The Meadows Connection (Barker/Drabble side of the family) Part 1.

The following information may seem a bit confusing; however, it could be useful if you are researching the same names. Any further clarification or corrections would be appreciated. 

Our nearest Meadows connection is Sarah Ann Meadows , who married Robert Drabble and came to New Zealand as assisted immigrants with their three children on the Viscount Canning, in January, 1865.  Their daughter Annie Rebecca Drabble married Frank Barker, whose son Walter Henry (Jack) married Dorothy Baucke who are my generation's grandparents. Simple. 

Sarah Ann Meadows  was born some time before mid-1832  in Tickhill, a small town and civil parish in South Yorkshire, near the border of Nottinghamshire.  Her parents were John Meadows and Elizabeth Meadows - born Hill,  who married in Tickhill on 6th March, 1832.  Sarah was baptised on the 24th of June 1832 at Tickhill, York, England. Do the maths! 

Subsequent children born to John and Elizabeth Meadows were:

Susannah baptised September 7th, 1834

Arthur baptised March 6th, 1836

George baptised March 10th, 1838 

Henry baptised April 19, 1840
and possibly 

Edward baptised March 6th, 1842 

William baptised June 15th, 1845

Joseph baptised July 7th, 1846 
and all were baptised at Tickhill. 

There was a significant age difference between  John Meadows and Elizabeth Hill.  Acccording to  details from  the 1841, 1851, and 1861 censuses,  John was born in Stanningfield, Suffolk.  He was baptised on August 2, 1778.  Elizabeth's birth year is estimated at 1811, but her birth place is given as Shropshire in the 1851 census and Newbury, Staffordshire in the 1861 census.  There is no confirmed evidence of her birth or baptism as there are too many  baptisms of the same name and districts to be certain which is her. There are some incorrect details on other family trees found online. 

In the 1841 Census, John and Elizabeth are recorded as living in "Part of House with Laughton", in the parish of Tickhill.  It has "ditto" for the next few pages, so I doubt it's a shared house situation.  Laughton is another village in the vicinity of Tickhill, and Laughton was also the surname of a local family.   John Meadows is recorded as age 60, and his occupation is an agricultural labourer. Elizabeth is listed as age 27.  Neither were born in the county. Children living with John and Elizabeth at the time were  (our ancestress) Sarah, age 9, Arthur, age 5, George, age 3, and Henry age 1.  It appears that Susannah has died by 1841, but  I can find no evidence of a burial. 

John Meadows had been married previously - to Ann Webster  on February 13, 1815, at Rotherham Parish church.  John and Ann had at least 5 children (recorded as Medows) and all baptised at Firbeck in Yorkshire, before Ann died in 1831 (buried February 10, 1831, Firbeck Church records): 

William baptised September 17, 1815

George baptised February 16, 1817

John baptised March 28, 1819

Sarah baptised February 3, 1821 (buried November 11, 1821, aged 10 months - Firbeck Church records)

Joseph Paul baptised January 15, 1823

It could be assumed that John and Ann's children, William (1815), George (1817) and Joseph (1823) may have died in infancy because their names were reassigned to John's second family with Elizabeth Hill:(George, 1838), William (1845), and Joseph (1846). Further research will clarify this, although there is no record of their burials in the Firbeck Church records.  Neither do they appear in any of their father's households from the 1841 census onwards, but by then they could have been old enough to be living independently. 

That makes John Meadows the father of at  13 children with an age range between the youngest and oldest of 31 years. 

Note: There was, confusingly,  a John and Elizabeth Meadow of Tickhill who had the following children: 

Elizabeth baptised Ocitber 31, 1847

Frances baptised March 22, 1852 (probably  the Fanny who appears in their family's 1851 census records) This census  - and a possible 's' or no 's' on the Meadow name are the only evidence to prove these two children did not belong to our John and Elizabeth Meadows. Oh for more imaginative names back in those days!

Speaking Frankly - In search of our ancestor Frank Barker, Part 1

 

Great-grandfather FRANK BARKER has always been a bit elusive, and he's the last of my generation's great grandparents to be located in context of his ancestry.  His youngest child - my grandfather WALTER HENRY BARKER, known as JACK -  was the youngest in the family of at least eight children. Because FRANK seems to have been  - to put it bluntly - not very nice, and because he died in 1918, estranged from the family, we know little about him and even less about his past.

Various family members have researched Frank as much as they can, and cousin Chris has accessed information from the NZ archives about his war records,  but I'm particularly interested in his beginnings in England and his ancestors' stories - and what circumstances contributed to making him the person he was. 

I'm reasonably sure I've found his pre-NZ details, and it would be great to have my findings confirmed by DNA matches. Time will tell. 

So, this is what I've found, and am hoping beyond hope that I've found the right FRANK BARKER.

Starting with his father- called FRANCIS BARKER who was born about 1795 in Yorkshire.  He married MARY (most likely KELK) sometime before 1826 - assuming the birth of the first child came at least 9 months after the marriage . . .  From at least 1826 (and possibly before) FRANCIS and MARY and family lived in the small hamlet of Brookhouse  near a village  called Laughten en le Morthern. 

According to the Laughten en le Morthern parish registers, FRANCIS  and MARY had the following children - all with FRANCIS's occupation given as labourer, and with dates of baptism given (rather than dates of birth): 
JOHN BARKER 14.05.1826 
ANN BARKER  27.07.1828
HANNAH BARKER   28.11.1830
MARY BARKER  28.07. 1833
ELIZABETH BARKER  02.08.1835
JANE BARKER  15.10.1837  (abode given as Brookhouse in this entry) 
JOSEPH BARKER 16.06.1839 (most likely incorrectly transcribed as all other details fit. Abode also given as Brookhouse) 
DAVID BARKER  16.12.1841  (Note: there is a burial record in the same parish for DAVID BARKER , infant of Brookhouse, buried 19.04.1842. 
FRANCIS BARKER  03.04.1843
FRANCIS BARKER 13.10.1844 One of these (or are they both the same child?), I'm sure, is our FRANK BARKER. 

Why are there two entries for FRANCIS BARKER - both with the same parents, same abode and same parish?  
- Did the first Francis die as an infant and was he replaced the following year? 
- Was he re-baptised? Interesting to note that there are 2 other baptisms on the same day as the second Francis.  
- A clerk could have forgotten he had registered once and did it again for the quarter records 
- The baby could have been baptised hurriedly at birth if it was sick and not expected to live, and then officially baptised later on and accepted into the church at a formal ceremony (which could account for the three-in-one-day occurrence).  This theory is supported by the fact that the first baptism on 03.04.1843 took place on a Monday, and the second baptism on 13.10.1844 took place on a Sunday, so would have been part of the regular weekly Sunday service, no doubt. 

What happened to the BARKER children? 
- JOHN BARKER (age 30) (subject to further verification - deduced from records on Ancestry.com) married MARY ANN GREEN (age 29 - from Beeston) at the Parish Church of Leeds, Saint Andrews in the County of York, on December 22, 1856.  JOHN was able to write his name but MARY ANN wasn't.  JOHN's occupation is given as labourer. His father's name is given as FRANCIS whose occupation is also a labourer.  (Note that FRANCIS's name has been transcribed as Francois.) MARY ANN's father, Jonathon, was a miner (collier on her baptism register) and her mother's name was ELIZABETH.  The clue that this is our JOHN BARKER comes from the censuses of 1861 and 1871 where JOHN and MARY ANN are living at Beeston, and their places of birth are given as Laughten and Beeston respectively.  In 1861, JOHN's occupation is given as a railway labourer, and in 1871 is given as an excavator (Leeds Corporation).   Note: JOHN and MARY ANN appear to have had no children.  

JOHN and MARY ANN are both buried at St Mary's Parish Cemetery, Beeston, Leeds. 
John died in 1877 and MARY died in 1885.  Note that MARY ANN remarried after JOHN's death and is buried under the name of MARY ANN HOLDSWORTH - wife of GEORGE HOLDSWORTH. 

Grave of JOHN BARKER and his wife MARY ANN HOLDSWORTH

- HANNAH BARKER married THOMAS GRANT, also from Brookhouse, on 14.12.1847.  She would have been about 17 years old. THOMAS GRANT's occupation was given as a labourer, as was the occupation of his father, also known as THOMAS. HANNAH's father's name is given as FRANCIS BARKER, labourer of Brookhouse.  HANNAH and THOMAS had at least 6 children. THOMAS was a farm labourer and coal miner over the years.  

It looks like MARY BARKER, mother of all the above children, died when FRANCIS was just a young child - or baby, depending on the baptism date you choose. There is a burial entry in the Laughten en le Morthern  parish register for MARY BARKER, age 42, of Brookhouse, buried on 13th of March, 1845. Poor MARY -  she must have married at age 18 or very early 19 - assuming JOHN was her first child and arrived within up to 9 months of her marriage.  As yet, I can't find a marriage record for FRANCIS and MARY - but she was undeniably young, and the rest of her life was spent on the relentlessly regular reproduction  and care of  at least 9 children at two year intervals over the next 18 years.  

In the Laughten en le Morthern parish register there is a marriage entry  for November 3, 1845, for FRANCIS BARKER, a widower, marrying LUCY STEER, daughter of HENRY STEER. FRANCIS must have remarried and LUCY was probably a stepmother to our FRANK who would have been 2 to 4 years old.  Interestingly, FRANCIS gives the name of his father as FRANCIS and his father's occupation as a wheelwright. 

Maps of Yorkshire. These were originally published by Ordnance Survey, Southampton, 1848-1857, so this was in our FRANK's lifetime and gives us a really good idea of what the place was like when he was a young man.  This specific map (Sheet 296) is of Laughten en le Morthern and Brookhouse.  Enlarge and move the map around to get a close look. 

Click on the link to find out more about Brookhouse and Laughten en le Morthern today. 

The earliest reference to Frank being in New Zealand puts him in Otago by 1863.  

In July 1863, Governor George Grey and the colonial government invaded the Waikato.   Four regiments of Waikato Militia were raised to serve in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato districts.   Any men who enlisted -  if not already in the North Island of New Zealand - were to be given free passage to a designated port and were promised land in the settlements that would be established after the war.  FRANK'S place of enrolment was Otago, on September 2nd, 1863,  so he must have taken up this offer to end up in the Waikato later that year. He enlisted in the 2nd Regiment, Waikato Militia, under the command of Theodore Haultain.   Men for this regiment were  sourced mainly from Otago, Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. 

FRANK'S registration number was 892, and his name was given as FRANK BARKER.  He enrolled on 2nd September, 1863 - in Otago.  He gives his place (parish) of birth as Brookhouse,  in York county, and this single piece of information has been the biggest help in finding out where he came from, geographically and ancestrally. FRANK'S trade is given as a miner - although it's not clear whether this was his trade in England or once he had arrived in New Zealand - and his age is 21, which puts his year of birth as 1842 - give or take a year, assuming he was telling the truth about his age!  Interestingly, his height is included - at 5 foot 5 inches, so he was not a particularly big man.  Somewhat aggravatingly, under the "Ship" heading in his military details, is listed "Auckland" which appears to be the name of the ship in which he came to New Zealand. Try googling Auckland in any combination of words to find the arrival of a ship and see how frustrating it can be.   It seems several other men in the same regiment also enlisted in Otago and give their ship as "Auckland", so it looks like a package deal for many of them! 

In March 1864, Māori entrenching parties were building fortifications at Ōrākau. The 2nd Waikato Regiment joined other imperial troops there, and ‘Rewi’s last stand’ at Ōrākau Pa took place between 31 March and 2 April 1864. 

In June 1864, sites were selected for the regiments, and the 2nd Waikato Regiment established the Alexandra East redoubt (often called the East Pirongia redoubt) in the Waikato.  It  was built for 300 men and occupied a flat grassed area on a slight rise overlooking the Waipa River. In addition to the officers’ and soldiers’ huts and tents within the redoubt, there was a large commissariat store and hospital building nearby, and some structures near the river landing between the two redoubts. Kihikihi was also another base of the Waikato 2nd Militia. 

By the end of 1864, the Waikato regiments were withdrawn from  the Te Awamutu front line and were established in frontier settlements, each defended by a redoubt.  Each Waikato military settler received a grant of one town acre and a section of from fifty acres upward, according to rank.

It seems the 2nd Regiment was not well treated at the end of their duty - as complained by a correspondent to the Daily Southern Cross in November 1865.  FRANK  would have been one of the disgruntled militia sharing the same sentiments, I'm sure.  At least seven months after they finished duties, they were still asking  the Government for work (building roads or bridges) or a Crown grant.

By July 1866, the military settlers were petitioning government  for payment and allowances that had not been paid since March the previous year. Many had families to provide for and were enduring great hardship and privation and many ended up abandoning their allotted lands. 

By August 1866, the military settlers' claims had been rejected as not being well founded and the Government declined to comply with their request.   This surely must have had an impact on FRANK, who cannot have had any independent means.   By  1866, at Alexandra,  the 2nd Waikato Regiment settlement consisted of 675 men (excluding officers), 102 women, and 183 children.

By December 1866, FRANK'S entitlement for a Crown grant was confirmed. His name is fourth in the list. 

COMPENSATION., Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2934, 20 December 1866 
This is most likely  to be our Frank (4th in list).

The Militia was disbanded in 1867 and replaced by the Armed Constabulary, and in 1896 the name Alexandra was changed to Pirongia to avoid confusion with the Central Otago town.

FRANK stayed in Alexandra until at least 1873, when he married REBECCA DRABBLE from Ngahinaporiri.  The wedding took place at Te Awamutu and, most interestingly, the marriage notice confirms FRANK's militia registration details giving (Lake) Brookhouse, Yorkshire as his original home.    There is no record of anywhere called Lake Brookhouse. 

Marriage of Frank Barker and Rebecca Drabble
MARRIAGES., New Zealand Herald, Volume X, Issue 3625, 24 June 1873

I will add more to this, and include Part 2 once I  collate the next lot of information. Stay tuned!