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 2 daughters : Lizzie 5yrs & 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.'
Lizzie was born 1869 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 Lizzie’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.
In 1899 Lizzie had a daughter Hazel Heath Turvery (1899–1991). And in 1903 she married Harry Woodcock, son of Channel Island immigrant Henry living around the Mahurangi/Rodney area.
They had three daughters:
- Ivy Myrtle (1904–1998)
- Jessie (1907–1995)
- Thelma (1909–2001)
Harry and Lizzie lived at Kaipara Flats. Then in 1909, it was reported that, 'a man named Harry Woodcock, employed in public works at Te Hana, committed suicide by taking hydrochloric acid, on Saturday afternoon. An inquest was held on Sunday, and a verdict of suicide while temporarily insane was returned.' He was 34 years old and is buried in Warkworth Cemetery.
Lizzie continued to live at Kaipara Flats with her small daughters for some years. By 1922 Lizzie was living with Mrs McIntosh in Onehunga, Auckland.
She died in 1928, after a long illness (late of Kaipara Flats) in her 58th year. She is buried at Hillsborough Cemetery.
Lizzie TURVERY is the sister of 379 Kate 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
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19885, 2 March 1928, Page 1
Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com)