Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert
Richard Turvery married Emma Heath in 1868 in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Emma & Richard immigrated to NZ, onboard the Warwick and arrived in Auckland, NZ , on 2 Feb 1875. Bringing with them their two daughters : Lizzie 5yrs and Kate 3yrs, the couple’s only children.
They settled at Komokoriki, in the Kaipara region. When Albertlanders were looking for land to settle a decade earlier, they reported, 'This block was so overgrown that the explorers struggled to walk through the dense bush and it would require too much work to bring it back to productive farming land.'
Kate was born 1871 in Wigginton, Oxfordshire and grew up in Komokoriki. Despite the isolation the Turverys were at the centre of social life, in 1889 it was reported, 'that for the last sixteen or eighteen months, the settlers of the district have been in the habit of assembling themselves on the Saturday evenings of each week, for the purpose of having some social music and dance, and for this purpose, in the absence of a public hall, have made use of Mr. Turvery's house, which he generously threw open to allcomers.' Then in 1892 Kate’s father Richard died aged 44 in jacking a log in the bush, when by some means it rolled over upon him, and he died from the effects of injuries received.
When Kate was 25 she married William Henry Taylor in 1896. St Columba’s Church Warkworth. William Henry was the son of William, a Scots immigrant with a large family in Mahurangi.
William and Kate had three daughters and one son born at Mahurangi.
- Violet Maude (1898–955)
- William Henry Richard (1900–1938)
- Ida Kathleen (1901–1985)
- Lena Daisy (1904–1977)
- Ruby Rose (1910–1979)
Electoral rolls show both Kate and William Henry at Ahuroa until around 1914. After that Kate shows up in Mangere Bridge, Auckland, and by 1922 with her adult children at the same address – but no husband. Their only son William Henry Richard died in 1938, suddenly, and is buried with a grand headstone at the Mangere Cemetery. Kate died at Cornwall Hospital, in 1950 and is buried with her only son William.
William Henry died in 1956 aged 84 and was cremated at Waikumete Crematorium, Auckland. He is not included on the headstone with his wife. Neither Kate nor William left a will. With a common name, it has not been possible to establish conclusively where William was living after 1914 until his death.
Kate TURVERY is the sister of 379 Lizzie TURVERY
Sources
The Promised Land Herd, Louisa (2004)
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9420, 18 July 1889, Page 6
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8859, 22 April 1892, Page 1
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14231, 30 November 1909, Page 4
Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com)