History of Anna Maria Goldsworthy’s Family
History of Anna Maria Goldsworthy’s Family
On December 25th 1862, James, the eldest son, was married to Anna Maria Goldsworthy by the Rev. Robert McKinney.
She was the third daughter of John and Elizabeth Goldsworthy of Mullet Point, Auckland, New Zealand. There were no children for thirteen years, then after they had both been in bed with measles for a fortnight they had four children in five and a half years.
Issue of this marriage: Robert James Strange Meiklejohn 1876, Ernest Wilfred Meiklejohn 1877, Bernice Mabel Richards Meiklejohn (married William Buckley) 1879, Percy Vivian Garfield Meiklejohn. Anna Goldsworthy was born at Parnell, Auckland in 1841.
Anna Maria Goldworth
Her parents had arrived in the ship “Bolton” 540 tons which arrived in Wellington on April 18th, 1840.
They came to Auckland in a small schooner four months before the birth of Anna and her father helped to build the first Government House. Her earliest recollections were of the wonderful beaches of the Great Barrier where her father was working in a copper mine.
Early one morning, the settlers there were surprised by several war canoes whose warriors made themselves a comfortable camp, taking whatever they fancied from the settlers. One of them held a tomahawk to the head of Elizabeth Goldsworthy, while his companion took the thatched roof from off her house.
Another came to the clothesline and proceeded to take the clothes off, but this was too much for Anna’s mother who rushed out and pulled a man’s shirt from the native’s hand. They all thought she would be killed but he only made off with what he had and did her no harm.
There were friendly Maoris at the other end of the Island and Anna became very friendly with them, learning their language and one day getting into great trouble for taking her small brother and going to spend the day with them.
Later when she was living in Auckland again, she and a cousin woke up early in the morning hearing the most terrifying sounds. They heard afterwards that it was the first steamship to visit New Zealand.
During this period, her eldest sister was married and Alma had the thrill of being a bridesmaid. It was a very elegant wedding. The bride wore orange and blue shot silk, white satin bonnet with a feather in the side and a beautiful white silk shawl with coloured flowers and a deep fringe. The two bridesmaids wore tucked book muslin, capes to match trimmed with white watered ribbon, white stockings and low patent leather shoes laced across the ankle with black ribbons. The men wore white waistcoats, morning coats and bell toppers (presumably trousers as well!!!). They walked in couples from Parnell to Hobson Street to the old St. Matthews Church where they were married.
Anna Had to Look After the Family
Soon after this Anna’s mother died and the family moved to a farm at Mullet Point. Her second sister, Mary Ann, who was engaged to be married to James Gribble, left home soon after this and Anna was left to keep house for her father and six brothers, the youngest only four years old. Hardships were many. Corn had to be ground by hand and so did all the sewing including the men’s suits. A formidable task for a fifteen year old girl. Anna stayed with the family until they were all well grown and until she met her fate at a Presbyterian soiree in the person of James Meiklejohn.
He determined then and there he was going to marry her but how to get to know her was the first problem. He found another young bachelor who knew the family and they walked eighteen miles to pay the first visit. He pretended that he was looking for ships timber and made such a good impression on the father that he was invited to come again, which he did, rewarding John Goldsworthy by carrying off his daughter. At this time John and Cordelia were living at Hillside, Big Omaha, and James and Anna built themselves a two storied house of the Canadian type and called it “Roseville”.
Life at Big Omaha
At Big Omaha Anna saw a good deal of the Maoris. There was a pah a few miles along the coast and being able to talk the language, Annie was in great demand as an interpreter. A year or so after this marriage, the families at Big Omaha had a frightening experience.
Here is an account of it taken from “The Gael Fares Forth” by Neil McKenzie.
“The Omaha settlers had a special adventure of their own with the Maoris. This incident is described in Rev. J. Butlers ‘Forty Year in N.Z.’
In the course of the Waikato Wars many prisoners were taken. Sir George Grey proposed to send the prisoners to the Island of Kawau, his own private property about thirty miles from Auckland. They had been there just six weeks when news was brought to Auckland that they had made their escape and gone, no one knew whither. Left without a guard, they utilised an old canoe, paddled themselves across to the mainland and planted themselves on the top of a circular hill at Omaha “Mount Tamahunga” in the midst of a district of small farmers.
By some means they obtained a supply of arms and food. The neighbouring natives must have given them these. The Governor tried to coax them back and sent several officers to them, but they were not to be taken. To use force would have been to risk a war in the North and expose the settlers to danger.
At last the Governor said they could return to the Waikato but they refused to move until they had eaten their Christmas dinner. In the end they broke up their party and went each unto his own company. This incursion struck terror into the hearts of the settlers who had no means of knowing the intentions of the Maoris.
Mrs. John Meiklejohn was alone with her three little children in a cottage fronting the Big Omaha harbour when about fifty Maoris landed. Imagine the state of alarm when these warriors walked up to her house, and the relief when they only asked for a drink of water and then went away.”
When the Maoris arrived at Big Omaha, James junior and Anna were puzzled to see figures moving along the skyline of the surrounding hills and felt very uneasy. Next morning war cries rang through the valley and the rebels trouped passed only a few chains from their house.
James Strange Meiklejohn resolved to sell his life dearly. He armed the family with guns he had brought from P.E. I. – a fine single barreled fowling piece, a double barreled shotgun, an old cavalry carbine and sabre to go with it, his own revolver and a pair of neat pocket pistols. He secured a quantity of blasting powder and began a tunnel under “Unionville” the idea being that if attacked and outnumbered one of the sons would blow up the house as the rest of the family escaped by the tunnel. The tunnel was never finished but its trap door and yawning black mouth were of fearful delight to young grandchildren on their visits to the home.
Soon the rebels began to come around asking for food. They had plenty of money and brought handfuls of gold to the settlers wanting to buy flour. Food supplies for months ahead were always kept at the shipyard and all that could be spared was sold to the Maoris who were starving. They even sold fowl food and seed potatoes and sent to the flour mill at Warkworth for supplies of food. Cattle and sheep began to disappear and gardens were robbed but the friendly local Maoris helped the settlers all they could and when told of the robberies, the rebel chief made a round of inspection valuing the damage and paying for what his men had eaten.
In time the settlers began to get friendly with the rebels. On one occasion John and a botanist friend, Professor Kirk, visited the pah on top of the mountain. They got past the sentries but when they arrived at the pah itself there was great excitement. Everyone was talking. The Maoris did not like the intrusion of a stranger, taking him for an army officer, and things began to look ugly. The visitors scrambled on to a large stump not knowing when a tomahawk might be used, but the wife of the local chief came to the rescue and with a wave of her hand and one word obtained silence, and led the visitors into a whare and explained who they were and their business to the rebel chief.
Continuing Friends with the Maoris
On another Jim and John with Anna and Delia paid a visit to the pah one Sunday, taking their lunch with them. They were challenged at the gate by a sentry but when Anna explained in Maori who they were and that they had only come to pay a friend1y visit, they were admitted. They were received with great ceremony the chief shaking hands with them and giving a lengthy speech of welcome.
Next the women, with about a dozen children, brought mats for them to sit on, and boiled hot water for them to make tea. When they had refreshed themselves they were invited to attend church. The Maoris rang a bell which James recognised as one that had been on one of his father’s bullocks which had mysteriously disappeared a few weeks earlier.
They began their service by praying for everyone including their enemies and then sang a hymn. Knowing the language, Anna could follow the service perfectly. Immediately after the Maoris left Tamahu, their whares were burnt and Jim was held responsible. The Maoris danced a haka around his house and demanded “utu” but finally left, taking with them a chest of clothes which Jim and Annie had hidden by the creek for safety.
However these were all eventually returned except for one dress which one old woman refused to part with. It was this incident which precipitated the launching of the “Rapid” at night.
The following was appeared in a 1929 newspaper clipping –
‘Mrs Anna Meiklejohn
The death occurred of Mrs Anna Maria Meiklejohn, aged 88, at the residence of her daughter, Mrs W Buckley, Old Lake Road, Devonport, on Saturday. Up to the time of her death Mrs Meiklejohn enjoyed good health and took a great interest in current affairs.
Born in Parnell in 1841, Mrs Meiklejohn was a daughter of Mr John Goldsworthy, who arrived in New Zealand in 1840, and who assisted in building the first Government House in Auckland. During her childhood Mrs Meiklejohn lived at Kawau and Great Barrier Islands, where her father was interested in copper mines. The mining camp at Great Barrier was raided by rebel Maoris, and the miners with their families were forced to seek shelter in the mine workings.
Mrs Meiklejohn was married in 1862. Her husband, Mr James Meiklejohn, had arrived in New Zealand from Prince Edward Island a little while previously in a schooner built by his father and his brothers. Mr and Mrs Meiklejohn lived at Big Omaha with the exception of three years spent on the Thames goldfields. Mr Meiklejohn died 30 years ago, and Mrs Meiklejohn has since been residing in Auckland.
Mrs Meiklejohn, who could speak Maori fluently, was fond of relating her experiences with the natives in the early days, and often told of the rebels who were confined to Kawau Island and escaped to the mainland. They went from the bush on Tamahu Hill, close to her husband’s farm, and would often make a raid and carry off livestock. Mrs Meiklejohn is survived by three sons, one daughter, 12 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.’
Extract from December 2008 Newsletter
The Goldsworthys
James and Elizabeth Goldsworthy came to NZ from a mining village in Cornwall. Their daughter, Anna Maria, was to marry James M and their granddaughter, Clara, was to marry John and Cordelia’s son, William. On their journey to Auckland from Wellington they were to meet John and Ester McGechie whose daughter, Jane, was to marry Septimus M.
The Goldsworthys had arrived in Wellington on 21 April 1840 in the last of the seven New Zealand company ships. After a year in Wellington they moved to Auckland where James helped in the construction of Government House. The family then lived on Great Barrier Island where James was involved in copper mining. After Elizabeth’s death the family settled at Mullet Point close to what is now called ‘Goldsworthys Bay’.
Mullet Point Settlers
(Reproduced from an article in Mahurangi Matters 5 November 2010)
By Christine McClean, a descendant of the Goldsworthy family after whom the bay is named on the eastern side of the Mahurangi East Peninsula
Such was the isolation of Mahurangi East in the 1850s, the Goldsworthy boys would row to Auckland when they wished to go there. The skills they acquired stood them in good stead when they later entered races on the Waitemata Harbour, at the Thames, and even in a Thames representative race in Wellington.
The Goldsworthy family, Elizabeth, John and three of their nine children arrived in Wellington on the 21 April 1840 aboard the ‘Bolton’. They were from Cornwall and part of the New Zealand Company scheme. A year later they shifted to Auckland when Gov. Hobson called for tradesmen to work on Government House. John took work as a miner at both Kawau and Great Barrier Island, and the family grew to six sons and three daughters. In 1855, John purchased the farm at Mullet Point. His wife died the same year and his daughter Anna Maria took over the household, eventually marrying James Garfield Meiklejohn, of Big Omaha.
John Goldsworthy acquired the Elizabeth Ann, a 15 tonne vessel in May 1859 and began trading between Auckland and the ports of Matakana, Mangawhai, Waiheke and Thames and as far north as Maugonui. The freight for his first voyage from Matakana to Auckland was 27 tons of firewood, 200lbs of onions, six dozen eggs and 4.5 bushels of maize. On the return journey, they carried one bushel of grass seed, two bushels of wheat, one bag of sugar and five pounds of tea. John operated the boat until his death in 1865.
The boys spent their childhood in mining communities and William began prospecting on the Coromandel in 1862. As soon as the gold field was opened in 1867 at Thames, the boys took up mining licenses. Four of the brothers spent the rest of their lives working there, as mine owners, managers and in mining related industry. Richard stayed at home and farmed the Bay until his death in 1939. The land was later sold to the Scandretts, his neighbours.
The original house, built by the beach was demolished in the 1950s and today there are just a few small baches in the Bay still surrounded by farm land.
GOLDSWORTHY FAMILY – First two generations and Clara’s siblings
Ian Wilson, a Goldsworthy descendant, has researched some of the Goldsworthy’s family history and this is recorded on the Geocities website along with Goldsworthy family and other period photos – http://www.geocities.com/ian_w_nz/002_g.htm
To assist reading the photos the following is a list of Anna Maria’s parents and siblings together with a listing showing Clara’s parents and siblings.
A) John (b.1810 d.1865) & Elizabeth (Richards) (b. 1815 d.1855) (m.1833) – arrived NZ in April 1840 – John remarried to Jane James in 1855
B) Their children – in no particular order
Anna Maria – married James Meiklejohn
John Junior (m. Marion Garrick)
William
James
Henry (m. Bessie Rowe)
Thomas
Richard (m. Elizabeth Willets) – parents of Clara
Mary Ann (m. James Gribble)
Elizabeth (m. William Dunne)
C) Children of Richard & Elizabeth
Elizabeth Mary
Clara Anne – who married W D Meiklejohn
Richard Henry
Laura
Hilda
Louisa
Charles (m. Flora Southgate)
William John (m. Hessa Maria Scandrett)
Another sister
Letter written by Mabel Buckley (m.Wilson) of Adelaide – granddaughter of Sarah Annie Dunne (m. Buckley).
Letter written in 1949
In 1839 by the ship ‘Bolton’ there arrived in NZ John and Elizabeth Goldsworthy from Cornwall where the husband had been a copper miner. He was born at St Blazey (it is thought) and was of the Methodist (Wesleyan) religion. His wife’s maiden name was Williams and her father was a landowner. They had 6 sons and 3 daughters. One of these last was Elizabeth who was our direct ancestress. She was born either on the ship coming to NZ or soon afterwards – I understand.
She married a man named William Dunne (of whose family I shall tell you later). They had two daughters Lucy Elizabeth (later Gribble) and Sarah Annie (later Buckley). Elizabeth Dunne died at the age of approx, 25 from TB – I understand.
She had brothers John, James, Tom, Richard – sisters Annie Maria (m. James Meiklejohn) and another called ‘Aunt Gribble”. The former was Aunty Mab’s (Mabel Bernice Meiklejohn) mother and she told me some years ago that the family on first coming to NZ lived (I think) in raupo huts on Great Barrier Island (I think).
Maoris were still on the warpath and she remembered then running about with tomahawks in their hands frightening everyone. Great-aunt Annie was also the mother of Garf Meiklejohn (Percy Vivian Garfield M – son of James and Anna Maria) who is staying with Aunt Ivy.
John Goldsworthy was asked to come out to NZ by the Government as an expert on mining – the industry then flourishing in the young colony. He became a mine manager. Elizabeth and William Dunne were married in approx. 1854 at St Matthew’s Church, Auckland. The name Goldsworthy is very well known in Cornwall, Kent and Derbyshire.
There a few other spellings of the name such as: Golesworthy, Golsworthy, Galsworthy and Goldworthy – all of the same family as records show. The Devonshire branch goes back to 1500. Two small villages of Galsworthy and Goldworthy are in Devonshire. John Galsworthy, a distinguished author, is a relative.
A Mr Goldsworthy Adams whose mother was of some branch of the family has made a great deal of research on the matter. ( I think this the gentleman whom Granddad Buckley met in the USA in 1920). The landlady of our house in Wellington was a Cornishwoman and knew Goldsworthys back there who were jewellers and friends of hers. Many of the name live in this state – South Australia.
I am indebted to Clara Goldsworthy (m. W D Meiklejohn) who was my Grandma Buckley’s cousin and a daughter of the son John. She taught at our school – Richmond Road – when I was a child – her nephew Bob Cahill was in my class.
I well remember the Goldsworthy sons in my childhood. They all had long white beards and we thought they were ‘Father Xmases’. Fine old men and kind to children. Great-Great Aunt Annie was then their own surviving sister – the youngest of the family I think. Her daughter Mabel married her mother’s niece’s son Uncle Will brother of Granddad Buckley (my father but your Granddad). Sarah Annie, the daughter of Elizabeth Goldsworthy and William Dunne (the latter I remember well) is your Great- Grandmother. She married Herbert Buckley (of whose family I shall tell you later) at the age of 17. He was a bit older. He would have been 97 last January 27th 1949 and she was born on January 29th (not sure of year). They had 5 sons and 2 daughters.
William, Herbert (drowned at about 2 years), Augustus, Hubert, Clive, Arthur, Ivy. The last time I saw Grandma Buckley (Sarah Annie) in January 1940 before I came to live here she talked ‘Cornish’ for me. She remembered the Cornish dialect of her ancestors from her youth though she was born in NZ at Matakana (I think) and could swim quiet well as late as 70 years old (I saw her at Takapuna and her sister too) having learnt as a girl in the NZ rivers.
(The above letters have been forwarded by Christine McClean – a Goldsworthy descendant.)
GOLDSWORTHY and some mining history
James Meiklejohn spent some considerable time mining at the Waihi goldfields. His brothers-in-law William and Henry Goldsworthy’s employment the mining is set out below. The content is from the Cyclopedia of New Zealand – Auckland Provincial District – Karangahake. His nephew, Bill Meiklejohn, also spent time in the Waihi mines.
Mr. William Goldsworthy. Mine Manager to the New Zealand Talisman Gold Mining Company, Ltd., Karangahake, Ohinemuri district, was born at the Great Barrier, New Zealand, in 1844, his father having come to New Zealand under the auspices of the New Zealand Company in 1840.
Mr. Goldsworthy was brought up as a miner in the copper mines at the Barrier and Kawau, and in 1862 started prospecting at Coromandel, continuing until the Maori War broke out. The Thames having been proclaimed a goldfield, he then directed his steps thitherwards, and, with his brother, met with considerable success at the Eureka and Nonparell Mines. He has been manager of the following principal mines:—“Homeward Bound,” “Una,” and “Dauntless,” at the Thames, and “Plutus,” Coromandel.
When the Ohinemuri district was declared a goldfield, Mr. Goldsworthy was appointed manager to the Welcome Mine, Waitekauri, and from this mine he brought the first gold return of the Upper Thames district, viz., 100 ounces from sixty tons of ore, the treatment being the wet crushing process. He has also been in all the mining centres of the Peninsula, his wide and varied experience and excellent character always winning a good position for him wherever he has been.
After spending about fifteen months at the Welcome Mine, he decided to retire from mining pursuits, and so settled upon his estate at Mauku, in the Waikato district. While there he took an active part in local affairs, expending his energy in looking after the interests of all concerned.
During the flax boom, Mr. Goldsworthy invested in a mill, and for two years went extensively into this branch of trade, but without any great success. The mining spirit being still strong within him, he could not content himself with a quiet, retired life, and therefore decided to again enter the fields and seek for the precious metal. Previously to doing so, however, he visited Australia, going through the principal mines in that part of the globe.
On his return he accepted his present appointment. Mr. Goldsworthy, who resides near the mine, is married and has three children. He is a Freemason, his mother lodge being the Sir Walter Scott.
Mr. Henry Goldsworthy, Mine Manager of the Talisman Consolidated Mine, was born in Parrnell, in 1851, and was educated in Auckland. He has had a mining experience of over thirty years, having been present at the first opening of the Thames goldfield.
About 1880 he was underground manager at the Queen of May mine, Thames, and was afterwards mine manager of the Hit-or-Miss mine at Waiorongomai. He held other important and responsible positions between that time and the date of his present appointment. Mr. Goldsworthy was married in March, 1875, to a daughter of Mr. A. Rowe, of Adelaide, and has four sons and five daughters.
