Posts by David Haywood
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
Archaic; a widow, from the Old French ‘relicte’ (woman) left behind…
(also a vestigial biological remnant or refugee).I knew the biological meaning and thought it just meant offspring. Duh. Why didn't I look it up?
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to SteveH,
So Thomas Frederick Webb born about 1854, died 1935. Mother was Mary Ann (born about 1820, died 1887), father was Thomas Webb. I’m not sure how Thomas Frederick could be related to Eliza. They’re not siblings and both of their father’s names are Thomas so they are very unlikely to be first cousins.
Thanks for that, SteveH! Very enlightening, and still the mystery thickens...
There is a Mary Ann Webb listed for Caledonian Road in the 1896 electoral roll. So that would fit it with your BDM research (unless Mary Ann the elder got better after her death notice in 1887).
Perhaps we have two unrelated (or tenuously related) Webb families living in Caledonian Road?
Incidentally in the 1896 electoral roll there is both an Eliza Ann Winter listed for Caledonian Road, and an Eliza Ann Webb listed as 19 Montreal Street, storekeeper, residential.
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to David Haywood,
A hypothesis explodes:
My leading hypotheses are:
1. Eliza Ann Winters was from a rich family.
2. Alington was funding the divorce so that he could marry her. As I said upthread, the receipt for the £20 that he paid to Eliza was to the same solicitors that handled the divorce. It also says “in settlement”, which suggests a final payment that closes the account (and which may also imply previous payments from Alington).
Right – Hypothesis 1 is now exploded.
I’ve been poking around the Wises’ directories and Electoral Rolls: these offer some backup to Ngairedith’s research on the Webb family…
1. At various times all the family members on Ngairedith’s list (including Eliza Ann Winter and her supposed mother Susan Webb) are present at Caledonian Road (Left side from North Belt, between Edgeware and Holly) – this is about 800 metres from where the Colemans lived, incidentally.
2. The exception to this is Eliza’s supposed sister who lived in Methven. But the 1893 roll places her supposed mother Susan Webb in Methven. Thus I would connect the dots and say they’re all related.
3. Eliza’s male relative at Caledonian road (perhaps father, brother, uncle, or cousin), Thomas Fredierick Webb is listed as a painter in Wises’; Eliza’s supposed mother is listed as a nurse. Eliza’s supposed brother-in-law in Methven was a tobacconist with 12 children.
Conclusion: no money in the family for big legal cases.
I’m using “supposed” since I found this death notice that relates to the Webbs in Caledonia Road:
August 31 [1887], Mary Ann, relict of the late Thomas Webb, and mother of Mr Thomas F, Webb, Caledonian read, St Albans, aged 67 years. Deeply regretted.
She’s the 67-year-old offspring of the late Thomas Webb and the mother of Mr Thomas F. Webb. I’m still thinking about that.
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Hilary Stace,
I just realised that Bill Alington who Nicky McCreanor mentioned above (hello Nicky), and I know of as a significant modernist architect in Wellington, and as the husband of the late Margaret Alington historian, is actually William Hildebrand Alington b 1929 in the Turnbull records. So, David, you need to ask him about adding the records you have. He should be easy enough to find.
Thanks Hillary -- I'll follow that up...
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I daresay that if you like graveyards (I don't) then you would think Methven's cemetery a particularly beautiful one. It is surrounded by high hedges and separated from the road by a copse of trees -- making it feel very isolated and serene.
Without the assistance of Emma Hart (girl detective) I had to crunch around on the frosty grass looking at every single headstone -- before concluding that the single completely unreadable headstone in the cemetary must be Alington's.
My trusty Leatherman came to the fore in fashioning an lichen-scraping tool from a fallen bough; the image above is the headstone after 10 minutes of elbow grease. The inscription reads:
In Memory
George Hildebrand Alington
who died Nov 30 1905
Aged 53 yearsJust as I am thou wilt receive
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve
Because thy promise I believe
O Lamb of God I comeI don't want to make too much of it, but it seems that Alington's headstone -- in comparison with the surrounding graves -- has a very reserved message. There are no "beloved husband and father, much missed" or anything similar. The messages on his neighbours' headstones (from the same period) are far more effusive.
One can imagine the stonemason talking to Alington's wife: "Well Mrs Alington, we have some lovely Victorian sentimentality available for headstones of a beloved departed [then noticing the wife's facial expression] --- or, on the other hand, if your feelings are more ambiguous, then we have a lovely poem about being pardoned and cleansed from sin."
One could speculate about an unwelcome deathbed confession (or, indeed, some unwelcome revelations during married life). The inscription seems a bit pointed.
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According to expert genealogist Ngairedith, Eliza Ann (nee Webb) Winter had five known siblings, one of whom was:
* 1862 – 1934 Mary Ellen Martin Webb – married James STONE(S) in 1877, had 12 children, buried Methven
Above is Mary Ellen (nee Webb) Stone’s grave. The red circle outlines George Hildebrand Alington’s grave only five metres away in the same cemetery (bet that’s awkward if they ever meet while haunting the graveyard).
Given that they were in Methven at the same time (Wise’s New Zealand Post Office Directory lists both Alington and Mary’s husband, James, as residents of Methven 1885-1899 – James was the tobacconist and Alington a clerk and librarian) and attended the same church (they were both in the Anglican section of the cemetery) then you can guarantee that Alington and Eliza Ann Winter’s sister would have met at church nearly every week for many years.
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All Saints (Anglican) Church in Mathven at the intersection of Alington and Chapman Streets.
I'd bet $100 that this is where Alington, Rev Holland, and Captain Coleman met and signed the adoption letter.
Mind you, it might not have had an office in those days. In which case I bet that the adoption letter was signed in Holland's study in the vicarage.
I'm not sure that the TAB accepts bets that are caged to this degree.
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Lynley Chapman,
Another puzzle in my head is how did Eliza Ann/e fund a divorce and lawyers for court cases when destitute. Did she have a benefactor? Perhaps the good Captain?
Mine too (particularly as she described herself as "destitute" in the divorce papers).
Also note that she had to travel to Wellington for her application to be heard. And, boy, you should have seen the stack of legal papers relating to the divorce -- in my experience (in today's money) that would be a hundred grands worth, easy.
My leading hypotheses are:
1. Eliza Ann Winters was from a rich family.
2. Alington was funding the divorce so that he could marry her. As I said upthread, the receipt for the £20 that he paid to Eliza was to the same solicitors that handled the divorce. It also says "in settlement", which suggests a final payment that closes the account (and which may also imply previous payments from Alington).
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SteveH, John Farrell, and Lynley Chapman,
Thank you so much for your very helpful comments. I can see that genealogy is something of an art -- in addition to the information science of the basic fact-finding!
The details-obsessed scientist in me would like to see every 'fact' (dates, etc.) on a given family tree hyperlinked back to the raw data (birth certificates, etc) -- but as you all point out, in genealogy even the raw data may be unreliable.
I shall poke around the databases (and perhaps Alington's church in Methven) a bit more before I spend actual cash money, I think.
Thank you all for your advice/wisdom on this matter!
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Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Nicky McCreanor,
Hello, I don’t have any immediate answers for you, but Frederick McCreanor was related to my late father (I think a second cousin), and my father was also a friend of Bill Alington (who lives in Wellington). I do have contacts with McCreanor family in Chch who are researching family history.
Hi Nicky,
Many thanks for posting to this thread! It'd be great if you could pass on the information in this blog to your McCreanor family in CHCH and/or Bill Alington.
Apart from anything else, I'd like to be able to hand these documents over to an appropriate person in one of the familes -- or, at least, to seek approval for adding these documents to the Alington collection in the National Library.
With many thanks,
David Haywood
