Biographical information provided for the He Tohu exhibition:
This is probably Ann Sanderson, wife of William. They emigrated from Workington, Cumbria, England to New Zealand in 1863 aboard the Tyburnia with their three children. The family first went to Thames to make their fortune from the gold rush. When this didn’t work out, the family moved to Great Barrier Island where William made money by chopping wood. They purchased land and built a home and a stone dairy on the island in 1864. The Sandersons were the first Pākehā settlers at Blind Bay, Okupu, Great Barrier Island. Their youngest child, William Junior, was born on the island in 1866. William Senior died in 1898 and is buried at Sunbeam Bay, Okupu.
See also: Sanderson Family of Great Barrier Island.
Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert
This Mrs Sanderson was born Ann Bacon about 1821 and married William Sanderson in Cumberland, England in 1843. They immigrated to NZ on board ‘Tyburnia’ in 1863. Although seven children had been born to them by then, only two accompanied them, the others having died in infancy; John 1844-1851, William 1846-1848, Sarah 1846-1848, Sarah 1848- , Benjamin 1851-1917, Mary Ann 1855-1858, and Ann 1860-1860. Another daughter Ann was born on the ship and named Annie Tyburnia, and lastly another son William born 1866 in NZ. This last daughter also died young with her own daughter. “In loving memory of Annie Sanderson the beloved wife of John Thomas Flinn, died 25th July, 1893 aged 30 years.; also of their infant daughter Ann Winifred died 28th July 1893 aged two months” They are buried in a lonely grave on small headland at Wairahi Bay, Great Barrier Island.
William and Ann farmed at Okupu, Great Barrier Island. Great Barrier Island/Aotea is a large island in the Waitemata Harbour, Auckland. “William and Ann Sanderson.. at first settled in Thames to take part in the gold mining industry. Unsuccessful in their attempts to capitalise on the gold rush, they eventually travelled to Great Barrier Island, settling at first in Tryphena. They joined the industry of selling firewood to the mainland. Around 1864 they purchased 50 acres in Blind Bay, Okupu to farm both sheep and dairy. They were the first European settlers in the area. They built a stone dairy around the time that they first settled on the farm, the remains of which are still extant.”
On 30 September 1898 William Sanderson died at Okupu aged 76 years, “one of our oldest and most respected settlers”. He was buried in the Sanderson Family Cemetery, a small private graveyard in Claris, Great Barrier Island. His will left all to wife Ann, after her death to son William, and to sons Benjamin and William, all mines, mineral ores and deposits on the land. The two daughters were each to receive three cows and 50 sheep. The value was of the estate was 300 pounds. Ann remained at Okupu and died 17 Aug 1903, aged 82. She was also buried in the Sanderson Family Cemetery.
Mrs Sanderson is the mother-in-law of 380 Mrs Sanderson jnr
Sources:
Historic Context Aotea Great Barrier Island Prepared by Megan Walker & Robert Brassey May 2019
Archives New Zealand (https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ )
Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com)
Papers Past:
NEW ZEALAND HERALD, VOLUME XXX, ISSUE 9415, 12 JULY 1889, PAGE 6
AUCKLAND STAR, VOLUME XXIX, ISSUE 237, 7 OCTOBER 1898, PAGE 4
NEW ZEALAND HERALD, VOLUME XL, ISSUE 12355, 21 AUGUST 1903, PAGE 1