Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert.
Maggie Bannister was born Margaret Vance Taylor on 16 March 1864 in Glasgow, Scotland, the eldest child of George Taylor and wife Maria nee Whiteside, both originally from Ireland. They arrived in Auckland at the end of 1876 on board the Oxford when Margaret was eleven. George died in 1879 and widowed Maria then married a cook steward, Frenchman Victor La Croix in Totara, Northland in 1881.
In March 1886, at her mother’s residence in Totara, Margaret married William Bannister. William was born in about 1854 in Manchester, Lancashire, England. He had been working in Northland as a millhand, in Koutoti from 1880, and from 1886, in Totara.
Two children were born there:
- Mary May (1888–1975)
- Harold (1889–1973)
Maggie’s mother, Maria, came to live with them in Totara North, probably when her husband was away at sea and after he died in 1900, and William continued working as a millhand. After 1914, the family moved to Manukau Road, Mt Eden, Auckland, with Maria. Daughter Mary was a nurse and lived at Auckland Hospital.
William died in February 1916 aged 61 and was buried in the Totara North cemetery. In his will, made shortly before his death, William made his daughter Mary, a nurse at Auckland Hospital, the executor, gave her the real and personal property and insurance monies, and any household effects and ornaments she wanted, worth 650 pounds. And she was to pay her mother Margaret 2 pounds 2 shillings weekly plus any medical or surgical expenses she may have.
Margaret’s mother Maria died in 1921 ‘(suddenly), at the residence of her daughter… in her 84th year.’ Then Margaret went to live with her son, and died a couple of months later, ‘on January 23 1922, at her son's residence …Mount Eden, Margaret, widow of the late William Bannister; aged 57 years. Interment Totara North. No flowers.’ She was buried with her husband in the Totara North cemetery. ‘He giveth his beloved sleep.’
Sources
- Passenger List ‘Oxford’ 27 Nov 1876
- Intentions to Marry Wangaroa 1886
- Intentions to Marry Auckland 1881
- Archway probate William
- PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17998, 25 January 1922, Page 1
- Historical BDMs
- Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com)