Person:John Wells (57)

John Wells was born at 10am on 7 Nov 1841 before Louis Joseph Frougere, who representing the civil state in the commune of the St Pierre de Calais, department Pas de Calais, as delegated by the mayor, is presented Thomas Wells(40), lace worker, residing in St Pierre de Calais, who presents a male child, born at his residence at Rue Lafayette, Section G, number 370, on the 7th of this month at 11pm. He declares Sarah Creswell(29) to be the mother and wishes to name the baby John. This declaration and presentation made in the presence of Victor Desjardin(33) and George King(25) who have read and signed this statement, together with the father.

John was the only member of the Wells family in Australia to leave home. The fact that 1000 miners a week were leaving Victoria to go to the goldfields of Westland and Otago in New Zealand persuaded John to try his luck.

John took a steerage in the steamer "Gothenburg" arriving in Hokitika on the west coast of New Zealand sometime in 1865. That is taken from death certificate-in New Zealand 60 years.

6 years later in 1871 John married Nora Letitia Furness, eldest daughter of Robert and Eliza Furness formerly of Hackney in England. They had also been goldmining in Durham Lead and Castlemaine in Australia before coming to New Zealand in 1867 on the "Rangitoto".

Nora had been orphaned as her parents had been killed by a tree in a storm while running out of their store in 1868, and had taken up residence as a foster child of the owner of the hotel.

John had probably been a regular at the hotel where Nora had been earning her keep as a barmaid and they married in 1871 at the Anglican Church in Hokitika. They married in 26 Sep 1871, he was 30 and she 17.

John built the family home in Woodstock on the banks of the Grey river. It is probable that he had done fairly well at mining as the house had been well built and is still standing today and is owned by descendants.

The first child Nora was born in January 1872.

Robert followed next and did extremely well as a lawyer until drink caught up with him. He died in a old folks home in Westport in 1952.

Richard was accidentally strangled in the door of a chicken coop in 1878, and brother John died fighting for his country on the battlefields of France in 1917.

My grandfather Thomas was a goldminer and millhand who died of a heart attack in Westland Hospital in 1955. While his name was Thomas, he was always called Tony. Thomas married Victoria Grace McMillan, daughter of Robert McMillan of Motherwell, Scotland.

Sarah, James, William, and Richard all lived in the West Coast until they died, with William often working in the timber mills in Rimu and panning for gold with Thomas.

John died at home in 1925, of old age and was buried in the Wells family plot at Hokitika Cemetery. Nora was to live until 1930, when she passed away quietly at the home in Woodstock.

1. ↑ French Civil Registry
   313\1841.
2. ↑
   vue n° 1162, à gauche.

   Table annuelle consultable en ligne sur le site des Archives Départementales

3. ↑ acte n° 313
   vue n° 1138, en bas à droite.

   Acte consultable en ligne sur le site des Archives Départementales

4. ↑ per the ship "Gothenberg"