Maria Elizabeth Magdalena (Boeckmann) Harwood (1846 - 1902)

Born 29 Jan 1846 in Harkensee, Nordwestmecklenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany

Ancestors

Wife of Johann Joachim Heinrich Hintz — married 3 Jan 1862 in Waimea, Nelson, New Zealand

Wife of John Henry Harwood — married 24 Apr 1886 in Christchurch, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 6 Mar 1902 at age 56 in New Brighton, Christchurch, New Zealand

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Biography

Elizabeth was born in 1846 in Germany. There's many variations of her surname (some are from her step-father; others from various relationships - her parents' surnames Boeckmann and Harman don't appear in records so much) and spelling of her surnames.

Her 1902 death certificate states that her father's surname was Hamond [spelt Hamann on birth certificate], occupation doctor of medicine. It also states that she married at age 15 to a John Henry King, then at 19 years to John Henry Harwood (note their registered marriage in 1886 took place when Elizabeth was 40 years old).

It also lists one child to "John Henry King" age 37 years, which would make the child's birth year 1865. However, there is no registered birth for surname King around this time to parents with similar names. However, there is a birth registration for a child John Henry Hans Hantz [typo for Hintz] to father John Henry Hantz [Johann Joachim Heinrich Hintz?].

In her lifetime Elizabeth has given birth to 20 children. By her death 12 have survived (according to her death certificate - one child to her first husband and the rest to John Harwood, although it is supposed that the father for about 2-3 children may be George Te Oti Robinson).

"Elizabeth suffered for years from cardiac dropsy. In her later years she was blind... Just one day short of three years after John’s death, Elizabeth died at New Brighton. The cause of death was a cerebral tumour. On her death certificate her parent’s names were recorded as Elizabeth and John Hammond. Her father’s occupation was given as doctor of medicine." ^[1]

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Early Timeline

• 1846 Born illegitimate on 29 January in Dassow, Mecklenburg, Germany. Father’s name Doctor Johann Harmann (Hamann?) from Lubeck.
• 1856 Arrives in Nelson, New Zealand on 8 February aboard the John Masterman
• 1856 Mother marries step-father Henry Christian Frederick Lange

Bockmann-Hintz Timeline

• 1862 Maria Elizabeth Bockmann marries John Hintz on 3 January (alias Hines? Or King?). She is aged 17 years. He states age as 36 years but he is 43 years.
• 1865 Birth of child 21 January - John Henry Hintz [registered as "Hantz"]
• 1867 Birth of child 17 January - William Joseph Hines at Kaikoura
• 1868 Birth of child 14 September - Mary Ann Elizabeth Hines at Kaikoura [John Harwood is named as father on birth certificate]
• 1881 Death 8 August of son William Joseph aged 14 years [registered as Harwood instead of Hintz]
• 1881 John Hintz dies 24 September at Christchurch Hospital

Bockmann-Harwood Timeline

• 1886 Maria Elizabeth marries John Harwood. She now goes by first name "Elizabeth"
• 1869-1871 Next three children born in Christchurch: John Henry Harwood (1869). Twins Arthur Christopher and Charles Frederick born 1871 but they die in infancy.
• 1872 Son Thomas George is born at Head of the Bay (south of Lyttelton, Christchurch)
• 1874 Son Francis Herbert is born at Holmes Bay, Banks Peninsula. He is baptised at Okains Bay ^[2]
• 1875-1893 Next children are all born at Little River, Banks Peninsula
• 1896 Electoral Roll has residence for both John and Elizabeth as Bromley, Christchurch
• 1899 John Harwood dies 6 March at Christchurch Hospital
• 1902 Elizabeth dies 5 March at New Brighton, Christchurch

Sources

1. ↑ Michael Jeans website. Book: Generations of Genes Phyllis Jeans vi ISBN 0 473 03868 4. Chapter: Harwood Family 138. https://michaeljeans.co.nz/2001/02/22/generations-of-genes-phyllis-jeans-vi-isbn-0-473-03868-4/
2. ↑ http://anglicanlife.org.nz/churches/st-john-the-evangelist-akaroa-banks-peninsula-2/

• Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1971 for Maria Elisabeth Magdalena Boeckmann (ancestry.com), Mecklenburg Dassow Taufen, Konfirmationen, Heiraten u Tote 1815-1877. Name: Maria Elisabeth Magdalena Boeckmann, Maiden Name: Hamann, Event Type: Taufe, Birth Date: 29 Jan 1846, Baptism Date: 8 Feb 1846, Baptism Place: Dassow, Mecklenburg, Deutschland, Father: Johann Hamann, Mother: Margaretha Sophia Friederica Boeckmann, Legitimacy: Unehelich, Parish as it Appears: Dassow, City or District: Dassow, Page number: 382;383, Author: Evangelische Kirche Dassow (AG. Grevesmülhlen), Film Number: 69064, Household Members: Maria Elisabeth Magdalena Boeckmann, Margaretha Sophia Friederica Boeckmann [mother], Johann Hamann [father]
• BDM NZ Marriage Registration Number: 1862/4114; Bride's Given Name(s): Magdalena Cathrine Dorothea Lange; Bride's Family Name: Lange; Groom's Given Name(s); John Joachim Harry, Groom's Family Name: Hintz. https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz
• BDM NZ Marriage Registration Number: 1886/159; Bride's Given Name(s): Selina Elizabeth; Bride's Family Name: Hines; Groom's Given Name(s); John; Groom's Family Name: Harwood. https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz
• BDM NZ Death Registration Number: 1902/281; Family Name: Harwood; Given Name(s): Elizabeth; Age at Death: 59Y https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz
• Christchurch City Council Cemeteries Database. Surname: Harwood, First name(s): Elizabeth, Date of death: Thursday, 6 March 1902, Cemetery: Rutherford, Date of burial: Thursday, 6 March 1902, Block number: G, Plot number: 35, Age: 59 years, Occupation: Widow of John Henry Harwood, Comments: Minister: C.H. Gosset. http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com/Cemeteries/interment.asp?id=134063
• Findmypast.com.au website: New Zealand Electoral Rolls. First name(s): Elizabeth, Last name: Harwood, Electoral year: 1893, Number: 1103, Occupation: Domestic duties, Residence: Little River, Electorate: Ellesmere, Type: Residential. https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=ANZ/DWILSON_1893NZ/212648
• Findmypast.com.au website: New Zealand Electoral Rolls. First name(s): Elizabeth, Last name: Harwood, Number: 3328, Electoral year: 1896, Occupation: housewife, Residence: Bromley, Electorate: Avon Supp 1, Qualification: residential. https://www.findmypast.com.au/transcript?id=ANZ/DWILSON_1896NZ/187954
• ancestry.com public family tree "KERR, Wightman, Airey, Sclater, Wilkinson, Bockman, Farland, Fraser, New, Gray, Dawson, Cordukes, Naylor, Sherman, Snowden" owner rosemarylewis
• GEDBAS website. http://gedbas.genealogy.net/person/show/1181268533

See also:

• Meyers Gazetteer: Harkensee. https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/10724070
• Peasant Maids, City Women: From the European Countryside to Urban America, edited by Christiane Harzig. Marriage Restrictions and Illegitimacy pp 41-42. “Although the Bund* granted freedom of marriage to all its citizens after July 1, 1869, restrictions continued to be imposed in Mecklenburg. Simply by limiting the number of houses available for families, the nobles continued to exercise control throughout the 1890s. […] But marriage restrictions fell short of achieving their orginal goal to curtail the number of births. All over Germany, illegimate birth rates grew in proportion to the severity of the restrictions imposed and fell only after marriage restrictions had been repealed. In Mecklenburg, illegitimate births peaked in 1850, when 20.9 percent of all babies were born out of wedlock. Between 1845 and 1867, illegitimate births never constituted less than 17 percent of all births. According to another estimate, illegitimate births exceeded 30 percent in 260 villages and 50 percent in 209 villages. What is more, nothing but illegitimate births were reported in 79 villages (54 on nobles’ estates, 20 on government estates, and 5 on estates belonging to monasteries). Such high rates of illegitimacy amply demonstrate that premarital relationships were widespread. Reporting on female labourers in rural Germany in 1905, Marie Wegner found that premarital sex to be common, especially in the state of Mecklenburg. […] In any case, there is ample reason to believe that marriage restrictions and the dilemma of bearing an illegitimate child prompted emigration.” *Norddeutsche Bund (North German Confederation). https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=FlpuDwAAQBAJ