Birth of the

 NEW ZEALAND FAMILY

11-Oct-2008

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David & Elizabeth Trevethans house at Trevance Taken 1994

David and Elizabeth Trevethan


From St. Issey, Cornwall

Little is known about exactly when our family came to New Zealand, but it is known that some of them first emigrated to Australia and then went on to New Zealand.

The family which we are interested in is that of David and Elizabeth Trevethan who lived near Wadebridge in the north east of Cornwall. They were married in the delightful small stone parish Church, in the small town of St. Issey, on the 6th of June 1846. David, who worked as a labourer, was a bachelor while his future wife, Elizabeth Saundry, was a spinster. Elizabeth’s father Peter Saundry was also a labourer in the area. Neither bride or groom was of full age and the wedding ceremony was witnessed by William Hugo and Thomas Stone.

By the following year David was working as a farm labourer and miner and lived in Trevance, a small settlement of just a few houses a little east and within walking distance of St. Issey where he and Elizabeth had been married. There house I photographed in 1995 and is shown above. David and Elizabeth were to become the parents of the family who were finally to emigrate to New Zealand.

The year following their marriage Elizabeth had their first child, a daughter whom they named Jane Saundry Trevethan. She was baptised on the 16th of May 1847 and later at the age of twenty four married a twenty three year old carpenter, William Herd and settled in Cornwall.

A further three years went by until their second child, and first son Thomas, was born on the 28th of May 1850. Elizabeth registered his birth on the 10th of June 1850 signing the register with her mark. This is the first child to be of interest to us as he was later to be the first Trevathan of our family to come to New Zealand and was my great grandfather.

When the 1851 census was taken, David and Elizabeth had moved house and were living at the small hamlet of New Barn which is within easy walking distance of St. Issey. Their family of Jane who was by now three years old and Thomas who was ten months of age. David was working as an agricultural labourer. The following year, 1852, a further daughter, Mary Ann Trevethan was born but she is of little interest to us as she did not come to New Zealand.

Their next child, William, was born on the 22nd of August 1855 and twenty years later in January of 1875, married Martha Hewett, the nineteen year old daughter of a local labourer. William was to have only a short life as he died on the 29th of April 1887 at the young age of 32, and is buried in the St. Breock grave yard along-side his parents.

Emma Trevethan who was later to come to New Zealand was baptized on Christmas Day 1857 at St. Breock, Cornwall. She was to marry at the age of eighteen, a twenty one year old miner, John Docton Parsons at St. Breock before they came to New Zealand.

Then came David junior who was born on the 9th of October 1859 who was also later to emigrate to New Zealand with his wife Jane who he married in the St. Columb Major church in the winter of 1876. They had two children before coming to New Zealand, Alfred who was born a year before the marriage and Elizabeth born in 1877.

By the time of the 1861 census David and Elizabeth had moved their family again this time to Tregunna, which is in the St. Breock parish just a short distance from St. Issey, and lived with their now larger family of Thomas aged 10 a scholar, Mary Ann aged 9 a scholar, William aged 5 a scholar, Emma aged 3 and David aged one. Their daughter Jane, who by now was fourteen years old, was not present, presumably having started work with a live in position. David senior now owned an eighteen acre farm on the banks of the river Camel.

Three years later Maria was born on the 12th of January 1864 at the family Tregunna farm followed the next year by her sister Mary. David and Elizabeth’s last child Edith was born on the 25th of September 1868 and her mother registered her birth with her mark. Maria and Mary were both later also to come to New Zealand.

Another family which we are interested in is that of Charles and Susan Betts who emigrated from England to Australia in 1863 along with their three children Charles William Betts aged four, John aged three and William aged two. Charles senior’s brother Albert was a sea captain and had advised them to emigrate to Australia.

They raised a large family in Australia and their son John later married Maria Trevathan in Australia and emigrated to New Zealand.

Click the links below to view the family trees in PDF format. If you need a PDF reader then click the link to the right to go to the Adobe site for a free download.

 
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This site was last updated 11-Oct-2008