New Zealand Branches

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Woollett Families in New Zealand.

Researched and Contributed by Frances Hudson

Four unrelated branches of Woolletts were living in New Zealand during the latter part of the nineteenth century. They were :

1) Two sons of Robert Fuller and Mary (nee Jenner) Woollett from Kent.

2) Descendants of Robert Woollett, from Durham, who lived in the Greymouth area.

3) Descendants of Samuel Woollett, a jeweler from Norfolk, who settled in Dunedin.

4) Descendants of William Woollett, from Maidstone, who arrived in New Zealand on the 'Adamant' in 1874 and settled in the Wellington area.

1) Thomas and George Woollett were the sons of Robert Fuller and Mary (nee Jenner) Woollett, and are descendant from Arthur Woollett, born about 1560 in Kent, England.

Thomas and his wife Susannah arrived in Nelson, New Zealand, aboard the 'Michael Angelo' on the 22 January 1875 and settled in the Christchurch area, where their daughter, Annie Gertrude Woollett, was born in 1877. Annie Gertrude Woollett married in 1900 to Charles William Hawley. Thomas died of Pneumonia in Christchurch in 1880. After Thomas' death, Susannah remarried in 1882 to Richard Golding.

George and his wife Ellen, with their family, arrived on the 'William Davie' on the 12th April 1874 and settled in Invercargill.

2) Robert Woollett was from Durham in England, a miner from Murton Colliery, who had first immigrated to Australia and from there came to New Zealand with his family in 1894.They were living at Brunnerton, which is about 6 Km east of Greymouth.
Click here to link to the "Descendants of Robert Woollett" pages.

3) Samuel Woollett was born in the county of Norwich (Norfolk) in England about 1830, the son of William and (Miss Remington) Woollett. Samuel went to America where he married Jane Colis in New York about 1856. Samuel and Jane with two children came to New Zealand about 1861. He appears on the Dunedin Electoral Roll in 1867 and 1871. Samuel and his two sons, Samuel Henry and Frederick William, are on electoral rolls in the Dunedin area in 1887. Samuel Henry's occupation is given as a clerk, and Frederick William as a storekeeper. Frederick later moved to Invercargill where he was a confectioner. Samuel died in Bluff hospital in Southland on 27th September 1909 and Jane died in Dunedin in 1906.

	The known children of Samuel and Jane are:
	Samuel Henry, born about 1858, died in Dunedin about 1925.
	Frederick William, born about 1861, died in Invercargill on 2nd January 1947, married Margaret Burtenshaw (born about 1884 in Invercargill, died in Invercargill on 21 December 1957) in 1910. A daughter, Rita Minnie was born in 1912, but died on 30 December 1912, aged 10 weeks.
	Minnie Jane, born about 1871 in Dunedin, married Richard Henry Lambeth in 1896.

4) William Woollett was born in Maidstone about 1850, the son of John and (Miss Taylor) Woollett. This information has been obtained from William's death certificate, but it is not known when John and Miss Taylor were married. William arrived in New Zealand on the 'Adamant' in August 1874, and settled in the Wellington area. He died in Wellington on the 9th January 1914 and is buried in the Karori Cemetery in Wellington. His occupation at the time of his death was given as an Engineer.

William married :
1) Gertrude Maria Beauchamp in 1879.
2) Elizabeth McGregor Davidson (died in Wellington in 1937) in 1882.

	1) The known children of William and Gertrude are:
	Rose Beatrice Maud, born in Wellington about 1880, married Robert John Boyd in 1906.
	2) The known children of William and Elizabeth are:
	Agnes McAdam, born in Wellington about 1883, married James Robert McIntrye Purdey in 1912.
	William John, born in Wellington about 1885, died in the Hutt area about 1955, married Eva May (died Hutt Valley in 1957) about 1910.
	James, born in Wellington about 1887, died in the Hutt area about 1949.
	Helen Martha, born in Wellington about 1889, married Francis Levison Gower in 1916.
	Norman, born in Wellington about 1891, died in Wellington area about 1966, married Irene Nielsen in 1922.
	Stacey, born in Wellington about 1893, died in Hutt area in 1977.
	Ruth Elizabeth, born in Wellington about 1895, married James Christopher King in 1934.

References:
Disaster at Brunner by Brian Ward
NZ Electoral Rolls
NZ Births, Deaths and Marriage records
National Archives Wellington, shipping records

This page last updated 16th June 2004