E. Jane Broomfield

Biography and image contributed by Morris van Voornveld, Jane's great-grandson.

Elizabeth Jane Broomfield (known as Jane).

Jane was born in Cornwall, England on 10 May 1863 and came to New Zealand as a young girl with her family on the vessel Wellington which departed England 4 Dec 1874 and arrived at Port Chalmers on 25 Feb 1875. The family name was Coombe but records also have it spelt Coumbe and both versions at times also had an ‘s’ on the end.

Jane, by this time living in Russell’s Flat, Canterbury married Johannes Zanstra on 2 Nov 1881 at the Registrar’s Office in Waddington, Selwyn District, Canterbury. They had two daughters and moved to the West Coast of the South Island. Unfortunately, Johannes was killed in a logging accident on 16 Apr 1883, the details reported in the Grey River Argus 18 Apr 1883.

At not quite twenty years old Jane found herself a widow with two young daughters to support. The locals took up a subscription to provide some financial support for the widow and her children. The subscription list was published in the Inanghua Times 26 Sept 1883.

Jane remarried Thomas Broomfield on 31 May 1884 in Christchurch and settled in Annat, Canterbury. Thomas was a widower with three sons, he arrived into Lyttelton on the vessel Waitangi on 5 Oct 1877. With five children between them they then proceeded to have another eight children. Thomas died on 16 Aug 1913. Afterward, Jane was described as quite strict with the younger children. The two youngest were twelve and eight when their father died.

Two of her sons served during the First World War, both wounded at Gallipoli and were invalided back to New Zealand.

Jane died on 22 Jan 1927 and is buried at Otautau, Southland.

Jane (older woman) with some of her daughters.