Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert.
Elizabeth Ann Phillips was born in 1857 in Lincolnshire, England, the daughter of Isaac and Ann Phillips.
The family migrated to New Zealand via Australia in 1861 on the Warwick. Isaac and his brothers settled on their own land in an area of the Dome Valley called Phillipsville, later known as Streamlands.
Elizabeth Ann married John Trethowen in 1881 in Warkworth. John was born in Wales in 1847 and immigrated to New Zealand with his parents in 1853, where they settled at Duck Creek, Warkworth.
Elizabeth Ann and John had eight children: Henry John in 1882, Silvia Frances in 1884-1950, Archibald Samuel in 1886, Oliver Isaac in 1889, Violet Maria in 1891, Ivan Percy in 1893, Bertram Spint in 1895, and James Lyle in 1898-1968.
After the children were born in Warkworth, the family began to move around the Coromandel/Waikato area where John was always described as a farmer: 1900 Ohinemuri, 1903 Kopu, 1905 to 1908 Te Aroha, 1911 Te Rapa, 1914 to 1919 Rototuna. They finally retired in Ellerslie, Auckland.
John died in Ellerslie on 23 November 1925, aged 77. His will left all to Elizabeth Ann, with a value of £950. She died at a private hospital eighteen months later, aged 68. They are buried together at Hillsborough Cemetery.
Her will left all her property to her widowed daughter Sylvia Frances Gribble, valued under £1,000.
Sources
Papers Past