Emily Mary Gooch (1847 - 1917)

Born 18 Sep 1847 in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England

Ancestors

Wife of James John Potter — married 7 Aug 1867 in Birmingham, England

Descendants

Died 12 Jul 1917 at age 69 in Mt Eden, Auckland, New Zealand

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Biography

Emily Mary GOOCH (1847-1917) was born on 18 September 1847 in Birmingham to Ephraim Gooch and Sarah Holden. She lost her mother in 1849, and her father remarried to Caroline Davis the next year. Ephraim was a jeweller, in 1851 living at Caroline St in Birmingham, then at 3 Northampton St in 1861. On 7 August 1867 she married James John Potter before the Anglican Church, and also before the Church of the Saviour on Edward Street in Birmingham, a denomination that had arisen from Baptist churches. James John was also from a family of jewellers.Before marriage she was living in Brickfields, Handsworth. Their first three children were Francis James, William Arthur(born in Bath) and Florence Emeline. In 1871 they lived at 148 John St in Aston. In addition to a jeweller James John was also described on the census as a commercial traveller. Lilian Mary and May Bertha Maria were also born in Aston. They lived in Aston until 1872, when they moved to the West Bromwich district. Finch Road in Handsworth has been named as their address. There Beatrice Maria, Charles Harold, Kathleen Ethel Maud, Eric Augustus Alfred and Ernest Alroy were born.

By 1879 James John was struggling in the jewellery trade due to bad economic conditions and failed business ventures with his brother-in-law Alfred Hart. They, and the siblings and parents of James John all decided to immigrate to New Zealand. Emily and James John left on the “Ben Navis”, on October 1 1879. Upon arriving in New Zealand James John found a job as a teacher in Whakahara near Dargaville. She had her final five children: LLEWELLYN CLAUDE ARTHUR, Una Emily Athene, Clara Lucy Edith, Nellie Ada Minnie and Ralph Edmond Walter. She had 15 children and 26 grandchildren. The family had moved to Otahuhu by 1891, then in 1896 and 1900 they were living at Wynyard Road in Parnell, then by 1905 they had moved to Charles St in Grey Lynn. Emily Mary died on 12 July 1917 at Marsden Avenue in Mt Eden in Auckland of Intestinal Obstruction and Heart Failure. She was buried at Waikumete Cemetery in West Auckland, in the Anglican section D, Row 7, Plot 11.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179168368/

Sources

• "Descendants of John Potter (1785) Birmingham" by Bill and Margaret Hurring, 2014
• Marriage certificate in Church of the Saviour, 7 Aug 1867. Public on ancestry.com
• Death certificate