Zara (Guinness) Minchin
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Sarah Anne Newton (Guinness) Minchin (abt. 1838 - 1883)

Sarah Anne Newton (Zara) Minchin formerly Guinness
Born about in Ardcotton, County Sligo, Irelandmap
Ancestors ancestors
Wife of — married about 20 Jan 1863 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australiamap
Descendants descendants
Died at about age 44 in Te Kao, Parengarenga, Far North, Northland, New Zealandmap
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Profile last modified | Created 7 Aug 2014
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Biography

Ireland Native
Zara (Guinness) Minchin was born in Ireland.

Sarah Anne Newton Guinness (or Zara as she preferred in later life) was born on about 18 June 1838. She was the eldest daughter of Reverend William Newton Guinness of the famous Guinness brewing family of Ireland, and Harriett Le Poer Trench. Notice of her birth was printed on page 2 of the Freeman's Journal dated 23 June 1838:

At Ardcotton glebe, in the county Sligo, the lady of the Rev. W. N. Guinness, of a daughter.[1]

Sadly her mother Harriette died in about November 1839, in or soon after childbirth. Her father remarried, to Elizabeth Percival. She died in 1845, and he remarried for a third time, to Harriet Frances Day, on 24 February 1852.

Zara sailed from Liverpool, England to Melbourne, Australia with her father, her stepmother and her three younger siblings Harriett, Henry and Arthur, aboard the ship Shalimar in October 1855.

She then travelled to New Zealand with her father's cousin Michael Burke and his new wife Maria Minchin. It was here she met Maria's brother Thomas Mahon Minchin in about 1862.

The following year, in 1863, Zara and Thomas travelled back to Victoria, Australia so that they could be married by her father, the Reverend William Newton Guinness. Their marriage notice was printed in The Belfast Newsletter dated 23 March 1863:

MARRIAGES
Minchin-Guinness.- At Christchurch, South Yarra, by the father of the bride, Thomas, the youngest son of William Minchin, Green Hills, County Tipperary to Sarah Anne, eldest daughter of the Rev. Wm. N. Guinness, Incumbent of Christchurch, and late Prebendary of Ballisodare.[2]

Zara and her husband returned to New Zealand on the ship Gothenburg, bound for Christchurch in the South Island. The plan was to go farming but Thomas proved to be a not so successful farmer and the family moved to Fiji in the Pacific in the hope of making their fortune on a cotton plantation. Thomas and Zara, along with their now family of three children, set sail from Lyttelton, Christchurch bound for Fiji with a cargo that included three horses, a cow, a blacksmith's bellows and anvil, a cotton gin and sundry equipment. Little did they know the deed to the land in Naiselesele on the north-west coast of Vanua Levu was worthless.

Thomas proceeded to set up his cotton plantation, buying goods on account from the local storekeeper - Zara's father was expected to foot the bill. The storekeeper travelled to Melbourne to collect what was owed him, but for some reason was unable to do so. Coupled with the downturn in the cotton trade Thomas was headed for disaster. A bushfire all but completely destroyed their plantation and Thomas was forced to sell his acreage for a pittance to the storekeeper to whom he owed money. The family struggled to survive.

They had two more children; Ellen born in 1871 in a cave during a severe storm, and Zara in 1873. After enduring Fiji for nine years the family decided to return to New Zealand. Their sixth child, Thomas, was born while the family awaited a ship to return to New Zealand in 1878.

They settled in Auckland in the North Island, where her husband Thomas secured a position as a school teacher. The family moved to seven or eight remote locations on account of Thomas's teaching jobs. It was in Te Kao in the far north in 1883 that Zara died after developing inflammation of the lungs. With no medical attention available, she was dead within 8 days. She was about 45 years of age, leaving six children aged five to 19 years. Notice of her death was printed on page 1 of the Dublin Daily Express dated 18 July 1883:

DEATHS
April 18, Te Kao, Parenga Renga, Auckland, New Zealand, Zara, the beloved wife Thomas Mahon Minchin, and eldest daughter the Rev Wm Newton Guinness, Dowra, county Cavan. Friends will accept this notice.[3]

Her widowed husband remarried, and passed away on 16 September 1932 at age 94.

Sources

  1. https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0000056%2F18380623&page=2&article=004&stringtohighlight=guinness+of+a+daughter Freeman's Journal dated 23 June 1838 page 2 (free to view)
  2. The Belfast Newsletter, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 23 March 1863, (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1738-1925, Ancestry.com
  3. Dublin Daily Express dated 18 July 1883, Page 1 (requires subscription to view)

See also:

  • The Book of Minchin - A Family for all Seasons: Dorothy Minchin-Comm




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