Emily Wallace (Hopkins) Neame (abt. 1866 - 1937)

Born about 1866 in Westport, West Coast, New Zealand

Ancestors

Wife of Francis Neame — married 3 Jan 1884 in Totara Flat, West Coast, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 22 Sep 1937 at about age 71 in Ross, Westland, West Coast, New Zealand

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Biography

Emily (Hopkins) Neame lived in Kumara, West Coast, New Zealand.

Emily (Hopkins) Neame lived in Ross, West Coast, New Zealand.

Emily was born about 1866/7 - based on her being 70 years old when she died in 1937. ^[1] To date no official record of her birth has been found.

Given that her mother Maria appears to have travelled alone aboard the 'Alhambra' from Melbourne to Hokitika in September 1866 it seems reasonable that Emily was born after her arrival in New Zealand.

She married Frank Neame at Totara Flat in 1884.^[2] They had fifteen children.

Emily died in Ross on 22 September 1937^[3][4]and is buried in Kumara Cemtery with her husband Frank. ^[5][6]

Notes

In Women of Westland, Volume 2, page 42, Graeme (Shon) Neame wrote about Emily, his great grandmother:

Early in the 1900s my great grandparents, Mr and Mrs Frank Neame, owned the first car in the area. The car had a variety of uses including taxi-ing. Old locals used to talk of ther time when there was a death further up the line: as no men were around and the car was at home, Emily and a lady friend decided to take the "dear departed" in to the undertakers, so they propped him in the back seat. The roads were little better than goat tracks and, coming around a bend, one of the wheels came off; the two women scrambled down the bank after it.

While they were retrieving the wheel, a pssing horseman rode up. Thinking that there had been an accident, he stopped to offer assistance and asked the gentleman in the back seat if he was alright. Getting no answer, he repeated his question, but there was still no reply, so, thinking that the passenger must be deaf, he dismounted and opened the door. The passenger, losing his support, fell at the feet of the horseman.

Rumour has it that the "flying horseman' never stopped until he reached MacFarlane's Hotel where he ordered a double whisky. When Emily and friend returned they thought that they had not shut the door properly and it was not until they arrived in town that they discovered the true explanation.

Sources

1. ↑ http://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz - NZBDM - Death 1937/28299
2. ↑ NZBDM - Marriage 1884/543
3. ↑ NZBDM - Death 1937/28299
4. ↑ Hokitika Guardian, 23 Sept 1937, pg 4[1]
5. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/206347830/emily-wallace-neame
6. ↑ https://billiongraves.com/grave/Emily-Wallace-Hopkins-Neame/15937712