Saturday, October 17, 2009

Introducing the Captain

There are something things we just don't know about Captain John Austen - like how he got to New Zealand, who his parents were and when he married, but here are some of the things we do!
John Austen was born around 1823 in Sussex. He married Anne WILLCOX who was 20 years his junior. They had 4 children - Elizabeth Kezia in 1876, Alfred Edward in 1879, Joseph in 1881, and Arthur Weselley in 1885. He was 62 years old when Arthur was born. Arthur's son Mervyn is Greg's father.
John Austen was a master mariner and we have tracked his career in Pages Past - we are not totally sure of some of the details but it has been great fun finding out about this man. John died in 1899 and is buried in Waikumete cemetery.

2 comments:

  1. John and Anne had 10 children altogether - the eldest Mary Jane was 26 when Arthur the youngets was born.

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  2. I have found out that Captain John's parents were John and Mary, will keep digging.

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