Maude Mary (Constable) Turner (1865 - 1944)

Born 20 Nov 1865 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Wife of Edward-Ebenezer (Tredgett) Turner-Tredgett — married 27 Mar 1906 in residence of Rev J Clarke, Whitaker Lane Auckland, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 14 May 1944 at age 78 in 26 Summit Drive, Mt Albert, Auckland, New Zealand

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Maude Turner left Cambridge with her husband Edward in March 1885. With her husband she raised nine boys seeing them into their adulthood celebrating their marriages and watching many of the grandchildren be born and intern seeing some grow into their teen years.

Maude became a mother at the age of nineteen but suffered the loss of her only daughter before the child reached the age of six months. Newspaper advertisements tell us the young mother sought help on two separate occasions for assistance with the raising of her sons. The first time was after her second child Ebenezer’ was born and her daughter Kate was still alive. The second time was after the death of Kate and after the birth of her second son Philip. At that time she and Edward were living in a flat above the shop premises on Karangahape Road near the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle.

When the family moved to Huia Maude became the sole charge parent of four boys. During their time there she became the mother of three more sons. Upon the family's final move she had two more sons. It was during this time frame a third article appeared advertising for help from a school aged girl. The boys told family many years later that their father taught amaude to use a rifle. She was also a hospitable lady welcoming into her home many visitors including the resident a Huia School teacher for a brief time. Harvey Turner also wrote in his fanciful biography that Maude and other locals hid AWOL sailors on a few occasions. He also stated she was rather fearful of the effect of the sailors and forestry workers influence on her boys so joined local Christian groups to ensure a proper moral upbringing for her boys.

Maude was involved in the community in many ways. She was a school board member soon after women got the right to vote.

Along with her husband, sons, and some daughters-in-law she was a founding member of the Mt Albert Baptist Church.

The Auckland Star 15th May 1944 tells us that sh was a board member of the Manurewa Children' home for over 20 years and a foundation member of the League of Mothers. Part of that role included 12 years as president. Another group she was involved in was the Mt Albert Branch of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and another a group called the “Band of Hope”.

The Mill Road Cemetery website provides brief biographical information on her father William and Mother Adelaide Constable. The page contains information about siblings totalling eight. Being four boys and four girls. Maude is listed as the sixth child and fourth daughter.

Her parents were married four years before her birth in 1861.