Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert.
Mary Jane Hudson was born in 1837 in London, England, to John Spink Hudson and Margaret Holmes.
John was the son of John Hudson, a master mariner of Whitby, and Anne Spink. John was born at Teignmouth, Northumberland, and educated at a London grammar school. In his late teens he converted and became a member of the Southwark Wesleyan Circuit. He married Margaret Holmes in London in 1832, and joined the Wesleyan ministry in 1834, which sent him to the north of Scotland. There he contacted a throat complaint and was forced to retire from the ministry in 1838.
The family, including Mary Jane's five siblings, migrated in 1859 and settled in Dome Valley, near Warworth. Mary Jane's father took up ministry again and built churches in both Warkworth and Dome Valley.
In 1863 Mary Jane married James Bryt Jordan, a proprietor of a Warkworth general store. They had six children: James Byrt in 1867, Mary Margaret in 1870 (died in childhood), Emily Eliza in 1871, Margaret Caroline in 1873, Frederick Hudson in 1875, and Kate Adelaide in 1878.
James died of senile decay at age 81 on 24 July 1918, at his residence Chelworth in Ellerslie. He did not make a will. Mary Jane died at the same location on 10 December 1925, also of senile decay, aged 88 years old. They are buried together in the Purewa Cemetery.
In her will, Mary Jane mentioned that she and James had given daughter Kate Adelaide property in Waiuku, so she wasn’t to further benefit. To Margaret Caroline she left all her household effects, £800 and the house in Ellerslie, and to Emily £400 pounds.
Sources
Early settlers of Komokoriki and Ahuroa
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions