The CHUCK Family of Marlborough

From the pages of the James Spencer White Album

Esther Elizabeth Chuck was the mother of Spen White’s wife Ivy Zilpha. In this photo we have Esther’s brother, George William Chuck, his wife Edith Emma neé Westwood and George Pash (unknown so far).

The next two photos in the album were titled ‘Dolly & Rita Chuck, Uncle George’s daughters’.

Cousins Arthur & Fred were brothers of Ivy Zilpha. Here we have a slight anomaly, Dolly is normally a nickname for Dorothy but in this case it seems that Dolly was actually Nita Alexandra!

George William Chuck, son of Joseph Chuck and Bithiah neé Burgess, was born in NZ in 1869, he married Edith Emma Westwood on 6 Oct 1897, theirs was the first marriage in the new church in Shannon, Marlborough. George & Emma’s first child was Rita Cornforth born 9 Jan 1899 so these two photos must have been taken sometime before June 1915. Their next child was Nita Alexandra born 19 Jun 1901, so that certainly fits in with the date written on the back of the first photo of them.

The next photo is nameless but I’d swear that the man on the right is the same person in the first photo named Uncle George, and therefore his wife Emma next to him and I think the other man looks almost to be George’s twin so maybe a brother & his wife?

George was for many years a prominent miller in the Foxton area but about 1918 he moved to Mangonui to resume his old trade of saddlery. He was living in Mangonui, Northland when he died aged 62 on 7 Sep 1930 and is buried in the Old Cemetery there along with his wife Edith Emma who died on 25 Apr 1944 aged 65.

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Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

Five Botham Sisters

From the pages of the James Spencer White Album

I had previously just glanced at this photo and thought I wouldn’t be able to identify them because it was nameless. On having another good look at it today I realised that was Charles Botham in the background not looking at the camera and after comparing the photos I have of four of his daughters I was able to identify at least two of them.

Zella on the left, she was the youngest born in 1906, she looks to be about 12 or thereabouts, the one at the other end of the front row is Vivian, the next two beside Vivian are Florence & Almira but I’m not sure which is which, so that leaves the eldest Alice Clinton (btw I don’t think that’s a hat on her head, it’s some sort of blob on the photo).

As to who the other three men are I have no idea although the young man standing next to Alice could be her future husband Ebenezer Ben Erskine.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

The Charles Botham Family of Tuamarina

From the pages of the James Spencer White Album

With the next lot of photographs we need to go back a few generations to Charles Botham born about 1808 in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Charles was baptised there on the 8 May 1808 in the St Editha Church, his parents were John Botham and Sarah neé Brant who had been married on 23 Jun 1805 at the St Leonard’s Church in Wollaton, Nottinghamshire, seen in this photo:-

Charles’ parents probably had other children but I haven’t researched them, just sticking with his line. Charles seems to have married twice to two women with the same name – Ann Entwistle, the first marriage was on the 3 Aug 1828 in the St Mary's Church in Cheadle, Cheshire, the witnesses were Henry & George Smith. Charles & Ann had four sons before she died in 1837, just a few months after giving birth to fourth son William, who had been baptised on the 12 Jul 1837 in St Mary’s Church in Stockport, baby William’s death is registered in the first quarter of 1838 in Stockport. Their first three sons were:-

John Cartledge 1830-1913; Henry Brant 1932-1908; Charles Entwistle 1835-1907.

After Ann died Charles married the second Ann Entwistle on 24 Sep 1838 in the Manchester Cathedral in Lancashire, he was listed as a widower and she a spinster & a minor, their fathers were: John Botham printer & John Entwistle labourer. Witnesses: Robert & Elizabeth Cambe.

Charles & second wife Ann had one more son whom they also named William, he was baptised on the 6 Jun 1841 in St Mary’s Church, Stockport. Coincidentally that was the same date as the census and their address on both the baptism and census was King St West, Stockport, so we know we have the right family. Sadly this William seems to have died also as I cannot find him in any census after the 1841 when he was aged 3 mths, there is a burial on the 12 Feb 1845 for a 4 year old William Bothams recorded in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Edgeley (Cheadle parish) that might be him.

The two eldest sons, John Cartledge & Henry Brant, both emigrated to New Zealand but Charles Entwistle stayed in Cheshire where he married & died in Bramhall. Strangely he was the father of one of my other orphan photographs I found last year of Sarah Ann Botham, you can read about her here.

Henry Brant Botham was living with his future wife, Mary Ann Entwistle & her parents in the 1861 census in Stockport, he’s listed as a nephew so he & Mary Ann must have been cousins. They were married on the 3 Oct 1861 in St Mary’s Church in Cheadle and in 1863 they emigrated to New Zealand where their seven children were born. I haven’t researched this family much as I was going down brother John’s line but I did find these two photos of Henry & John online in a brochure about the Methodist Church in Tuamarina:-

John Cartledge (or Cartlidge) Botham was born on 21 Jan 1830 & baptised in St Mary’s Church, Stockport on the 30 May 1830. He married Martha Oldham on 21 Mar 1856 in St Mary’s Church, Cheadle and a few years later they emigrated to NZ according to his obituary which you can read here.

John Cartledge & Martha had six children (that I’ve found), the eldest being Elizabeth Ann, the mother of James Spencer White, second child was Charles the subject of the following two photos and the other children were George, Martha, Caroline & Alice Eva.

Charles was not named on either of these photos but I was able to ascertain who he was from the names of the two girls in the second photo who are his daughters, the woman in the first photo I presume is his wife Elizabeth neé Goodall, they were married in New Zealand in 1897.

Here we have four of Charles & Elizabeth’s five daughters, they were:-

Alice Clinton 1898-1920; Florence Eleanor 1900-1971; Martha Almira 1901-1947; Vivian Goodall 1905-1963 and Zella Isherwood 1906-1988.

Charles died & was buried in the Tuamarina Cemetery on the 3 Nov 1942 aged 79 and Elizabeth was buried there also on the 4 May 1920 aged 53.

References: methodist.org.nz; FindMyPast; ancestry.com.au; familysearch.org 

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Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

Fred William Thomas 1894-1917

From the pages of the James Spencer White Album

James Spencer White’s wife, Ivy Zilpha Thomas, had a brother named Fred William Thomas so I’m presuming he is the Fred Thomas in these two photos found in Spen’s album.

Fred was born in Blenheim on the 12 Jun 1894, the son of David Thomas and Esther Elizabeth neé Chuck. Fred joined the NZ Expeditionary Forces in WWI and on the 23 Sep 1916 he embarked for England on the vessel ‘Pakeha’. Sadly he was killed in action at Messines in Belgium on the 24 Mar 1917, he is either buried or his name is on the monument at the St Quentin Cabaret Military Cemetery, Heuvelland, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

I found the following photos & memorial card on the Auckland War Memorial Museum website, he certainly looks to be the same person.

References: AWMM Online Cenotaph

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Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

Are they sisters Caroline Ella & Martha White of Onamalutu?

The next two photos from the James Spencer White Album are not named but I think they could be two of Spen’s sisters, possibly Caroline Ella on the right and one of her older sisters, perhaps Martha who was six years older and never married.

The second photo and the young woman on the right in the other photo look to be the same person, her hair style and large white ribbon makes me think she is the one sitting next to her father in the family group photo from the last post. The woman on the left looks to be the same woman standing behind her mother in the family photo.

However, this is just speculation on my part and as the photo of the two women was taken in Wellington and they both lived in Onamalutu (as far as I know) which is near Blenheim in the Wairau Valley, it may not be them although they could have been visiting Wellington as it was only a boat trip away!

Caroline Ella died in Oct 1914 aged 21 and is buried in the Tuamarina Cemetery along with other members of her family including Martha who died in Sep 1935 aged 47.

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Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

James Spencer White 1891-1971(updated 29-10-16)

According to the inside cover of this small post card album it once belonged to one J S White who turned out to be James Spencer White known as ‘Spen’. Inside are many lovely old photos from before and after the turn of the century, unfortunately there are many with no names but some are named so I will attempt to identify as many as I can. The first photo in the album is obviously a family group and luckily I’ve been able to identify the father as being Charles White MBE of Onamalutu in Marlborough, New Zealand (There’s a photo of Charles White found in a Temperance Newspaper dated 1916 & reprinted in the book ‘Plum Duff & Cake’). Charles was Spen’s father, possibly he is the one sitting next to his mother Elizabeth Ann neé Botham.

I originally thought the photo might have been taken about the same time as the date on the album – August 1914 – but on further investigation I found that Elizabeth Ann had died on 2 Apr 1912 aged 52 so it must have been before that date. The young lady on the extreme right standing at the back looks to be quite young, maybe 13 or thereabouts and their youngest daughter, Elizabeth Alice, was born in 1898. Charles & Elizabeth had at least nine sons and five daughters (that I’ve found), they were:-

George 1878-?; John James 1881-1881; Frank Oldham 1882-1924; Charles Botham 1885-1907; William Botham 1890-1924; James Spencer 1891-1971; Albert Henry 1895-1981; Alfred 1897-1897 & Robert 1900-1900.

Ann 1879-1913; Mary 1883-1941; Martha 1887-1935; Caroline Ella 1893-1914; Elizabeth Alice 1898-1984.

The only person I don’t have a death date for is eldest son George so if he isn’t in the photo then it would have been taken before the death of son Charles Botham in 1907, in that case Elizabeth Alice would have been less than 9 years old and she’s definately older than that!

PS Since posting this photo I’ve been contacted by the grand-daughter of Mary (daughter of Charles & Elizabeth Ann White) who told me that Mary is the one sitting on the extreme right. She also told me that her mother said that the older couple in the middle of the photo were the parents of Elizabeth Ann Botham and the rest were their grandchildren, however, that remains to be seen as the grandmother, Martha Botham neé Oldham, died in 1904 and that would make the youngest in the photo (Elizabeth Alice) only aged 5 or 6, she’s definately older than that!

References: Marlborough Museum; Papers Past; NZBMD Online

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If you can help identify anyone in this photo please leave a comment including a contact email address. More photographs of this and other families from the album to follow.
(With many thanks to Chris Ward & Suzanne for their help).

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Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz