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Hello Kate
I have been on the Ancestry site investigating Frederick's family tree and  get the same result as you. i.e
John > Edward > Robert > Frederick.   I have the dates of baptisms of Edward and Robert at Chatham Kent. I cannot trace back further than John as I don't have any way of dating when he was born. I put some approximate dates in the search engine for a possible DOB but there were quite a few John Govers came up, non of whom were born in Chatham. It is interesting to find out that Robert was a Wesleyan minister, and that you found a family resemblance to Frederick in the photo.
Here is a link to Frederick about the time he retired. You need to scroll down after entering link.
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=WDT19051106.2.10&srpos=57&e=-------10--51----+F+gover--

Howard

Hi, Kate
Here's what I have found out about Frederick Gover (1844-1932 ) and  Ester Ashwin.
According to the Cyclopedia of NZ, Frederick was born in Shipton in 1844, educated in Bath, and came to NZ in the ship Haddon Hall in 1875. He joined the Wellington education board, taught at Taratahi School, and transferred after one year to Fernridge School. He was headmaster there. The article appears to have been published about 1897, so he may have taught there for quite a long time. The cyclopedia says the average attendance was 90, and the headmaster was assisted by one certified and one pupil teacher.
The 1879 Education second annual report of the Minister of Education confirms that Frederick was teaching at Fern Ridge in the East Wairapara

The Haddon Hall left London 13 June 1874 and  arrived at Port Chalmers on 17 Sept 1874. In the ship’s passenger list there are 8 cabin passengers and 36 steerage passengers. The names of the 8 cabin passengers are known, but the 36 steerage passengers are not listed. If Frederick was on that voyage then he would have been in steerage.
The news did filter through to me a couple of years ago that Frederick had been expected to catch another boat that as you say was lost at sea.  A nearby relative has related the story as "Frederick's folks apparently didn't know he was on the Haddon Hall and assumed he had gone down with the Cospatrick.  They only discovered his continued existence some years later when a mail boat brought mail from him to them" We don't know how authentic the story is, but that is what has come through.
Frederick and Esther married in 1882 and had 4 children:  Daisy, Sidney, Robert, Joyce


Esther Ashwin was born in 1864. She had a long life, and I knew her as ‘Granny’ in Auckland from about 1950-53. I have the one small photograph of 4 Gover generations from Esther to myself taken about 1950. Esther was then living with her daughter Aunt Daisy. The photo is not a high quality/definition one of Esther, and in general, but everyone can be recognised. Not sure what the occasion is. My father and grandfather have ties on.

My grandfather had 3 children. My father is John. Robert is my uncle.  My father worked in the Bank in Auckland, so it was interesting to hear that your father had also worked in the bank.

Howard