Louisa Jane (Ralph) Harris (1842 - 1922)

Born 22 Jun 1842 in Bellary, Karnataka, India

Ancestors

Wife of Lewis Bassiere Harris — married 26 Jun 1861 in Onehunga, Auckland, New Zealand

Died 28 Oct 1922 at age 80 in Hunty, Waikato, New Zealand

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Carol Doake [send private message]

Biography

Louisa was born on 22 Jun 1842. Louisa is the daughter of Anthony Ralph and Margaret Reilly.

baptised 28 Feb 1844 Bellany, Madras India

The eldest daughter, Louisa Jane, had been born in 1842 in Bellary, India. Louisa married Lewis Bassiere Harris in Auckland in 1861. He was at that time a painter, and later an ensign in the Waikato Militia. At the conclusion of the Waikato war he received some grants of potential farmland which he hoped to develop. The couple became the proprietors of the Royal Hotel in Hamilton East in 1865, then from around 1870 operated the Delta Hotel in Ngaruawahia. However, Lewis Harris's land development venture failed, and by 1880 they had shifted to the Ralphs' hotel in Huntly to make a fresh start and provide for their growing family. This time, Louisa Jane Harris took a firm hold of the purse strings and began an extraordinary programme of land acquisition. Louisa was granted the licence of the Huntly Hotel in 1882, and from 1889 to 1914 proceeded to accumulate over 1,100 acres in her own name. The land west of Huntly township, although uncultivated and swampy, had vast deposits of valuable coal. Over a period of time, Louisa Harris secured the mining rights of much of this land for the Ralphs' coalmining enterprise.

Louisa died on 28 October 1922 and was buried in Huntly Cemetery, Huntly, Waikato District, Waikato, New Zealand.^[1] Louisa was mentioned on a memorial in Huntly Cemetery, Huntly, Waikato District, Waikato, New Zealand with a death date of 28 October 1922.^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ Burial: "Australia and New Zealand, Find a Grave® Index, 1800s-Current"
   Find A Grave: Memorial #169202998
   Ancestry Record 60528 #3255679 (accessed 18 April 2024)
   Louisa Jane Harris burial (died on 28 Oct 1922) in Huntly Cemetery, Huntly, Waikato District, Waikato, New Zealand.
2. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #169202998 (accessed 18 April 2024)
   Memorial page for Louisa Jane Harris (22 Jun 1842-28 Oct 1922), citing Huntly Cemetery, Huntly, Waikato District, Waikato, New Zealand (plot: Huntly Old Row 7. Block NE. Plot 50); Maintained by Cyndi (contributor 47314338).

• Oral family history
• http://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz

Citing this Record "India Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGXH-B9J : 10 February 2018), Antony Ralph in entry for Louisa Jane Ralph, 28 Feb 1844; citing Bellary, Madras, India, reference ; index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 530,011.