Catherine Ann (Groves) Williams (1836 - 1887)

Born 1836 in Carisbrooke, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England

Wife of William Bassett Williams — married 20 Mar 1861 in Wellington, New Zealand

Died 1887 at about age 51 in Auckland, New Zealand

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Biography

Catherine Groves, known as Kate, was born in 1836 on the Isle of Wight. She was the eldest daughter of John Groves and Ann Peach.

She arrived in New Zealand with her family in 1855 on the New Era. Her father established himself at Castlepoint.

Her mother died on the 3rd of March, 1861; seventeen days later Catherine married William Williams.

Married.— On Wednesday, 20th March, 1861 at Wellington, by the Rev. W. Kirton, Mr. W. B. Williams, Grazier, Oahanga, East Coast, to Catherine, eldest daughter of Mr. John Groves, Licensed Victualler, Castle Point.^[1]

Catherine died in Auckland in 1887. ^[2]

In 1938, excepts of some of her letters were published in the Wairarapa Times Age:

MISS KATE GROVES’S LETTERS.

SOME PIONEERING HARDSHIPS.

Details of pioneering life in New Zealand, as seen through a woman’s eyes, are touched upon in letters written shortly after the middle of last century by Miss Kate Groves, daughter of Mr and Mrs John Groves, who arrived in Castlepoint with her parents in 1855. After she had spent some years at Castlepoint, Miss Groves married a Mr William Williams, of whom few biographical details are now available, though the information has been handed down that he was in California in the famous gold rush days of 1849. In New Zealand he went to the Thames gold rush and spent some years in that region. Later he returned to the East Coast district and rented Flag Creek Station, Tinui, from Mr John Groves and occupied it until it was sold to Mr D. H. Speedy in 1886. For several years after that he managed Mataikona Station, owned then by the Hon Charles (later Sir Charles) Johnston. Mr and Mrs Williams spent their later years in Auckland and both died there. They had no children. Writing to her uncle and aunt in England, from Castlepoint on March 11, 1857, Miss Kate Groves, as she was then, gave an extended account of the serious illness of her mother and went on to observe that but for the impossibility of leaving her mother, she would have preferred to be away from home, getting her own living. "I feel somehow, not quite independent,” she wrote, “although I am my own mistress and there is not anything I want but what I can have.”^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1507, 22 March 1861, Page 2
2. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/191034233/catherine-williams: accessed 15 December 2023), memorial page for Catherine Groves Williams (1836–20 Sep 1887), Find a Grave Memorial ID 191034233, citing Waikumete Cemetery & Crematorium, Glen Eden, Auckland Council, Auckland, New Zealand; Maintained by Clancy (contributor 48290237).
3. ↑ Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 September 1938, Page 7

• "England and Wales Census, 1851," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGPK-5W4 : 12 September 2019), Catharine Groves in household of John Groves, Carisbrooke, Hampshire, England; citing Carisbrooke, Hampshire, England, p. 14, from "1851 England, Scotland and Wales census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing PRO HO 107, The National Archives of the UK, Kew, Surrey.

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Groves-355 created through the import of tree1.ged on Jan 27, 2012 by Stephen Alexander.

• Shipping List