Biography contributed by Wendy Napier-Walker
Mary Ann James was born Mary Ann Thomas c 1832 to Samuel Thomas, Tin Miner and his wife Mary Ann Lawry, in Lydford, Devon, England.
Mary Ann Thomas, along with her sister Nancy, brother-in-law Charles William Bateman a Bricklayer, and family migrated to New Zealand; departing Gravesend on 28 September 1876 and arriving Lyttelton on 6 January 1877 on the ship Cardigan Castle. Mary Ann Thomas was Single, aged 40 years and a Cook.
On 29 January 1881 Mary Ann Thomas married John James.
The electoral roll for Waitaki for 1880–81 records John James living in Waimate. From 1911 the electoral roll for Waitaki records John and Mary Ann living in Butchers Lane, Waimate until the time of their respective deaths.
John James died on 16 June 1917, aged 64 years in Waimate and is buried in the Waimate Old cemetery, Methodist section, Plot 000472
Mary Ann James died on 19 July 1924, aged 93 years in Waimate and is buried with her husband John James in the Waimate Old cemetery.
Mary Ann James Will leaves her estate to an adopted son, Alexander James [Alexander Stewart Campbell], various nieces and nephews and John James Buchanan, [her husband’s son with Jane Buchanan of Tauranga]. Also, to two sisters; Patience Potter and Matilda Leaman and the children of her late sister, Elizabeth Dawe, all in England.
A number of Bateman family members also signed the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition – see Sheet 233.
Sources
Ancestry Public Family Trees
Bay of Plenty Times 1 September 1881, page 2 – Tauranga Police Court
NZ DIA Marriage Index 1881/551 Mary Ann Thomas/John James
NZ DIA Death Index 1917/4224 – John James
NZ DIA Death Index 1924/6285 – Mary Ann James
Waimate Daily Advertiser 19 July 1924, page 1
Family Search – NZ Probate Index – Mary Ann James 1924
Waimate District Council online cemetery database