John Baldwin Theobald

[kazzablues1]

Hello Suznor, I've only just found this message. John Baldwin Theobald was my ggg grandfather.
I have been spending a fair bit of time trying to find why he went to NZ.
Some of the other links and messages were to do with me. The one from Adele who mentioned the burial ground at Castlepoint, was from her helping me.
Like you, I had found the newspaper death notice of John dying in 1869.  I havent had any luck finding a death certificate, or an immigration record.
But I do believe the J Theobald on the sign at the cemetery gate at Castlepoint is our John Theobald.
The death date that is on many trees is incorrect, of course it is taken because William mentioned it in his biography, but we all know how incorrect family stories are!
John's nephew Edward John Barnett, the son of his sister Ann Theobald and Isaac Barnett, also moved to NZ and married and died there. The thing is, I had found an immigration record about 1873 for Edward which was after John had died, but most interesting is that around 1880 Edward was a store manager at Castlepoint.  Which is a decade after John died. Which makes me wonder whether there was any family left behind there........

The last record of John in England was in the 1861 census:
1861 10 Ebenezer Bldgs Shoreditch
John Theobald, head, mar, 51, Ironmoulder, Isle of Wight
Ann Theobald, wife, mar, 49, Essex Stratford
William Theobald, son, 16, laborer, Shoreditch
George Theobald, son, 9, scholar, Shoreditch
Charles Theobald, son, 7, scholar, Shoreditch

I havent bought the death certificate of Ann so dont know if the one in Shoreditch in 1869 was the correct one.
I have ordered a book called 'Castlepoint' from NZ in the hope of finding some history about the place.
Cheers

[kazzablues1]

Oh, also, re last reply, there seems to be no record of John in an electoral roll, but he may not have been in NZ very long before he died. I enquired of a local genealogist who is from Masterton NZ, not far from Castlepoint, and she says there was mainly just a large sheep farm in the area, back in that era,  so he may have been working there. It was called Castlepoint station.

[kazzablues1]

And again, after re-reading the posts, re the marriage of John Theobald to a Sarah Potter. This was off the IGI, and I dont believe this to be the same one. I have been through the parish registers of Freshwater, and sure, there is a marriage to a John Theobald to a Sarah Potter , but it only says 'John', not John Baldwin, and gave no indication that it is this particular John. There was nothing to associate him with our line. The name John Theobald was quite common. John Baldwin Theobald married Ann Funnell, in London in 1831 and stated that he was a bachelor. Even if he lied, I havent been able to find a death of this other Sarah who was married to this 'other' John Theobald.  So, there is no verification that it is John Baldwin Theobald who married Sarah Potter (though, he could easily have lied and been a bigamist).
Cheers again

[spades]

Hi kazzablues1, and welcome to RootsChat and the NZ Board,

It's great to see people make a family connection.  

You mentioned Castlepoint Station in your post above. I'm not sure, but I think it's still operating. It's a far drive east from Masterton towards the coast.

If I read the topic correctly no noe has been able to find a death record for John THEOBALD/THEOBOLD. The NZ Society of Genealogists years ago published microfiche of BD & M records and he might appear in those. Otherwise the Masterton Library and The NZ Society of Genealogists would be good places to start.

Spades

[kazzablues1]

Hi Spades!
I've been through microfiche in past years, and looked at the indexes online for a death, but absolutely nothing. Though the lady I mentioned before down at our local history centre used to be a professional genealogist, from NZ, and she said if there was nobody left behind from his family, a death certificate may not have been issued. She also said the NZ records are very incomplete online and on the microfiche. sigh....
I had been in touch with the lady who sent me the photo of the Cemetery plaque and she talked about it with the 'librarian' (I think) from the Masterton FHS, and he just came up with the same Theobald family, the William and Hannah, who,  I totally believe, are no connection whatsoever.
I think John B Theobald was just a fairlynew 'blow in', he had left all his family behind in England - they were all grown anyway, or died - so maybe he was just looking for a new life, bigger money.
The gene lady I speak to said he would have seen ads in England about going to NZ as shearers, etc for the chance of a better life.  It really sounds like thats the story.
No record of a death for John Baldwin Theobald in England either, but somebody put the notice in the paper about his death and knew enough about him, to know that he came from Freshwater!
I am really hoping the book may give some insight into it.
Thanks for replying!

[kazzablues1]

Just got my book on Castle Point in, and it was interesting to note, that the owner of Castle Point station at the time john Baldwin Theobald was there was Thomas Guthrie who was born on the Isle of Wight.
That made me curious, so I did a bit of searching, and found Thomas and Ann Guthrie had their first child Ann (all mentioned in the book), in Freshwater, where John Theobald was born!
Now, Thomas was about 4 or 5 years younger than John, but I'm thinking they may have been friends, and Thomas offered employment to John in Nz in the 1860s.