 Hugh and

possibly Richard had moved to Glasgow/Lanark area probably for work, since there are no 1861 census

records that could indicate the family might have moved with small children.

The Kelly’s life in Scotland before immigration can be traced in some detail through the Scottish census.

The 1871 census records identify the close association that has developed between the two Irish

migrant coal mining families in Wishaw.

18Laslett, John. H. M. Colliers Across the Sea: A Comparative Study of Class Formation in Scotland and the American Midwest, 1830 - 1924: University of Illinois, 2000. 19

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=fbAJtEeU0rIC&pg=PA54&lpg=PA54&dq=Sunnyside+Row+Wishaw&source=bl&ots=VlbbEEE8rh&sig=PTZYPkp8qdzG_Edr68eETRoWogw&hl=en&ei=jHOrTpjMKIGaiQLrw4j8Cg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&sqi=2&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false 20 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~miningvillages/ListMines1860.html

21

Figure 28 Map of Lanarkshire area, including Wishaw.

Figure 29 Immigrant arrivals in NZ, 1840 – 1914 Courtesy NZ History Online. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/immigration/home-away-from-home/summary

22

Munster in the south west of Ireland accounted for approximately one third of Irish migrants during the

1880’s, this includes County Cork, a general movement of population that included the Cusacks.

Scottish migrants to NZ from the border area are not well represented in the 1880’s, only about 7% of

the total, the majority moved from the north eastern and eastern lowlands where poor conditions may

have provided added incentive, as opposed to the developed coal mining and industrial areas near the

border.

NZ Census records document Richard and

Agnes Holmes move probably by vehicle21

from Denniston into an unknown Romilly

Street residence in Westport by 1911, and

then eventually to 33 Peel Street, a short

distance away (Figure 31). Richard died in

1925 followed by Agnes in 1939. Richard

and Agnes had a large family, 6 girls and five

boys, among them, the twins William and

Robert died a few weeks apart after they were born in Denniston in 1886. Mary, born in Scotland also

died in Denniston in 1894, just fifteen years old. Of the four children born in Scotland, only Hessie and

James survived.

21

http://find.natlib.govt.nz/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?ct=facet&fctN=facet_topic&fctV=Denniston&mode=Basic&

vid=TF&dscnt=0&vl%2835124698UI1%29=all_items&srt=rank&ct=Next%20Page&frbg=&scp.scps=scope%3A%28Timeframes%2

9&indx=31&vl%28D31185043UI0%29=any&dum=true&dstmp=1321499141023&fn=search&vl%281UI0%29=contains&vl%28fre

eText0%29=Denniston&tab=default_tab

Figure 31 Richard and Agnes Kelly bay villa 33 Peel Street Westport, 1939 (courtesy Google Maps 2011).

Figure 30 Vehicle leaving Denniston in the 1920s (courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library)

23

Family Group Record for James Kelly Holmes Page 1

Produced by Legacy on 6 Oct 2011

Husband James Kelly Holmes LDS Ordinance Data

Born B 19 Jun 1876 12 Branchal Road Cambusnethan Lanark Scotland

Christened E

Died 18 Jan 1935 Nelson New Zealand

Buried

Father SP Richard James Holmes (1849-1925)

Mother Agnes Kelly (1859-1939)

Marriage SS 22 Aug 1906 Kohatu [Motupiko]

Other Spouse SS Mary Anette Blanchet ( - ) 1909 - Nelson New Zealand

Other Spouse SS Mary Annette Blanchett ( - ) 1909

Wife Margaret Ellen Cusack

Born B 30 Aug 1888 Maketu, RamaRama, Auckland

Christened E

Died 28 Oct 1906 Nelson New Zealand

Buried

Father SP James Cusack (1863-1949) Mother Sarah Wright (1866-1950)

Other Spouse SS James Kelly Holmes (1876-1935) 22 Aug 1906 - Kohatu, [Motupiko]

Children

1 M James Cleveland Holmes

Born B 22 Oct 1906 Nelson New Zealand

Christened E

Died SP 25 Mar 1986 Tauranga New Zealand

Buried

Spouse SS Vladimir Valerie Dinenage Todd (1905-1994)

Marr. Date 26 Jul 1933 - Westport New Zealand

Research Notes: Wife - Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXVIII, Issue 267, 19 December 1894, Page 2ST. MARY'S SCHOOL.PRESENTATION OF PHIZES. The presentation of prizes to the children attending St. Mary's Schools took place to. day at theMonastery. Father Mahoney said that through a mere oversight it was not announced in the papers, but of coursAt wasunderstood that His Worship the Mayor would preside. It had always been the case that the Chief Magistrate presided. TheMayor had been returned today as Chief Magistrate for the sixth time, and he thanked him very much for the interest he hadalways taken in their schools.................General ... Improvement....Burney Scott Order and Neatness": .Grace WoodwardApplication : Josephine Devery.Preparatory Class. — 1 si Reading and 2nd' Tables.: Lucy Barry. lst Tables and Spelling : Maggie Cusack. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 299, 18 December 1895, Page 2PRIZE DISTRIBUTION.St. Mary's schools hroke up to-day for the Christmas holidays. Just as we were going to press the usual ceremony was beingheld, the Mayor presenting the prizes. Tho prize list is as follows:—Standard I.— Christian Doctrine, Rosie Young: ; reading, Josio Devery, 1 ; spelling, Maggie Roi-s, 1 ; neatness, 1, spelling andreading, 2, Inez Louissou ; recitation, Vivian Higgins 1; tables, Elma Phal, 1 ; arithmetic, drawing, writing, and sewing, RosieYoung, 1 : poetry, Beatrice Parker 1 ; transciiplion 1, writing 2, Katie Burke ; general progress, Gracie Woodward ; application,Maggie Cusack, Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 171, 14 September 1904, Page 3FUNERAL.THE Friends of MR JAMES CUSACK are respectfu'ly informed that the Funeral of his late DAUGHTER, Beatrice,,- will leavethe residence of Mr T. Macmahon; The Wood, on THURSDAY AFTER- NOON, at 2 o'clock, for the New Ceme- tery- A.SHONE, Undertaker. Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLI, Issue 294, 29 October 1906, Page 2 Holmes.—On October 28th, 1906, at Wai-iti, Margaret Ellen, the beloved wife of James Holmes, and eldest daughter of Jamesand Sarah Cusack, of Tadmor.-, aged 18 years. R.I.P.

Last Modified: 3 Oct 2011

Figure 32 James Kelly Holmes Family Group Record

24

Figure 33 Richard James Holmes Family Group Record.

25

Figure 34 Richard James Holmes Family Group Record, cont’d.

26

CHAPTER 3

THE WEST FAMILY

The West family origins are identified in the 1841 UK census of High Street, Irthlingborough Northamptonshire, England, and with the birth of Felix West there in 1834 and in Ireland with the birth

of Ellen Lysaght on the 12 July 1834 in Fermoy in County Cork, Ireland. They would be married on the 4

February 1865 in Wairau, Marlborough NZ. There are few records available from this early period,

including the immigration details for both Ellen and Felix. Although UK census records indicate he

probably left after the 1851 census and NZ records point to his arrival in the Nelson Marlborough area

by 1860. He is listed on their marriage certificate as a miner but UK census records show he worked in

the family business as a baker, an occupation he began again when the couple moved to the West Coast

around 1870 (Figure 35).

At the time of their marriage, company records for the Golden Gully Sluicing Claim in Collingwood, west

of Nelson show Felix West as a shareholder in 1860 according to Mathews1 and this is most likely

reflected in his occupation listed on the marriage certificate, and perhaps as a recent arrival to NZ he has

had little opportunity to set up a business and decided on a short term investment prior to setting up his

bakery in Westport around 5 years after his marriage.

agency series accession box / item sep record no. part alternative no.

CO-W

W3445 58 /

1900/29

Westport in the 1860s was a small frontier gold mining settlement beside the Buller River that was

established after a report of gold obtained from the Buller River was sent from Thomas Brunner to the

Superintendent at Nelson ( at that time the west coast was included). However, further exploration also

revealed exposed coal seams along the Grey River. By 1866 approximately 1200 diggers had arrived in

the area to search for alluvial gold in the Buller and Waimangaroa Rivers. What effect these events may

have had on Felix and Ellen who had just been married the previous year in Marlborough is of course

largely unknown except for the occupation as miner listed on their marriage certificate and a

shareholding investment by Felix in the fledgling Golden Gully Sluicing Claim, around 1860 and so

probably did not take up the prospectors pan and shovel as so many did. The popular stories of difficult

country, hardships, and starvation to get to the gold fields that had been barely settled were sufficient

incentive perhaps to stay in the Nelson area until business prospects improved. Sluicing however was

generally replaced by crushing by about 1872 since in many areas the earth was too hard.

title years

Slate River Sluicing Company Ltd no date - no date

Figure 36 Archived records of the former Golden Gully Sluicing Claim

Figure 35 Record for the Felix West dwelling and shop in the 1870 Buller Electoral Roll

27

The story of early Westport begins around 1862, and is encircled on one side by the Orowaiti River on

the West by the Buller River which has its source in Lake Rotoiti and on the north by the sea,

consequently was prone to flooding and records show that there was a succession of floods for the first

12 years. The combined action of the sea and the river was a constant source of alarm. In 1870, the

West Bakery in Kennedy Street survived a huge tidal wave struck the town flooding all the buildings

along the river and again the following year after heavy rains the town was scoured and buildings were

undermined and washed out over the bar ( West Coast Times, 12 February 1872).

The Roche Hotel, the two story establishment in Figure 37 may have some connection to Ellen Lysaght

through her mother’s family who was Mary Roche, the family connection may have been a factor in the

choice to settle in Westport and the initial voyage out to NZ.

Felix and Ellen, who may have

been pregnant, arrived in

Westport possibly sometime in

1868 just before George was

born on the 29 January 1869

and christened on the 7

November that year. Then the

following year Ellen was born

on the 15 May 1870 and

christened also later that year, on the 27 November at St Johns Church, Westport.

11 Mathews, Ella. Yesterdays in Golden Buller. Pegasus Press 14 Oxford Terrace Christchurch, 1957.

Figure 37 Early Westport and the Buller River landing, circa 1870 (Mathews 1957)

Figure 38 Reference to West’s Bakery, Westport 1872, [Mathews 1957:54] 11

.

28

The family continued to grow with Joseph born on 31 August 1872, unfortunately he contracted

Whooping Cough and died the day after his christening on the 9 November 1872.

This extract from Mathews describes the difficult conditions and extreme weather experienced during

early settlement. The exact date of this particular storm is not given unfortunately, but given the details

and loss of buildings it was the same event recorded by the West Coast Times of 12 February 1872.

Gladstone Street and Kennedy Street are still extant but the western side of Gladstone Street,

presumably where the Post Office was originally is now a sea wall and footpath. The lee side, once

occupied by the West Bakery is now a mix of residential and light commercial sections. When the port

was the main transport hub, it was obviously also the centre of commercial activity and an ideal place

for a bakery. Fortunately, the West’s missed the great fire of 1869 that destroyed the most valuable

business portions of Gladstone, Molesworth and Kennedy Streets (Mathews 1957:64). So by 1874 Felix

had relocated the bakery from Lyttelton Street to a shop close to the corner Palmerston and Wakefield

Streets.

This period [1870s] also coincides roughly with the gradual demise of sluicing in the Nelson/Collingwood

areas and so Felix and Ellen probably moved on to Westport with his bakery experience and take

advantage of the business and commercial opportunities developing in Westport.

Another newspaper item in the Grey River Argus of the 3 July 1873 gives an account of an accident in

Molesworth Street when carpenters were relocating Mr. Felix West’s house and a side of the building

fell on Mr. West’s five year old second son, breaking his thigh bone, continuing the traumatic events of

the past few years living in Westport. The relocation would have been the result of the 1872 flood to

Figure 39 Extract from the 1870 Buller Electoral Roll

Figure 40 The business section of Gladstone Street, c 1869, around the time of Felix and Ellen’s arrival. and probably before the great fire (Mathews 1957)

29

avoid further inundation of the town. In the midst of all these events and looking after young John with

his broken thigh and just 2 months after their house was relocated, Elizabeth was born on the 12

September 1873 but she was not christened until 13 June 1875.

Local events at this time included the turning of the first sod of the Westport-Mokihinui Railway at the

corner of Palmerston and Wakefield Streets in 1874, celebrations including the roasting of a whole

bullock and large bonfire was held near West’s Bakery22

Elizabeth was 18 when she married Henry (Harry) William Todd on the 21 May 1893 at the Todd

residence in Westport. The West family continued to grow with the arrival of John in 1874, no actual

birth date has been found and no christening has

been recorded either. As the last and seventh

child, Felix William was born on 25 April 1875

and christened on 13 June 1875.

In the 1900 NZ Electoral Roll, Felix William is also

recorded as a Baker aged 25 in the family

business and probably living in the family home

with John.

Elizabeth was 18 when she married Henry (Harry)

William Todd on the 21 May 1893 at the Todd

residence in Westport.

Unfortunately the Electoral does not appear to

have been updated with Ellen still listed but

having died some 13 years earlier in 1887. The

Electoral Roll records consistently record Felix

West as a baker for elections between 1870 and

1905-1906.

22 Mathews, Ella. Yesterdays in Golden Buller. pp 144, 14 Oxford Terrace Christchurch: Pegasus Press, 1957.

Figure 41 Gladstone Street and the original Post Office (Mathews 1957)

Figure 42 Grey River Argus, Volume XVI, Issue 2265, 11 November 1875, Page 2

Figure 43 John West aged 5 years in a painful accident. Grey River Argus, vol. XIII, issue 1533, 3 July 1873, p.2.

30

Table 3 Felix West Electoral Roll entries 1870 - 1906

However between 1902 and 1903 Felix William left Westport and travelled to the UK from Wellington

on the “Athenic”, arriving in London on the 22 June 1902. Almost a year later, Felix, aged 69 also left for

London on the “Tongariro” from Wellington arriving on the 18 July 1903. He departed the following

year, arriving back in Sydney on the 10 October, 1904 and then on to NZ. Both passages are recorded

from Australia, ‘Point of Departure:

Australia’, via Sydney, Melbourne,

Adelaide, Colombo, Plymouth. The

return voyage is recorded in Sydney

but his destination in this instance is

Westport. However, he did return to

Sydney and eventually died there in

1916. His funeral was held on

Tuesday 13 June 1916 at his

residence, 20 Rosebank Street,

Darlinghurst and travelled to the

Church of England Cemetery,

Rookwood.

Felix West 1870-1871 Westland North West Coast Felix West 1875-1876 Buller West Coast Felix West 1880-1881 Buller West Coast Baker Felix West 1885-1886 Buller West Coast Baker

Felix West 1890 Buller West Coast Baker Felix West 1896 Buller West Coast Baker Felix West 1900 Buller West Coast Baker Felix West 1905-1906 Buller West Coast Baker John West 1905-1906 Buller West Coast Labourer William Felix West 1905-1906 Buller West Coast Miner

Figure 44 Extract from the 1900 Buller Electoral Roll matches 1895 records.

Figure 45 The SS Athenic, built 1901.

31

Felix William, or William as he appears in the 1905 Westport Electoral Roll has moved from Westport to

Reefton and is recorded as a miner at Black’s Point, Felix is still working as a baker aged 71. Felix was to

return to Sydney and take up residence there. Felix William is recorded as a labourer living somewhere

in Bluff (c/- Bay View Hotel) when he enlisted in the NZ Expeditionary Force First Reserves WWI

sometime between 1916 -1917. Southland Electoral Rolls record him in Awarua Southland from 1911 to

1949. He was buried on the 26 February 1951, aged 70 in the Eastern Cemetery free Catholic Block,

Block 4, Plot 18 in Invercargill. However, according to Westport records, he was born on the 25 April

1875, so he would have been 76 yrs. His last known address was Ocean Beach, about 13 km south of

Awarua towards Bluff .

Figure 46 Extract from the Tongariro passenger manifest, 1903.

Figure 47 Extract from the 1905 Westport Electoral Roll

Figure 48 Deck of the SS Tongariro c 1903

32

Figure 49 Descendants of Felix West and Ellen Lysaght 1887, p.1

33

Figure 50 Descendants of Felix West and Ellen Lysaght 1887, p.2

34

Figure 51 Descendants of Felix West and Ellen Lysaght 1887, p.3

35

CHAPTER 4

THE TODD FAMILY

The RMS Coptic sailed from Gravesend, Kent on the 4 August

1892 and arrived in Wellington New Zealand at 1.30 pm on

Wednesday 22 September, 1892 according to the Evening Post

of the day. Aboard was Mr. Harry William Todd who was listed

as a second saloon passenger (Figure 56) (3rd line from bottom

right, Figure 53). Harry William Todd aged 30 disembarked in

Wellington after sailing from London via Plymouth and stopping

for coal at, Teneriffe and Capetown. He then must have made

his way south to Nelson and on to the West Coast, where better

employment opportunities may have been available since the

NZ economy was in a recession between 1885-1900.

Nevertheless, significant numbers of migrants continued to

arrive from the southeast and Kent in particular throughout this

period.

Both Harry’s parents had passed away the previous year only

two months apart, William Bartholomew Todd in June 1891 at

Milton, Gravesend aged 80 and Sophia Todd [nee Dinenage] in

March aged 69, also at Gravesend, Kent. They had been

married for 53 years [September 1838].

William was born around 1812 at Staplehurst, Kent, a small

rural village in the Tonbridge area to the south. An early

impression of the village of Staplehurst, dates unknown

together with a 6 Inch Ordnance

Survey Map from 1881 show a small

rural community [Figure 52] with an

economy based mainly around cereal

cropping, the area was known for its

associated windmills with the last mill

burned down in 1905, but the local

economy also would have relied on

dairy production and various support

services such as the smithy situated in

the village itself. It could be assumed

that William probably carried on the

family tradition of “cow keeper” by the

Figure 53 Arrival and passenger list, RMS Coptic, September 1892.

Figure 52 Staplehurst, Kent, circa 1900.

36

time his marriage was registered in the district of North Aylesford, September 1838, which included

Northfleet, about 12 miles to the north.

Presumably William moved north and established himself and his wife and a dairy business at

Northfleet. Until the nineteenth century it was a predominantly rural parish centred on its church and

with some small-scale riverside settlement. However according to census data they did not begin to

have a family until Lydia was born c1849 nearly 11 years after they were married when Sophia was 27

and William was 38, 11 years apart.

Although this seems an unusual departure from family practice of the period, Sophia was only 16 when

they were married. Data from the 1871 census gives Ireland as her birthplace, and then in 1881 this is

changed to Canterbury, Kent. The 1841 Census of the Parish of St Dunstan does record a Samuel and

Felicete Dinenage (Appendix 10 Census of England 1841, Parish of St Dunstan, the Dinenage family

Harry [aka Henry] was the second youngest of the Todd family of 6 children, his birth on 5 May 1862

(Appendix 9 Birth Certificate, Henry William Todd, North Aylesford, 1862 at Providence Cottage,

Northfleet, North Aylesford and also registered at Nth Aylesford, Kent on 16 June, 1862.

Table 4 Marriage Record William Bartholomew, 1838, Nth Aylesford

Table 5 Todd family records in the Northfleet Census, 2 April 1871

The 1871 census shows the family in its entirety living at “Providence Cottage” with the two eldest,

Lydia and William assisting in the family Dairy business, and the younger children at school in what

appears to be a relatively stable economic and social situation as the census for years, 1861, 1871

appear to indicate. William’s occupation however has been re-designated from cow-keeper to

dairyman, although this probably indicates a distinct change or expansion in his business given the

depressed state of agriculture and the need for change [Hunt 1997]. This no doubt would have

Surname Given Name District Volume Page

TODD William Bartholomew Nth Aylesford 5 414

Surname Forename(s) Estimated

Year of Birth Age Occupation Birth Place County

Todd William c. 1812 59 Dairyman Staplehurst Kent Kent

Todd Sophia c. 1822 49 ? - Ireland Kent

Todd Lydia A c. 1849 22 Assisting In The Business Northfleet Kent Kent

Todd William Thomas c. 1850 21 Assisting In The Business Northfleet Kent Kent

Todd Frederick W c. 1859 12 Scholar Northfleet Kent Kent

Todd Thomas c. 1860 11 Scholar Northfleet Kent Kent

Todd Henry c. 1863 8 Scholar Northfleet Kent Kent

Todd Sophia c. 1866 5 Scholar Northfleet Kent Kent

37

improved the economic circumstances of the Todd family business of 1871 with both Lydia and William

Thomas also employed.

By 1881, Sophia listed in the Census of that year (Table 6) is living/visiting at 2 St Andrews Road,

Gravesend, and Henry aged 18 is listed living at 35 Rural Vale, Northfleet, Kent with the remainder of

the family, almost midway between Northfleet and Gravesend according to census data. Lydia, William

and Frederick have become independent.

Table 6 1881 Census records for Sophia Todd [ancestry.co.uk]

Table 7 1881 Census Record transcript, William Todd

Name: Sophia Todd

Age: 59

Estimated birth year: abt 1822

Relation: Wife

Spouse's name: William B.

Gender: Female

Where born: Canterbury, Kent, England

Civil parish: Northfleet

County/Island: Kent

Country: England

Street address: 35 Rural Vale

Condition as to

marriage:

Married

Occupation: Dairyman Wife

Registration district: North Aylesford

Sub-registration

district:

Northfleet

Neighbors: View others on page

Household Members: Name Age

Henry W. Todd 18

Sophia Todd 59

Sophia Todd 15

Thomas W. Todd 20

William B. Todd 69

William Todd

Age 31 Birth abt 1850 Relation Head Spouse Annie Gender Male

Birthplace Northfleet, Kent, England Civil Parish Milton in Gravesend County Kent England Adress 1 Bank Street Shop Married Occupation Picture Frame Maker

38

Lydia by 1885 has a son Edward Jno Henly, born in Poplar Kent. Frederick does not appear in the 1881

census, William Thomas however has married and has a family as the census record shows (Table 7).

Finally the 1861 Census of England (Appendix 4 Census of England 1861, Parish of Northfleet, Kent,

William Todd and Familyshows a growing Todd family with four children living at Providence Cottage,

the two eldest children, Lydia and William do not appear to have had any education, the children are

usually listed as “scholar” as recorded 10 years later in 1871 (Table 5). This may however be due to

educational reforms.

Table 8 Census of England 1861

In the 1891 Census (Appendix 12 Census of England, 1891, St Andrews Road Gravesend, Kentthe Todd

family resident at St Andrews Road Gravesend, Kent, William was 79 and a widower has presumably

retired although he is still listed as a “Dairyman”, and unfortunately Sophia had died sometime between

the 1881 and 1891 Censuses. Lydia aged 41 and her son Edward aged 6, along with Sophia are living

with William in St Andrews Road, Gravesend about 10mins walk from son William and family at 1 Bank

Street closer to the river. William Thomas now 41 is a picture framer.

Present day 1 Bank Street is in a block of what could be shops adjacent to a

carpark about 1 block back from the river Thames, in downtown

Gravesend, about 1 mile from the family home at 35 Rural Vale, Northfleet,

Gravesend.

Harry William was not present at the Census, and left for New Zealand in

August 1892 the following year (Figure 56). Current satellite imaging [2007] shows a block of row houses located just 3

driving miles from St Andrews. Currently this whole area is completely

developed. Rapid develop of the area began late in the 19C, overtaking and

threatening many semi rural occupations such as dairymen. Although in

other parts of the country, cow-keeper did remain as a listed occupation

until the mid 1880’s for example in Norfolk.23

When the census was taken there obviously was some doubt concerning

23 E. H. Hunt, S. J.P. "Prices and Structural Response in English Agriculture, 1873- 1896." The Economic History Review, New Series vol 50, No 3 (1997): 477-505.

Surname Forename(s) Estimated

Year of Birth Age Occupation Birth Place County

Todd William c. 1812 49 Cowkeeper Staplehurst Kent Kent

Todd Sophia c. 1822 40 wife Canterbury Kent

Todd Lydia A c. 1849 12 Northfleet Kent Kent

Todd William Thomas c. 1850 11 Northfleet Kent Kent

Todd Frederick W c. 1859 2 Northfleet Kent Kent

Todd Thomas c. 1860 8 mths Northfleet Kent Kent

Figure 54 Harry William Todd

39

William’s wife Sophia Dinenage. Other Census data from 1861(Table 6)24 shows Sophia as a cow-

keepers wife, born in Canterbury, Kent, c 1821. No records as yet can confirm either of these, and there

is no indication of her family surname with Irish origins as cited in 1871 census too correlate with NZ

records. The evidence would suggest that Dinenage probably her correct maiden name, given its

frequent use by Henry William’s generation as a middle name.

The marriage of a William Henry Dinenage is listed in the 1850 Marriage Register in Southampton,

possibly Sophia’s brother, and son of Samuel and Felicete Dinenage of Kent. Names used between the

families suggest their close association, with the Dinenage surname used as a second name for five of

Henry William Todd’s daughters born in NZ. The first daughter born also was Mavis Felicete Dinenage

effectively continuing the link between the two families in the next generation. William and Sophia

Todd’s last child was named after her mother (Table 5).

Sophia’s parents, Samuel and Felicete Amable Dinenage, both aged 45 are listed in the Census of

England 1841 living in Church Street in the Parish or Township of St Dunstan. Sophia is already married

and so does not appear listed with her sister Ann aged 12 and brother William aged 9. Felicete is also

listed as “F” in the right hand column signifying a foreign birth (Appendix 10 Census of England 1841,

Parish of St Dunstan, the Dinenage family.

Table 9 Todd family records in the 1861 census [rootsuk.com/census]

24 Courtesy www.ancestry.co.uk

Surname Forename(s) Estimated

Year of Birth Age Occupation Birth Place County View

Todd William B c. 1812 49 Cow Keeper Staplehurst Kent Kent Full Details

Todd Sophia c. 1821 40 Cow Keeper’s Wife Canterbury Kent Kent Full Details

Todd Lydia A c. 1849 12 - Northfleet Kent Kent Full Details

Todd William J c. 1850 11 - Northfleet Kent Kent Full Details

Todd Frederick W c. 1859 2 - Northfleet Kent Kent Full Details

Todd Thomas W c. 1861 8m - Northfleet Kent Kent Full Details

Figure 55 Mariage of William Henry Dinenage, Southanpton, 1850.

40

Table 10 Mr.H W Todd Coptic passenger manifest transcript, 1892

Name: Mr H W TODD

Date of departure: 3 August 1892

Port of departure: London

Passenger destination port: Wellington, New Zealand

Age 25 Sex Male

Marital Status Single Occupation: Gent Ship: COPTIC

Official Number: 0

Master's name: C H Kempson Steamship Line: Shaw Savill & Albion Line Where bound: New Zealand,

Registered tonnage: 2857

Passengers on voyage: 143

Some confusion over names continues into

NZ records, when Harry William Todd

married Elizabeth West on the 23 May 1893

in the Westport Registrars Office just 8

months after arriving in Wellington. This is

the first recorded appearance of Harry as his

given name, perhaps motivated by a new

country new identity and about to embark

on a new life.

Figure 56 Passenger manifest for the RMS Coptic, 3 August 1892

Figure 57 The RMS Coptic of 4,448 tons, 70 1st class passengers (Courtesy NationalLibrary,http://digital.natlib.govt.nz/get/12754?profile=access).

41

THE LYSAGHT FAMILY

Harry William Todd married Elizabeth West in the Registrar’s Office in Westport on the 21 May 1893,

after arriving in New Zealand the previous year on Wednesday 21 September, 1892. The marriage was

celebrated at the Todd residence, 24 Esplanade Road Westport.

Elizabeth West was the daughter of Felix and Ellen West (nee Lysaght) born in Westport 12 September

1873 but not christened until 13 June 1875. Felix West may have been a resident in the Nelson area by

1861 according to the Colonist of that year before meeting his future wife Ellen Lysaght and then their

marriage in 1865.

Felix and Ellen were married in the Wairau District of Marlborough Province on the 4 February 1865,

Felix is listed on the marriage certificate as a miner. But between 1870 and 1874 he is known to have

been the owner of West’s Bakery, a pioneer baker with a shop front in Kennedy Street Westport. Ellen

however has only an ‘x’ for a signature on the certificate. So by 1870 they are residents in the Westport

area according to the Grey River Argus, and Elizabeth was born during this time on the 12 September

1873, her brother, John the second son, must have been born some 5 years earlier, in fact 29 January

1869. But according to BDM records a Felix William was born in 25 April 1875, the fifth son.

1875/8448 West Felix William Ellen (Mother) Felix (Father)

Table 11 Ellen Lysaght, County Cork, 1834

Name Ellen Lysaght

Date of Baptism /Birth 12 July 1834

Adress Cork Road

Parish/District Fermoy

Denomination Roman Catholic

Father John Lysaght

Mother Mary Roche

The Lysaght family records remain difficult to retrieve and therefore authenticity is always in question,

particularly the Irish origins of the family. Elizabeth (aka Ellen) was born in County Clare in 1834 of

parents John Lysaght and Mary Glen according to Westport Cemetery records.25 No Irish records have

been found that support these records, however County Clare records are only available by

commissioned researchers26 and have not been accessed, but an Ellen Lysaght born in 1834 does appear

in the BDM records for County Cork to a John and Mary (Table 11)27. County Clare is geographically

close to the north of County Cork and therefore provides a possible family link. In addition, the Roche

25 Westport Geneaology Group, “Old Cemetery”, Westport Orowaiti Cemetery, Westport, c/- Buller REAP, 111 Palmerston Street, Westport, NZ. 26 http://www.rootsireland.ie/index.php?id=31 27 http://ifhf.rootsireland.ie/quis.php

42

hotel28 (Figure 37) was one of the first established in Westport so Ellen may have arrived in

Nelson/Westport area with her parents and grandparents around the time the hotel was established in

the 1870s, coinciding with the establishment of West’s Bakery in Westport.

28 Courtesy: Mathews, Ella. Yesterdays in Golden Buller. 14 Oxford Terrace Christchurch: Pegasus Press, 1957.

43

Figure 58 William Bartholomew Todd Family Group Record

44

Figure 59 William Bartholomew Todd Family Group Record, cont’d.

45

Figure 60 William Bartholomew Todd and Sophia Dinenage 1838, p.1

46

Figure 61 Descendants of William Bartholomew Todd and Sophia Dinenage 1838 p.2

47

Figure 62 Descendants of William Bartholomew Todd and Sophia Dinenage 1838 p.3

48

Index

A

Addington Picton line ........................................................... 7

Agnes Holmes ....................................................................... 8

Annette Blanchett ................................................................ 9

Athenic ................................................................................ 30

C

Cleveland nursing home ....................................................... 8

Collingwood, ....................................................................... 26

Corracunna............................................................................ 2

Cusack ................................................................................... 1

D

Dashwood Pass tunnel ......................................................... 7

E

Elizabeth West .................................................................... 40

Ellen Lysaght ....................................................................... 26

Enniskillen ............................................................................. 5

F

Fermoy ................................................................................ 26

Frances Cusack ...................................................................... 6

G

Ganges................................................................................... 5

Gravesend, Kent ................................................................. 35

Grey River Argus ........................................................... 28, 41

H

Harry William Todd ............................................................. 35

High Street, Irthlingborough Northamptonshire, ............. 26

I

Irish Tom ............................................................................... 7

J

James Cleveland Holmes ...................................................... 8

James Kelly Holmes ............................................................... 9

K

Kohatu ................................................................................... 8

L

Lysaght ................................................................................. 40

M

Mangakino ............................................................................. 6

Margaret Ellen ....................................................................... 8

Margret Ellen, ........................................................................ 5

Mary Annette Blanchett ....................................................... 9

Mitchelstown, County Cork, ................................................. 1

Motupiko ............................................................................... 1

N

Nelson .................................................................................... 1

North Aylesford ................................................................... 36

Northfleet ............................................................................ 36

O

Orowaiti River ..................................................................... 27

P

Providence Cottage, Northfleet ......................................... 36

R

Rama Rama............................................................................ 1

Rama Rama Catholic cemetery............................................. 5

Roche Hotel ......................................................................... 27

Rookwood ........................................................................... 30

Royal Albert docks, London .................................................. 4

49

S

Sarah Wright ......................................................................... 5

Sophia Dinenage ................................................................. 39

SS Doric ................................................................................. 3

Staplehurst, Kent, ............................................................... 35

T

Tadmor .............................................................................. 1, 9

Tadmor newspaper............................................................... 6

Te 1

Te Maketu ......................................................................... 5, 6

Tunnicliffe ............................................................................. 8

W

Wai-iti .................................................................................... 8

Waikato Immigration Scheme.............................................. 5

Wairau District of Marlborough ......................................... 41

Wairau, Marlborough ......................................................... 26

West Bakery ........................................................................ 27

West family ......................................................................... 26

Westport ............................................................................. 26

William Bartholomew Todd ............................................... 35

William Todd ....................................................................... 29

Wright ................................................................................... 1

50

Further Reading and Bibliography

O Gráda. Black '47 and Beyond:the Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory: Princeton University Press, 2000. Adams, Cecilia. The Hill. Christchurch: J W Baty Ltd, 1971. Aiken, R. L. Not Many Noble: A Story of the Lanarkshire Coalfield. ed. anonymous: Old Museum Press, . Council, Blenheim Borough. The First Hundred: The Story of the Borough of Blenheim, 1869-1969, 1969. Campbell, A. B. The Scottish Miners, 1874-1939, Volume I: Industry, Work and Community. ed. anonymous: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2000. Chatterton, L. G. Rambles in the South of Ireland During the Year 1838. ed. anonymous: Saunders and Otley, 1839. Chua, A. Day of Empire, How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Domiinance- and Why They Fall. 1st ed. ed. anonymous: Doubleday, 2007. d'Alton, I. "Southern Irish Unionism: A Study of Cork Unionists, 1884-1914: The Alexander Prize Essay." Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 5th Ser., Vol. 23, (1973): 71-88. Devine, T. M. "Irish Immigrants and Scottish Society in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries : Proceedings of the Scottish Historical Studies Seminar, University of Strathclyde, 1989-90." Paper presented at the Scottish Historical Studies Seminar, and T. M. Devine 1991. Devine, T.M., Orr, W. The Great Highland Famine : Hunger, Emigration, and the Scottish Highlands in the Nineteenth Century. ed. anonymous: J. Donald, 1988. Donnelly Jr., James. The Great Irish Potato Famine: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001. Donnelly Jr., James. The Land and the People of 19th Century Cork, the Rural Economy and the Land Question. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975. Donnelly Jr., James. Captain Rock: The Irish Agrarian Rebellion of 1821-1824 (History of Ireland & the Irish Diaspora): University of Wisconsin Press, 2009. E. H. Hunt, S. J.P. "Prices and Structural Response in English Agriculture, 1873- 1896." The Economic History Review, New Series vol 50, No 3 (1997): 477-505. Fayen, Beatrice June. Silk Amidst the Clouds. Westport: Buller Printing Ltd, 1994. France, T., and D. Stidolph. Sarah and Sydney Stidolph: Their Story: T. France, 1991. Fraser, Lyndon. Castles of Gold: A History of New Zealand's West Coast Irish. Dunedin: Otago University Press, NEW ZEALAND, 2007.

51

Fraser, Lyndon, ed. A Distant Shore : Irish Migration and New Zealand Settlement. Dunedin: Otago University Press, NEW ZEALAND, 2000. Fraser, W. H, and Morris, R. J. People and Society in Scotland 1830-1914. ed. anonymous, 1990. Argus, Grey River. "The Faces History." The Grey River Argus 1958. Gura, Philliip. F. American Transcendentalism: A History.: Hill and Wang, 2007. Holdings, Henslow. "Memories Magazine: Denniston Vol.60." Memories2006. Hutton, L. The New Statistical Account of Scotland. Vol. vol 6. ed. anonymous: William Blackwood and Sons, 1838. Hutton, Lewis. Old Newmains and the Villages Around Wishaw. Catrine, Ayrshire KA5 6RD: Stenlake Publishing Ltd., 1999. Laslett, John. H. M. Colliers Across the Sea: A Comparative Study of Class Formation in Scotland and the American Midwest, 1830 - 1924: University of Illinois, 2000. Lawson, T.a.K., David. Historical Atlas of Kent. ed. anonymous: David Brown Book Co, 2004. Board, Local Government. Land Owners in Ireland: Genealogical Publishing Co.Inc., 1871. News, London Illustrated. "The Depopulation of Ireland." London Illustrated News1851. Mathews, Ella. Yesterdays in Golden Buller. 14 Oxford Terrace Christchurch: Pegasus Press, 1957. Meyer, K. L. Coaling From the Clouds. 2nd ed.: Brick Row Publishing Co Ltd., PO Box 85-057 Auckland for NZ Railway and Locomotive Society, 1983. Reprint, 2nd. Millar, J. H. High Noon for Coaches. ed. anonymous: A. H. A. W. Reed, 1953. Munro, W A. The Denniston Affair: W A Munro, 1951. Munro, W. A. A History of Denniston: Denniston High School and Waimangaroa Centennial Committee, 1980. O'Donnell, B. When Nelson Had a Railway. ed. anonymous, 2005. Patterson, B.Akenson, D. H., ed. The Irish in New Zealand, 1990. Pattrick, Jenny. The Denniston Rose. Auckland: Random House, 2003. Pattrick, Jenny. The Illustrated Denniston Rose and Heart of Coal. 1st ed. Auckland: Random House, 2006.

52

Power, B. White Knights, Dark Earls: The Rise and Fall of an Anglo-Irish Dynasty. ed. anonymous: Collins, 2000. Power, B. Images of Mitchelstown, Stories and Pictures of My Own Place. ed. anonymous: Mount Cashell, 2002. Power, B. Michael Cusack. ed. anonymous: Mount Cashell Books, . Richardson, Len. The Denniston Miners Union 1884-1984, 1984. Scally, R., J. The End of Hidden Ireland: Oxford University Press, 2007. Sean McMahon, J. O. Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase Fable Brewer's Dictionary of Irish Phrase Fable. ed. anonymous: Stirling Publishing Co., 2004. Stidolph, Thelma FranceandDiana. "Sarah and Sydney Stidolph: Their Story, 1991." . Tomalin, C. The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft. ed. anonymous, 1992. Voller, L. C. Rails to Nowhere: The History of the Nelson Railway. ed. anonymous: Nikau Press, 1991. News, Weekly. "Farewell to a Ghost Village." Weekly News1956. News, Westport. The Westport News, 2011/12/01 1958. Times, Westport. The Hill in the '80's: Westport Times and Star, 1930. Willis, S. Canterbury Marriage Licences Volume 3: 1810-1837. ed. anonymous, . Wilson, Rhona. Wishaw. Catrine, Ayrshire: Stenlake Publishing Ltd, 1997. Wright, Les R. Denniston, Then and Now: Friends of the Hill, 1998. Yonge, J. Stone's Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough and Westland Directory. ed. anonymous, 1917.

53

Appendix 1 Census of Scotland 1871, Parish of Wishaw, the James Kelly and Hugh Holmes families

54

Appendix 2 Census of England 1871, Parish of Northfleet, Kent, William Todd and Family

55

Appendix 3 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co. Lanark, Hugh Holmes and Jane Kelly Marriage, 1868.

56

Appendix 4 Census of England 1861, Parish of Northfleet, Kent, William Todd and Family

57

Appendix 5 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co. Lanark, 1876, Marriage of Richard and Agnes Holmes

58

Appendix 6 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark, 1877, registered birth of James Holmes

59

Appendix 7 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark 1881, registered birth of Jane Holmes.

60

Appendix 8 Parish of Cambusnethan, Co Lanark 1864, Registered death of Mary Kelly

61

Appendix 9 Birth Certificate, Henry William Todd, North Aylesford, 1862

62

Appendix 10 Census of England 1841, Parish of St Dunstan, the Dinenage family

63

Appendix 11 Census of England 1881, Parish of Northfleet, Kent, William Todd and Family

64

Appendix 12 Census of England, 1891, St Andrews Road Gravesend, Kent

65

HOLMES FAMILY TREE

HOLMES FAMILY TREE

Mary McGowan

b. 1827

d. 3 May 1864

6 Russell St Wishaw

James Kelly

Born Park St Wishaw

b. 2 August 1861

d. 26 Oct 1941

Carpenter NZ 1883

Agnes Kelly

b. 1859 10 Charles St Glasgow Scotland?

d. 2 May 1939 53 Peel St Westport NZ

Richard James Holmes miner

b. 2 June 1849 Co Antrim

12 Branchal Road Cambusnethan

d. 3 February 1925 Westport NZ

m. 31December 1875

Cambusnethan Lanarkshire

Regist. Wishaw 3 January 1876

James Kelly Holmes [after

Agnes father]

b. 19 June 1877

12 Branchal Road

Cambusnethan

Lanark Scotland

d. 18 Jan 1935 Nelson

Margaret Ellen Cusack

b. 30 Aug 1888

Maketu Auckland

d. 28 Oct 1906 Nelson

Isabella Gregory

b.19 Feb 1908

Denniston

NZ 31 Oct 1883

“Westland”

Hessie McKay

Holmes

b c 1883 (ship

manifest)

d.1968

Dalziel Lanark

d 6 July 1907

[m William Dunn]??

Arr NZ 1883

London-Well.

Jean

Alf Leach]

Hugh Holmes miner

b Co Antrim Ireland 1848?

d 17 Nov 1916 Denniston

James Cleveland Holmes

b 22 Oct 1906 Nelson

d.25 March 1986 Tauranga

Jane Kelly

b. 20 March 1881

37 Camnethan

Mary [Davis]

b 1874

Waimangaroa

d 9 Sept 1954

Jane Kelly

b.c1847 Stranraer

Wigtown, Scotland

d. 10 Nov 1919

Westport

James Kelly

c1811

To NZ 1883

d. 31 Jan 1900

6 Sept 1854

Dalry Ayr Scotland

Waimangaroa 1894

Mary? b. 1901

m. Frank Eckersly

Mary[Sneddon?]

b. c1879

Wishaw

d. 27 March 1894

Denniston [15 yrs]

Hugh

b.17 Jan 1885

Denniston

d 11 Sept 1950

nm

m.14 April 1868

6 Russell St.

Cambusnethan

NZ

c1881/2

Margaret

b.23 July 1892

Denniston

m. Carruthers

Te Aroha

d. 1954

Jane Kelly

[mother Mary Reily]

b. 5 June1846

Wigtown

m.Hugh Holmes

14 April 1868 Wishaw

d. Nov 12 1919

Westport

Mary Holmes

b.c1874 Wishaw Lanark

14 Branchal Road Wishaw

d. 10 March 1942 Denniston

William

b. 11 April 1886

d. 17 April 1886

Waimangaroa

Henry

b.4 Feb1857 Kirks Pond?

Hamilton Lanarkshire

Note: issue 2 M [47, 41] & 3 F [44, 42, 32]

From Richard Holmes death cert

Robert

b. 11 April 1886

d. 6 June 1886

Waimangaroa

m. 22 Aug 1906

Kohatu, Motupiko

Mary Annette Blanchetm.1909

Mary

b. 19 Jan 1879

34 Camnethan

d. 27 March 1894

Denniston

Isabella

b. 3 March 1888

Denniston

d. 7 Sept 1922

Granity nm

Alexander Hill

Wishaw

d. 2 March 1947

Denniston

George Hill

Thomas

b.12 Feb1847

Co.Derry

N. Ireland

m.Rosanna

Mary [Reily]

Henry McGowan --- Margaret [Robertson]

d. < 1864

Walter Leslie

b 7 Oct 1900

d 5 Aug 1987

m. Ida May

Swallow 1927

Robert Holmes

Farmer/labourer

Belfast Co Antrim?

Hessie McKay(Mckechie)m.??

Jane (McQuachon)

66

CUSACK FAMILY TREE

CUSACK FAMILY TREE

Margaret Ellen Cusack

b. 30 Aug 1888 Maketu

d. 28 Oct 1906 Nelson

m. 22 August 1906 Kohatu MotupikoJames Kelly Holmes

b. 19 June 1876

12 Branchal Road

Cambusnethan

Lanark Scotland

d. 18 Jan 1935 Nelson

James Cusack

11 Feb 1863

Michelstown Cork

d. 15 Aug 1949

Nelson

Sarah Wright

b. 1866 Maketu

d. 9 July 1950

Nelson

m. 4 May1887 Maketu

Margaret Luther

b.1832 Michelstown

James Cusack

b. 5 June 1842

Gamekeeper

m. 21 Feb 1860

Michelstown Co Cork

Catherine [nee Griffin]

b. 7 Sept 1857

d. 20 Sept 1932

Rama Rama NZ

Johanna

b. 6 March 1861 Ellen

b. 8 Oct 1864

Margaret

b. 20 Feb 1871

Mary [Russell or Howard]?

b. 9 Jan 1873

m. 12 Nov 1896

Michelstown

Ellen, 18 June 1897

Thomas 6 Nov 1898

Honora

b. 7 June 1874

NZ

24 Feb 1885

SS Doric

James Cleveland Holmes

James Augustus

b.7 Aug 1889

Ebor St Wellington

mViolet May 1935

Sgt William Joseph

b.15 Aug 1896

d. 3 Dec 1979

Margaret [Irline]

b. June 1909Frances Bridget

b. 1891[nee Cox]

Belgrove Nelson

n.c

Mary Catherine

b 21 June 1898

Mangakino

[Tunicliffe]

Josephine Houston

m. 7 Jan 1948

n.c.

Walter Leslie

b.1900

d. 5 Aug 1987

Beatrice Elsie

[Ricketts]

b.15 Oct 1905

d. 22 Aug 1989

n.c.

Beatrice

b. Dec 1901

d. 15 Sep 1904

Thomas John Wright

[b.1837 Enniskillen Ireland?]

b. 11April 1838 Clonfeacle, Co Tyrone?

d. 29 Oct 1917 Rama Rama NZ

Stonemason

Bridget Lawlor

b.1839 Ireland

d. 21 Oct 1917

RamaRama NZ

m. 1862 Co Kerry

Michael Lawlor Mary Condon

Family arr. NZ13 Feb 1865

“Ganges”

Joseph Wright Mary Crauley?

Ellen

b. 4 Feb 1864

Tralee Co Kerry

d. 2.30 pm

2 Feb 1865

Aboard Ganges

Mary

b. 10 Jan 1872

m. James Watson

Te ArohaJoseph

b. 1869

Johanna Cusack

Coolyregan [GriffithsValuation]

By lineage convention?

James

By lineage convention?

Catherine

By lineage convention?

67

TODD FAMILY TREE

Henry [aka Harry] William Todd

b 5 May 1862 North Aylesford, Northfleet, Kent

d 16 July 1952 Westport Coal Agent/Railway Foreman

Arr Wellington NZ 22 Sept 1892 RMS Coptic

d. 19 Jan 1934

Mavis Felicite Dinenage

b. 17 July 1894

d 3 Jan 1949

105 Napier Road

Palm Nth

Elizabeth West

b. 1874-77? Westport

No BDM record

Chr. St Johns Anglican

d. 18 Oct 1930 Westport

m.21 May 1893

Registrars Office Westport

Sophia Dinenage

b. c1822

d. March 1891 Milton [69]

William Bartholomew Todd

b.1812 Staplehurst Kent

d. April1891 Milton Gravesend Kent

6 daughters, 2 sons Westport

Ellen Lysaght

b. 12 July1834

Fermoy Cork Ireland

d 29 June 1887

Westport 53 yrs

Felix West

Baker

b.1834

Northamptonshire

d 13 June 1916 Sydney

2nd Gen.

3rd Gen.

4th Gen

m Sept 1838

North Aylesford Kent

Lydia A

b. c1849

William Thomas

b. c1850

Frederick W

b. c1859

Thomas

b. c1860

Sophia

b. 1866

Valda Valerie Dinenage

b. 29 Oct 1895

d 30 July 1901Nada Muriel Dineage

b. 1 Jan 1897

Mona Ellen Dinenage

b. 6 Feb 1898

d.1974Rita Josephine

b. 23 June 1901

William Felix

b.29 July 1904

d. 20 March 1905Vladimir Valerie

Dinenage

b. 19 Oct 1905 Westport

d. 24 Feb 1994 Tauranga

Hylton Hylas Arthur

b. 24 July 1908

Olivine Ronda

b. 19 April 1913

Melven Allan

b. 27 May 1916

d. 4 May 1986

m.4 Feb 1865 Wairau

Marlborough NZ

Felicete Amable

b. c1792

d. 1875

Kent

Felix William

b. 25 April 1875

WestporT

WWI

Joseph

b. 31August 1872

d. 9 Nov 1872

Westport

John Lysaght

b 1802

d31 Dec 1862

Mallow C. Cork

Ellen

b. 15 May 1870

Westport

m John Graham

1 Jan 1902 n.c

John

b. 29 Jan 1869

Westport

George

Bapt. 24 Jan 1869

m. Patrick Francis Thorpy

d. 1963 Greymouthm.Frederick Hongi

Rewi Stidolph 20 Sept 1919

Mary Crawford

b 1917 Lochore Scotland

d. 17 June 1991

m. 9 June 1938

m. Lola Norris Edmonds

1934

m. James Cleveland Holmes

26 July 1933m. Reginald Arthur

Whitwell Claridge

25 Jan 1927

m. Mike Gilbert

Samuel Dinenage

b c1796 Kent

d Dec 1855

Gravesend Kent

Ann

b 1829William

b 1832

1841 census

b. 6 Nov 1947

Mary Roche

d.1875 Co Cork

m.1833 Co Cork

James West m 1822??

Baker

b1796 Northamptonshire

d 1854/6

Elizabeth

b1801

d1885

Michael b 1838

& John b 1840

68

THE CUSACK GENERATIONS

Margaret Ellen

b. 30 Aug 1888

Maketu

d. 28 Oct 1906

Nelson

m. 22 August

1906 Kohatu

Motupiko

James Kelly Holmes

b. 19 June 1876

12 Branchal Road

Cambusnethan

Lanark Scotland

d. 18 Jan 1935 Nelson

James Cusack

11 Feb 1863

Michelstown Cork

d. 15 Aug 1949

Nelson

Sarah Wright

b. 1866 Maketu

d. 9 July 1950

Nelson

m. 4 May1887 Maketu

James Augustus

b.7 Aug 1889

Ebor St Wellington

m. Violet May Thorne

4 May 1914

Sgt William Joseph

b.15 Aug 1896

d. 3 Dec 1979

m. Mary Irene Chant

Margaret [Irline]

b. June 1909

m. 22 March 1932

Patrick Dennis Roughan

Frances Bridget

b. 1891[nee Cox]

Belgrove Nelson

n.c

Mary Catherine

b 21 June 1898

Mangakino

m. NewtonTunicliffe

19 Oct 1918

Josephine

b.1927

m. 7 Jan 1948

Joe Houston

n.c.

Walter Leslie

b.1900

d. 5 Aug 1987

m. Ida May Swallow

1927 Greymouth

Beatrice Elsie

[Ricketts]

b.15 Oct 1905

d. 22 Aug 1989

n.c.

Beatrice

b. Dec 1901

d. 15 Sep 1904

THREE NZ CUSACK GENERATIONS

Patricia

b.1927

m. ?

Kevin Newton

b. 1921

Violet Winifred

b. 1915 Onewhero

Jean

b.17 April 1916

m. Percy Nils Strand

23 Nov 1940

m.

FIRST GEN

THIRD GEN

James Cleveland

See slide 3

Faye Jeanette

b. 1947

m.

Warren Nils

Shirely Margaret

b. 1936

SECOND GEN

Valerie Josephine

b. 3 Dec 1938

m. Brian Victor McNabb

31 May 1958

Unice May

b. 1929

Valerie Marie

b. 1931

Mark David

b. 20 Nov 1958

Andre Maree

b.18 Dec 1959

m. Trevor Simms

1981

Stephen Carey

b. 8 June 1961

m. Andrea Shea

Shirley Clare

b. 4 Dec 1963

m. Phillip Malthus

m. David Henry

Lisa Valerie

b. 23 Jan 1970

m. Stuart Brown

26 March 1995

James Michael Joseph

b. 5 Nov 1939

m. Sarah May Richards

22 March 1958

69

ARCHIVED PERSONAL DOCUMENTS

VLADIMIR VALERIE TODD: Archived Document History

Born Westport 19 Oct 1905

Certificate of Proficiency, Standard VI, 14 November 1918, aged 13 yrs 1 month.

Record of Intermediate Course, Westport, 1919, 1920. Dated 31 December 1920.

Education Department, Wellington 10 December, 1921

Memorandum, Botany practical submission has been accepted for the requirements of the

Preliminary Certificate I this subject for Class D examination, January 1922, M (r) Vladimir Todd,

Esplanade, Westport.

Pitmans Shorthand Certificate, 15 September, 1921

Reference from W. T. Slee, Land Agent, Broker etc Westport, 28 November 1922, known for 8

yrs, reference for teaching profession Teaching for just 2 yrs before joining Fair drapery in 1924

Reference, J W Fair, Drapery Importers. Westport, 21 January 1930, been employed since April,

1924. Moves to Greymouth and Thorpys Warehouse 1930

Married 26 July 1933

Reference, Thorpy’s Economy Warehouse, Greymouth, employed from April 1, 1930 – March 1

1935

Reference, Mayfair Department Store March 1, 1935 to August 10 1935, Head Saleswoman and

staff Supervisor (12 staff) leaving the district. Holmes move to Palmerston North Gary born

Palmerston North 9 Nov 1936

JAMES CLEVELAND HOLMES: Archived Document History

Employed Millerton mine 1918 (Annotated photo)

Married 26 July 1933

Reference from Sister Mary Bernard, Convent of Mercy, January 1934.

Army Certificate of Discharge, 31.12.1945, served 2 yrs 213 days.

Newman’s Reunion Menu. 1848-1948, Hotel Buller, Westport, October 30, 1948.

Long service (retirement) telegram, 29 June 1967 from Jess Pauling, Nelson.

Newspaper cutting, retirement article, 1967 (Joined Newmans in 1929)