In Search of our Cousin Kate Harris

Unbeknownst to all  of us, it seems we have a long-lost, long-deceased distant cousin - a daughter of William and Mary (born Herd - and variants) Harris. 

                                                      

                                              Mary Harris born Herd 

William Harris 

Photos from Harris/Leathart  family photo album. 

I found Kate Harris when I was looking for burial records at Saint Peter's Anglican Church, Onehunga, Auckland (NZ).  There's a particularly thorough and well researched site called Grave Insights Onehunga which has wonderful information on the church and many of those resting there permanently. 

Saint Peter's Anglican Church, Onehunga, 1860s 

Sir George Grey Special Collections,  

Auckland Libraries, 957-192-1.

Saint Peter's Church mid 1860s - as it would have been in the times of the Harris family. 

I was checking out the details for our Harris founding ancestors William and Mary when I found this in the cemetery records:

Kate Harris, no date of death, buried 24 November 1864, aged 6 years 6 months, daughter of William and Mary Harris. 

 From NZ Births, Deaths and Marriages records (NZBDM), she was born on the 19th July, 1858. If you open the cemetery records link, scroll down to page 22 to find this entry. 

This was a complete surprise to me, as I thought we hade a clear and accurate record of all of  William and Mary's children, both through parish records, NZBDM records and a page of family dates in the Harris family Bible. 

I can confirm that this is our William and Mary Harris of Onehunga. The NZBDM does, indeed, confirm the year of birth, name and parents of Kate.  (The church must have got access to the original NZBDM record for confirmation.)  

Snapshot of the entry in NZBDM.

For further confirmation, I sent for a copy of the original, and was delighted and relieved to see that it included Mary's maiden name (formerly Heard), thereby confirming beyond any doubt that this was our William and Mary - with the inclusion of "Auckland" as place of birth for good measure - although where in Auckland is uncertain. 

From this record, we can conclude that Mary would have been pregnant throughout her voyage to New Zealand. We can only imagine what it must have been like for her! 

Photocopy of original registration of Kate's birth. 

I next tried to find confirmation of Kate's death and order a copy her death certificate. 

And this is where I hit a brick wall.  

There is no record at all of her death in NZBDM. I tried spelling her surname  a variety of ways in case there could have been a transcription error - but no joy. I also searched all deaths in Auckland in November 1864 (on ancestry.com) but again, no luck, although their records are likely to have come straight from NZBDM.  I went to the Auckland Central Library to check through 1864 deaths on microfiche, but nothing.  It is a hand-written list, in alphabetical order, of all the deaths by name and a reference number but no other details. 

The next step is to start to search out distant and, as yet, unknown Harris cousins, especially descendants of the older siblings of Kate, to find out if they know anything of her.  And to look for any other evidence of her life.

In the meantime - let's all add Kate to our family trees and the first Mary Jane if not done so already. 

Photo of Saint Peter's today from an interesting story of  Elizabeth Yates of Onehunga - the British Commonwealth's first "Lady Mayor", who is buried in St Peters Church. (Photo/ Stuff) Mayor in the time of our Harris family  living in Onehunga. 

Timeline of Relevant Dates 
Unconfirmed or estimated times are in italics.

Abbreviations:
OPC - Online Parish Clerks  Cornwall records
NZBDM - New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages
PP - Papers Past
NZER - NZ Electoral Rolls (Ancestry.com)

1847     
- 2nd May, William Harris and Mary Heard married at Warbstow, Cornwall. William employed as a servant. (OPC) 

- Elizabeth Anne Harris born in 1847 according to her obituary (PP) 

-14th October - Elizabeth Anne Harris probably born (from birthday in family Bible) 

- 26th December - Elizabeth Anne Harris baptised at Warbstow. William's occupation is labourer, living at Penwinham (Warbstow)  

1848     
-14th October - Elizabeth Anne Harris born (according to family Bible entry) 

1850     
- March,  probable birth month of the first Mary Jane Harris (from OPC burial details). 

1851     
- 30th March, daughter the first Mary Jane Harris baptised at St Teath. Family living at Delamere and William's occupation given as quarryman. (OPC)

- 12th August, daughter first Mary Jane Harris buried at St Teath, aged 17 months, of Delamere. (OPC)

1852   
- 25th December, son William Henry Harris baptised at St Teath. Family still at Delamere and William still a quarryman. (OPC)

1853   
- 18th September, son William Henry Harris born (according to family Bible entry) 

1855    
- 9th August, daughter second Mary Jane Harris born (Family Bible) 

- 8th September, daughter second Mary Jane Harris baptised at St Teath. Family still at Delamere and William still a quarryman. (OPC) 

1857    
- 29th November, William and Mary Harris, son William Henry and daughter Mary Jane leave Plymouth, England, on the ship Joseph Fletcher. (PP)

1858     
-19th March, William and Mary Harris and family arrive in Auckland, NZ. (PP)

-19th July, daughter Kate Harris born in Auckland (NZBDM) 

At some stage not long after arriving in New Zealand the family settle in Matakana, North Auckland.

1860     
- 23rd December, son James Harris born (Family Bible) 

1861     
- son James Harris birth registered. (NZBDM) 

1862    
- family is living in Matakana (NZER - Northern Division) (1) 

1863     
- 9th July, daughter Grace born (NZBDM, Family Bible) 

1864     
- 24th November, daughter Kate Harris buried, Onehunga (St Peter's Church records) 

1866     
-14th December, son Richard John Harris born (Family Bible) 

1867     
- son Richard John Harris birth registered (NZBDM) 


Some ideas to consider: 

- The family Bible's publication date is 1872, well after all the children were born. Possibly an acquisition once the family had become comfortable enough to invest on one. 

- I'm not sure who wrote the names in the family Bible - that will be another task to check handwriting - but it looks as if they had all been entered at the same time -  as all children had been born by the time the Bible was purchased. 

- The name of daughter the first Mary Jane,  who was born and died in Cornwall, is not entered. This could be a hint to why Kate's name was not entered - perhaps because the Bible was bought well after Kate died. The omission of both deceased daughters' names, and that neither seems to have been remembered in any of our anecdotal family stories,  could be an indication of how William and Mary dealt with their grief. Maybe they just didn't speak of them. It could also be an indication of their deep faith and acceptance of God's will being done. 

-  I'm not sure why William Henry's year of birth is recorded in the Bible as the year following his baptism in St Teath.  We would need to go back to the original copy of the parish records to check that it wasn't a transcription error.  Could this also be the same reason that there is a year's discrepancy in the date of daughter Elizabeth Anne's baptism date (1847) and her birth date as recorded in the family Bible (1843)?  It could be a simple error of memory. The family must have known of the 1847 birth year as it is included in her obituary.  


(1) Information taken from objections to names entered in the 1862 Electoral Roll, Auckland, Northland Division.  William Harris's details are given as: abode - Matakana; nature of supposed qualification - householder; grounds to objection - has no household qualification.  Verification of this being our William Harris comes from Elizabeth Ann (Gillman's) obituary, which notes that the family settled in Matakana not long after arriving in New Zealand, but returned to Auckland during times of Maori unrest. That time has yet to be discovered.