Biography contribute by Bernadette Siebert
Agnes Fanny Blythe born 1848 in Dover, Kent, England, the eleventh and youngest child of John Blythe, a papermaker, and Mary Ann nee Phipps. The family lived in River, Dover, Kent but Agnes Fanny married in 1866 at St Peter’s, Preston, Sussex to George Arthur Bowman. George was from a Sussex farming family, son of George and Elizabeth.
George and Agnes Bowman boarded the clipper ship Ida Ziegler, only a few months after they were married, and arrived from London in October 1867. They bought land in Mahurangi and there five children were born:
- Agnes Blyth (1867–1927)
- Frederick Charles (1869–1954)
- Walter (1871–1943)
- Isabella Winnifred (1880–1955)
- Arthur Cecil (1883–1963)
From around 1908 they were farming in the Dome Valley, Warkworth. 'There he laboured farm making and farming, right to the last.' In the early days, flour and air supplies had to be carried by the pioneers on their backs. Pungas felled across the streams were the bridges. In 1913 George died aged 78 and was buried in the Warkworth Anglican Church Cemetery. In his will, he left the 105 acre farm to his eldest son Frederick, the sheep to son Arthur, jewellery to son Walter, the daughters were left the cattle to sell, and Agnes Fanny the insurance money. The estate was worth 1200 pounds.
A year later Agnes Fanny married widowed James Clayden, a retired builder in 1914. He died only four years later, aged 80 and is buried with his first wife in Warkworth in an unmarked grave. Agnes died in 1925 aged 77 in Warkworth. She is buried in the Warkworth Anglican Church Cemetery with her first husband George Bowman.
Fanny is the mother of 378 Agnes Bowman
Sources
PAPERS PAST: Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3199, 17 October 1867, Page 2
PAPERS PAST: Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 2 April 1913, Page 4
Archway probate George
Marriage certificate Bowman – Bligh 30 Nov 1866 St Peter’s Preston (sighted)