Biography contributed by Wendy Napier-Walker
Annie Valk [aka Vaulk] was born Annie Elizabeth Prue in December 1869 in Combe Fields, Warwickshire, England to Samuel Creed Prue and his wife Patience Wilks.
Sometime after the date of the 1871 census, and 1873 the family arrived in New Zealand and went on to settle in Waimate.
In 1882 Gustav Adolph Valk [Augustus Adolphus Vaulk] became a Naturalised Subject at 35 years of age. He was a Carpenter and was born in 1847 in Koenijsberg, Prussia.
In 1892 Annie married Gustav Adolph Valk in Waimate. This was his second marriage. His first wife was Emma Elizabeth Valk (née Piper) who died in 1890.
Annie and Gustav had ten children, including a set of twins.
The 1911 electoral roll for Waitaki records Annie living at Naylor street, Waimate. Gustav is recorded as residing in a Benevolent Institution, Timaru.
Gustav Valk died on 24 July 1914 in Timaru. He is buried in the Timaru cemetery, General Section, Row 89, Plot 307.
From 3 May 1919 to the time of her death on 29 October 1923, Annie was a patient in Sunnyside Hospital. She is buried in the Sydenham cemetery, Block 30C, Plot 57 which is unmarked. She was 53 years of age. A Coroner’s Inquest was held.
Sources
NZ DIA Marriage Index 1892/3878 Annie Prue/Gustav Adolph Valk
NZ DIA Birth Index
The Collections Archives NZ – Sunnyside Hospital Patient File - Annie Valk
Christchurch City Council online cemetery records – Anna Valk
Ancestry – New Zealand Electoral Rolls
NZ BDM Death Index 1914/6240 Augustus Adolphus Vaulk
Timaru District Council online cemetery search – Augustus Adolphus Vaulk
NZ BDM Death Index 1923/11564 – Annie Valk