Louisa (Watkins) Minchin (abt. 1854 - 1938)

Born about 1854 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, United Kingdom

Wife of John Minchin — married 18 May 1874 in London, England

Descendants

Died 2 Dec 1938 at about age 84 in Standish Street, Inglewood, Taranaki, North Island, New Zealand

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Louisa (Watkins) Minchin migrated from England to New Zealand.

Biography

Louisa was born in about 1854. Her father was supposedly an undertaker and her mother died when she was 7, circa 1861. Her father remarried and apparently Louisa didn't get on with her stepmother.

She married John Minchin (son of Reverend William Minchin and Mary Anne Wright) on about 18 May 1874 at London, England. It was John's third marriage.

Louisa and john emigrated from England to New Zealand under the "assisted immigrant" scheme on the Ship St Leonards' departing Gravesend, England on 3 June 1874, arriving into Wellington on 2 September 1874; she was 26, her husband was 51.

Upon their arrival they made their way North and settled on land at Inglewood, Taranaki. They lived in tents until a house could be built for them. They lived a true pioneer life.

They went on to have 8 children together. Louisa was remembered as a loving, caring mother and grandmother.

One by one her children married and left home. Her brother in law Frederick moved in with her and her husband in later years.

Her husband John died in 1913 at the age of 91.

In 1916 her son John fought in the 1st World War with the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

Sadly her eldest daughter Gertrude died on 12 November 1918 during the Spanish Influenza Pandemic, and her son Frederick died on 1 December 1918 after also contracting Influenza.

Louisa died on 2 December 1938 at the age of 84, 25 years after her husband.

Burial

4 December 1938 - Inglewood Cemetery, Inglewood, Taranaki, New Zealand. Location in Cemetery: Memorial Area, Row P Plot 6C^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/194605259/louisa-minchin), memorial page for Louisa Watkins Minchin (1854–2 Dec 1938), Find a Grave Memorial no. 194605259, citing Inglewood Cemetery, Inglewood, New Plymouth District, Taranaki, New Zealand ; Maintained by lindylou631 (contributor 49254308)

• The Peerage

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ourstuff/StLeonards1874.htm

• Taranaki Cemetery Online Search [[1]]

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=thepeerage&id=I473804

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

• NZ BDM Death Records Online: 1938/25807 Minchin Louisa 84Y https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/