Biography contributed by Wendy Napier-Walker
Mrs G Simpson was born Ellen West in 1852 East Dean, Chichester District, West Sussex, England to Frederick West and his wife Hannah Harriet West nee Osborne.
At the time of the 1871 census the Frederick West, daughter Ellen and her five siblings were living in Boxgrove, Sussex, England. Frederick’s wife Hannah had died on 10 May 1866 age 33 years.
Frederick West remarried on 30 August 1873 to Sarah Ann Whitwick.
The West family; Frederick, his second wife Sarah Ann, daughter Ellen and four other children from his first marriage came out to New Zealand in the ship Queen of the North arriving in Napier in February 1874.
The family was later to move to Te Kopuru, Kaipara.
In 1882 Ellen West married Gilbert Simpson.
Ellen and Gilbert had six sons and two daughters.
Ellen Simpson signed the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition in Te Kopuru, Kaipara. Te Kopuru was a sawmilling town.
Gilbert Simpson died on 18 December 1910, Te Kopuru and is buried in the Old Mt Wesley cemetery, Dargaville, Block 3, Plot 267.
Ellen Simpson died on 2 December 1926 in Auckland and is buried in the Old Mt Wesley cemetery, Dargaville, Block 3, Plot 266.
Sources
Passenger List ‘Queen of the North’ https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ourstuff/genealogy/QueenoftheNorth.htm
NZ DIA Marriage Index 1882/155 Ellen West/Gilbert Simpson
NZ DIA Death Index 1910/6479 Gilbert Simpson
The Collections Archives NZ Probate Record Gilbert Simpson R22216810
NZ DIA Death Index 1926/9434 Ellen Simpson
Davidson, Mary and Jill – ‘The Davidsons of Te Kopuru’ pg 314