Biography contributed by Wendy Napier-Walker
Mrs J M Day was born Dinah West in January 1857, East Dean, Sussex, England to Frederick West and his wife Hannah Harriet Osborne.
The West family arrived in Napier on 2 February 1874 on the ship Queen of the North. Dinah was 17 years of age.
In 1874 Dinah married John Moran Day in Gisborne. John was a Marine Steward. Dinah and John had 10 children.
John died on 9 January 1894 in Tokatoka, Kaipara age 54 years.
A few months later Dinah Day married on 21 August 1894 in the Registrar’s Office to Daniel Goodwin Stephens in Auckland. Dinah was 38 years of age and Daniel was 30 years of age. Daniel was the son of Reginald Goodwin Stephens and Jane Stephens nee Smith and was born in Canada. Witnesses were Norman A McLeod, Solicitor, Dargaville and W Lewin, Tailor, Hardinge street, Auckland.
After their marriage they resided in a boarding house. A few days after their marriage Dinah returned to Aratapu until Daniel had a home for her, however no attempt was made to provide her with a home. Dinah made application for a divorce in 1901 on grounds of desertion. A divorce decree absolute was issued on 22 March 1904. Newspaper reports at the time of their divorce state that Dinah had known Daniel for eight years. It is not known what happened to Daniel following the divorce.
Dinah married for the third time in 1904 to John Pollard. John died on 3 November 1927.
Dinah’s last Will was signed on 25 June 1934.
Dinah Pollard died on 28 September 1935 age 79 years in Sandringham. At the time of her death she was living at 39 Fowlds Avenue, Sandringham. She is buried in the Hillsborough cemetery, Area 4, Block C, Plot 20
Sources
NZ DIA Marriage Index 1874/6169 Dinah West/John Moran Day
NZ DIA Death Index 1894/7001 John Moran Day
NZ DIA Marriage Index 1894/2097 Dinah Day/Daniel Goodwin Stephens
New Zealand Herald 15 May 1903, pg 6
New Zealand Herald 9 December 1903, pg 3
Auckland Star 25 March 1904, pg 2
NZ DIA Marriage Index 1904/3072 Dinah Day/John Pollard
NZ DIA Death Index 1935/18601 Dinah Pollard
The Collections Archives NZ Will Probate Dinah Pollard R9387805
Ancestry – New Zealand Electoral Rolls