John W. Paterson and Elizabeth B. Davidson - our direct ancestors - my generation’s g g grandparents

John William Paterson, Anthony and Elizabeth’s oldest son was born on the 28th of February, 1866 in Otepopo.

Unfortunately there isn’t much information about John compared to his father Anthony and uncle George. This is probably because he died so young from an illness, and may have been unwell for a long time. Furthermore, he had ‘big boots to fill’ with such a prominent father and uncle. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a photo of him.

There are a few mentions of a J.W. Paterson, which may well refer to him rather than his uncle , also named John William, who was 21 years older than him. The main example is a J. W. Paterson who was elected to Otepopo’s Young Men’s club with J. L. Paterson in 1886. (I am unsure as to who J. L. Paterson may be at this stage, but quite likely another relation). John would have been 20 years old at the time.

Elizabeth Boyes Davidson

John married Elizabeth Boyes Davidson on the 24th July, 1889 in Otepopo when they were both 23 years old (Reg # 1889/2465). Elizabeth Boyes Davison was born on the 11th of December, 1865 at Otepopo. Her parents were John Davidson and Jane Tait Little and they are discussed further in a separate post.

John and Elizabeths’ children included

1. Elizabeth (Lill) Munro Jones - born on the 28th November, 1889 in Otepopo; married Private Josiah Lee Jones; died on 25th October 1917 while her husband was on active duty. She was nearly 28 years old. Her death notice doesn’t give us a clue about the cause of death, but it may well have been TB like her father; buried in the old Oamaru Presbyterian cemetery, in Block 80, plot 34

2. James Gordon (Gordon) - born 8 August 1891, in Otepopo - our direct ancestor - more about Gordon in a separate post.

John died on the 1st of May, 1895 at the age of 29, from Tuberculosis, or TB as it was more commonly known. In the nineteenth century, TB killed about a quarter of the adult population of Europe. Between 1851 and 1910, around four million died from TB in the UK and more than one third of those aged 15 to 34 and half of those aged 20 to 24. By the late 19th century, 70–90% of the urban populations of Europe, North America and no doubt New Zealand were infected with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and about 80% of those individuals who developed active TB died of it. At the time, TB was called the 'robber of youth', because the disease had a higher death rate among young people. Other names included the Great White Plague and the White Death, where the "white" was due to the extreme anaemic pallor of those infected.

John is buried in Otepopo cemetery in Block 1 Plot 20 alongside his sister Isabella, who died in 1887.

John Paterson’s headstone at Otepopo cemetery

How difficult it must have been for Elizabeth who was left with two children, who would have been four and six years old at the time. This was well before the times of social welfare, so Elizabeth would have been reliant on the generosity of family and friends.

Advertisement placed in the Oamaru Mail, 29 November, 1895, p. 3

After John’s death in 1895, Elizabeth married Alexander Turtle in 1897 and had a further three children:

Doris Mary (Dossy) Blackmur / Rowlands, Elizabeth’s third child and Gordon’s half sister

Doris Mary (Dossy) Blackmur / Rowlands - born on the 19th of August, 1898 at Ngapara, Waitaki; married Edward Charles Wyatt Blackmur on the 3rd of February, 1917 and had a child named Edward John Gordon Blackmur (born on the 9th of September, 1917 and died on the 24th March, 1993 in Fielding, Manawatu); Edward left Dossy without paying maintenance, and was apprehended by the police in May, 1922; Dossy divorced Edward on the 20th of December, 1922 as reported in Otago Daily Times; the Police Gazette of December, 1924 issued a warrant for the arrest of Leonard Earnest Rowlands for ‘failing to maintain his illegitimate child, of whom Doris Mary Blackmur, domestic is the mother’, this article described Leonard as ‘age thirty, height 5ft. 6in., labourer, native of New Zealand, medium build, fresh complexion, dark hair, blue eyes, clean-shaven, prominent nose, broad shoulders; short quick gait’ and in handwriting on the same Gazette, it notes that Leonard was arrested on the 12th of May, 1925; things must have worked out for the couple however, as Dossy married Leonard Earnest Rowlands on the 13th of November, 1926 and lived with him in Enfield; Leonard was born on the 23rd of March, 1893 in Dunedin, served in WW1 from the 24th of August, 1915 till the 13th of April, 1919, serving in Egypt and Western Europe, his war record says he was a jockey employed by L.H. Orbell of Pukeuri, and his next of kin was George Rowlands (his father) of initially 41 Helena St, Dunedin; and then in 1919, of 31 Glasgow St, South Dunedin’; he received a British War Victory Medal 1914-1915 Star; Leonard died on the 30th of September, 1961, leaving a Mrs J. L. Rowlands of Pukeuri a widow; Dossy had died some years earlier on the 16th of June, 1949 and she is buried in old Oamaru cemetery; Block 180, plot 48; it seems that Dossy’s unassuming portrait photo above may be hiding more interesting stories than first expected!

4. John James (Jack) - born 29 July, 1900 (Reg # 1900/12056) at Ngapara, Waitaki; worked at Hedges Fellmongery, Abattoir Road, Oamaru; died of cancer at the age of 40 on the 3rd of July 1941, at Nore Street, Oamaru (Reg # 1941/26381); buried in the old Presbyterian Cemetery in Oamaru; Block 80, plot 34 and 35

Jack Turtle on the right at 19 years old working in Hedges Fellmongery, 1919

Jack Turtle with an unidentified woman

5. Helen Jane Smart (Nellie / Nan) - born 12 January,1905 (Reg # 1905/14249) at Pukeuri, Waitaki; married Albert Joseph Smart; died on the 30th of April, 1991 (Reg # 1991/52190) in Oamaru; buried in Oamaru Lawn cemetery, Block 522, Plot 47

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Alexander Turtle was from Broughshane near Ballymenee, County Antrim, Ireland and was working as a groom in 1896. He cared for a Clydesdale stallion called ‘Heart of Oak’, the proprietor of which was Thos Liken. The fee charged for this stallion was £4 / season and the groom’s fee was 5s. Alexander was based in Ngapara at this time, and involved in local activities, being elected to Ngapara library committee in 1896. The Ngapara P.A.F.s (a type of lodge, I believe) had a special meeting in July 1897 to present him with a framed certificate for his marriage which he ‘feelingly’ replied. Alexander continued to be involved with horses advertising draught horse mares and geldings for sale during 1900 to 1912 and possibly later. He was farming at Pukeuri by 1914 and it is reported he sold a cow £9 12s 6d in 1914 and later that same year he sold a dairy heifer for £5 2s 6d and a cow for£5 3s. Their farm was section 196, Block 2, of the Papakaio District. In 1926 he was offered a new lease for 21 years at an annual rental of £10 10s.

We don’t know a great deal about Elizabeth, unfortunately . Was it possibly Elizabeth, who was the ‘Mrs Turtle’ who sold the lease on section 21 of Block 11 at the corner of Exe and Humber Street in Oamaru with house and stables in 1913? We do know that her daughter, and our ancestor, Gordon’s full sister, Elizabeth (Lill) Munro Jones died in 1917. She was living at Boundary Creek, north east of Oamaru at the time and is buried at the old Oamaru Presbyterian cemetery, in Block 80, plot 34. We also know it was Elizabeth who received a cable to say that her son in law, Private Josiah Lee Jones, of Omakau, had been wounded in the war in 1918.

In Memoriam, placed in the Otago Daily Times, 25 October, 1920, p. 4

Elizabeth with her grandchildren Jean, Dulcie and Gordon c.1926

Elizabeth died on the 29th of March, 1929, at the age of 64, at the Public Hospital in Oamaru. Her death notice says she was the mother of Mr G Paterson, Omakau; Mr John Turtle, Pukeuri; Mrs L. Rowlands and Mrs A. Smart of Oamaru. Elizabeth had had a carcinoma at the bottom of her oesophagus preventing her from eating. Elizabeth was buried on the 30th March, 1929, in Block 80, plot 35, next to her daughter Lill, at the old Oamaru Presbyterian cemetery.

Elizabeth’s plot in old Oamaru Presbyterian cemetery, Plot 35, Block 80

Alexander died on the 20th of August in 1933. His death notice reports that he was 76 years old. He is buried in Block 53 plot 32 of the Oamaru old cemetery.

My mother, Vyonne, recalls her mother, Dulcie Robinson, talking about Grandma Turtle.

Do you have anything to add? Please let me know