Mrs WRIGHT - First Four Ships to Canterbury

[Artisan99]

Hello RootsChatters,

I was browsing the First Four Ships to Canterbury link via the New Zealand Resources board and noticed with some surprise a photograph of a Mrs Wright, taken in 1900 to celebrate the 50-year anniversary of the ships' voyage to New Zealand.

The Mrs Wright photographed was said to be a passenger on the 'Sir George Seymour' in 1850. However, the relating caption said, "A family member thinks this could be Mrs Charles Wright, who lived at 45 Rose Street. Further information is needed."

The Mrs Charles Wright who lived at that address was born Hannah Elizabeth CHARLES - apparently in London in 1873. Her parents brought her to New Zealand sometime during the next few years, and went on to have several more children. This information has reached me through anecdotal sources, so I am unsure of which boat they travelled on, or when.

But Hannah Elizabeth CHARLES married Charles Alfred WRIGHT - 1899/5360 - and had the following children:
1901/5191 - Myrtle Elizabeth Jane WRIGHT
1902/6842 - Leslie Charles WRIGHT
1904/9218 - Arnold Edwin WRIGHT
1905/13045 - Alfred Gordon WRIGHT
1907/11096 - Ivy Lillian WRIGHT
1910/23494 - Colin Herbert WRIGHT
1912/23927 - Dorothy Eveleen WRIGHT
+ An additional daughter born 27/12/1915 whose name I know but don't want to breach the 100-year rule by mentioning.

Hannah Elizabeth WRIGHT died 1949/31386 at age 76 and lived at 45 Rose Street, according to hearsay, though this address was verified in the 1946 Canterbury Census:
"13650 - WRIGHT, Hannah Elizabeth, 45 Rose Street, Widow".
(Ivy Lillian WRIGHT, Spinster and Leslie Charles WRIGHT, Dairy Farmer, were also residing here.)

So I believe age alone rules out Hannah Elizabeth WRIGHT from being the "Mrs Wright" photographed in 1900 as a 'Sir George Seymour' passenger in 1850.

But the woman pictured bears a familiar countenance, and I am wondering if she may have been Hannah Elizabeth Wright's mother-in-law - the mother of Charles Alfred WRIGHT. His birth code is 1879/13743 and his mother's name is Jane and his father's name is Samuel.

I cannot find any birth records for Jane nor Samuel, though I think 1874/12787 might be their marriage record. I am unsure of where to look first in order to differentiate between family hearsay and official records with people who have such popular names. Is there a way of tracing them without purchasing BDM printouts for the wrong Janes and Samuels?

If the marriage code is for the parents of Charles Alfred Wright after all, then Jane's maiden name is said to be COOPER.

Any suggestions are most appreciated.
Imogen

[spades]

Hi Imogen,

My resource lists a marriage record for a Samuel WRIGHT to a Jane COOPER in 1874.

However, I have checked the 1850 passenger list of the Sir George Seymour for passengers named COOPER without success. The only passenger named WRIGHT was a John T. WRIGHT.

But there was a passenger named Charles WHITE who travelled with his wife.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/fourships.htm

Spades

Spades

[Artisan99]

Hello Spades,

I am afraid I only have hearsay mention of a year of marriage being 1874.

There is confusion within the family, as all of Charles Alfred Wright's siblings' births list "Jane" and "Samuel" as their mother and father, but somewhere along the line, someone has decided/uncovered that Samuel was actually "George Samuel", so I suspect that previous attempts at researching the family history may have been more casual eg. "Oh, that name sounds right, so I'll include it".

I am trying to untangle the mixture of guesswork and truth that has been passed down through the family over the years, and am finding it a bit tricky.
Imogen

[Lucy2]

Hi Imogen

I can see at least three family trees (at ancestry website) for Hannah Elizabeth CHARLES / Charles Alfred WRIGHT.    Charles' parents are shown as Jane COOPER and Samuel WRIGHT.

Jane COOPER was said to have been born 1855 in YORKSHIRE and one tree suggests she appeared in the 1861 census at Yorkshire.  (So the "Sir George Seymour" 1850 arrival is of course too early for her.)

Samuel WRIGHT was said to have been born in Canterbury, New Zealand, in 1853.
It may be then that his parents arrived on one of the early ships ?

I'll look further for you to see if there's additional information.

   ~  Lu 

[Lucy2]

Hi Imogen

From PapersPast website :

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

The death notice for Charles Alfred WRIGHT appears in the following newspaper ... stating he was the son of Mr and Mrs Samuel WRIGHT.

"Press" (Christchurch) - 16 April 1925 - page 1 - Deaths

  ~  Lu

[spades]

Hi Imogen,

In cases like this I recommend starting at the known and working back to the unknown using documentary evidence.

So putting the initial problem aside for a moment, can you tell us who your ancestor is and what you have confirmed about his/her life so far? Birth, residence, marriage, occupation, etc.

Do you have any birth, death or marriage certificates or bequests from a will you can share with us?

Knowing this will help us see the gaps in the knowledge and provide a direction for further research.

Spades

[Lucy2]

Jane WRIGHT, wife of Samuel WRIGHT - Death Notice :

"Press"- 15 January 1926 - page 1 - Deaths

[Artisan99]

Thank you, Spades and Lu.

I am only confident as far back as Charles Alfred WRIGHT, who is my grandfather's father.

Charles Alfred's birth code is 1879/13743.
His marriage code to Hannah Elizabeth CHARLES is 1899/5360.
He died in 1925, after fathering eight children with Hannah, one of whom is my grandfather, Alfred Gordon WRIGHT.

I do not yet have any certificates, but have been told that he lived at 124 Milton Street in Christchurch.

I have only just started looking in to this branch of the family, and am wanting to be cautious against accidentally claiming the wrong Jane and Samuel.

Thanks for your advice.
Imogen

[Artisan99]

Hello again, 

I have read more carefully through the passenger names from the reunion photos in 1900, and see that there are several instances of a "Mrs HUSBAND'S SURNAME - No information available" - so that indicates that Mrs WRIGHT could have been anyone at all in 1850, possibly still a girl, though I'm uncertain of her age bracket in the photo taken 50 years later.

I know it probably sounds rather nutty, wanting to jump back 50 years to the First Four Ships in order to jump forwards again 50 years to get back to the photograph, but when I saw this pictured woman with the same surname as my father's kin, plus a physical resemblance to my grandfather, plus the reader's suggestion that it may have been an ancestor, I was excited enough to write a post about it. Although I knew it couldn't have been the suggested person, my great-grandmother, Hannah Elizabeth, of 45 Rose Street, I still felt curious enough to want to know more. Immediately!

Since yesterday, an elder relative has emailed to say that she had always been told that Hannah's husband  Charles Alfred WRIGHT's family are thought to have come to New Zealand in the early 1850s. There are male Wrights listed on the vessel 'Stag' which travelled a year or two after the First Four Ships, so it's not impossible, and I look forward to finding out their story, one way or another.

So as fascinated as I am by the mysterious Mrs WRIGHT in the reunion photo, I am going to take my time and follow Spades's advice to lay hands on some documentary evidence for Charles's and Hannah's era first before haring madly back to the mid-1850s - tempting as it is!

But if anyone reading this post knows anything about this family which could be helpful, please feel welcome to get in touch.

Imogen