suffrage_petition
Surname: 
Casper
Given names: 
Barbara
Given address: 
Queenstown
Sheet No: 107
Town/Suburb: 
Queenstown
City/Region: 
Otago
Notes: 

Biography contributed by Katherine Blakeley

Barbara Towers was born about 1836 – she emigrated to Otago in 1861 on the Storm Cloud and she married Edward Casper in Dunedin on 4 January 1864.

Edward ran a bond warehouse in Dunedin until the early 1870s when they moved to Skippers Creek near Queenstown and he worked as a miner.

They had seven children, four who died in infancy or early childhood.

The family moved to live in Queenstown in the mid 1870s and, in 1876 Edward and another man drowned while taking part in the St Patrick’s Day boat race leaving Barbara 'in very poor circumstances'.

The local community held an 'Amateur Dramatic Performace' in the Town Hall 'in aid of the widows and orphans' and later that year Barbara applied to the chairman of the school board to be allowed to send three of her children without payment.

In 1889 Barbara advertised in the newspaper that she had 'Comfortable Private Accommodation (furnished Bedroom and Sitting Room) for ladies requiring a Nurse. Mrs C. will be happy also to wait upon Ladies requiring a Nurse at their own Residence'.

She was still living in Queenstown when she signed the suffrage petition but, by 1914, she had moved to Invercargill.

In that year her son Edward was charged with 'assaulting and beating his mother', he pleaded guilty and had 'been for some time in a mental hospital' and had 'lately been suffering from queer turns'.

Barbara died on 15 July 1924 and is buried in the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery.

Sources

BDM online NZ https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/

Family Search https://www.familysearch.org

Otago Nominal Index http://marvin.otago.ac.nz

Papers Past https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

Queenstown Lakes District Council http://cemeteries.qldc.govt.nz/

Presbyterian Research Centre https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/archives/

Invercargill City Council https://icc.govt.nz

Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.

Community contributions

3 comments have been posted about Barbara Casper

What do you know?

Anne Casper

Posted: 17 Jun 2022

There were two Edward Casper’s living in Dunedin in the 1860’s. Barbara’s husband Edward who was born in 1833 was a sawyer in Dunedin before mining at Skippers Creek. Edward and Barbara had seven children, three who died in infancy or early childhood. They were Margaret, Susan and Christina and are buried in the Queenstown Cemetery. Their eldest daughter Jessie married John Mitchell and lived in the historic Mitchell’s Cottage near Alexandra, Central Otago.
Edward and Barbara’s son Edward (Ned) had Schizophrenia and sadly spent much of his life at the Seacliff Asylum near Dunedin.
The other Edward Casper from a Jewish family who ran a bond wharehouse in Dunedin for several years returned with his family to London. Michael Cartwright has commented about this family.

Anne Casper

Posted: 19 May 2022

I am also connected to Edward Casper. I believe that some of this information is incorrect. Could Michael Cartwright please contact me. I am Edward’s great great granddaughter. Thanks Anne

Michael Cartwright

Posted: 10 Apr 2022

I am related to Edward Casper, he was my GreatX3 grandmothers brother born in the same year in London. His father Ellis Casper and oldest brother Lewin were sent to Van Diemans land in 1840, they were sent out for stealing gold dust in the famous 'gold dust robbery' His mother and 10 siblings followed their father and oldest brother to Van Deiman's land in 1842. Edward and his brother George later moved to Dunedin. In Ellis' Will Edward was a 'merchant' and George an importer.