Emma Mary Ann (Wood) Stevens (1879 - 1960)

Born 6 Apr 1879 in St Bathams, New Zealand

Ancestors

Wife of Harold Edgar Stevens — married 1901 in New Zealand

Died 11 Mar 1960 at age 80 in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

Biography

Emma Mary Ann Wood When Emma Mary Ann Wood was born on June 4, 1879, in New Zealand, her father, Edward, was 43 and her mother, Sarah, was 27. She was 8 years old when the family moved from St Bathans to Naseby. She was enrolled at Naseby School by her father on 5th Sept 1987 and on leaving her destination was “home”. Granddaughter Lesley Baker says she is pretty sure Emma was a seamstress before she married – she certainly sewed beautifully for her 12 children as well as others in her community. It is possible that she joined her two older sisters in a dressmaking business in town although by 1892 Cordelia had left Naseby, followed by Amelia (Nellie) by at least 1900. She married Harold Edgar Stevens on August 7, 1901 at St George’s Church Naseby, aged 22. According to the article in the Mt Ida Chronicle, the wedding breakfast took place at the home of the “mother of the bride”. Considering the size of the mud brick cottage, it must have been a very tight squeeze indeed. This would have been the first Naseby wedding, as her two older sisters had married in Christchurch and Lyttleton. Emma and Harold and family were very much part of the Clyde community. Harold’s father was the Headmaster at the Clyde school. Harold, along with his brother published for many years the “Dunstan Times”, the Clyde newspaper. Later his son Rex began working as a paper boy and took over as the owner/editor in the late 1840s. Harold and Emma had 12 children in 34 years. This large family increased to 19 grandchildren and eventually over 55 great-grandchildren. Lesley Baker’s mother used to say that she always had a baby bobbing up and down on her knee as she sewed on the old treadle sewing machine. She had a strong belief that babies should not be left crying so this no doubt was the way to keep whichever one of the twelve was fractious, quiet. Right up until a few days before she died she was still doing fine embroidery, despite failing eyesight. Harold and Emma lived all of their married lives in Clyde, and were central to the Wood family members who remained in Central Otago. Emma died on March 11, 1960, in Dunedin, New Zealand, at the age of 80 and is buried in the Clyde cemetery.

She married Harold EdgarStevens about 1901.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ "Births, Deaths & Marriages Onlline", [digital index], New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz), Marriage Registration of Emma Mary Anna Wood and Harold Edgar Stevens - citing Marriage Certificate 1901/3730

Materials Sourced from:

• New Zealand Electoral Roles New Zealand,
• Lower Hutt City Archives,
• Hutt Valley High School Archives,
• Census List and information Australia,
• Census List UK,
• Census List Scotland,
• English, Census List and information,
• Census of Canada,
• Canada Voting Lists,
• Nova Scotia Canada Births, Deaths & Marriages,
• Australian Archives,
• Archives New Zealand,
• Archives of Ireland,
• National Archives UK,
• Scottish Archives,
• Tasmanian Archives,
• New Zealand Birth, Deaths, & Marriages Historical Records
• Australian Birth, Deaths, & Marriages Historical Records
• Irish, English & Scottish Birth, Deaths, and Marriages Historical Records.