Bessie Allen and Heywood Crispe
and their three surviving sons
and their three surviving sons
Bessie was the youngest of John and Maria Mellsop's six children to arrive in Auckland on the Carnatic on December 29, 1855, when she was six years old.
With her sisters Anna and Mynie she spent several years at the Rev John Morgan's CMS mission station at Otawhao (Te Awamutu). Anna was governess to the Morgan children while her younger sisters were getting an education.
Together they witnessed some of the most important events in the Waikato at a critical junction in Maori settler relations. Otawhao was a "model" mission station before the Land Wars forced the settler to withdraw.
Lady Martin, who visited the settlement in the 1850s, described Otawhao at the time: "For miles we saw one great wheat field, . . . and all along the way on either side were wild peach trees in full blossom. Carts were driven to and from the mills by their native owners; the women sat under trees sewing flour bags; fat healthy children and babies swarmed around presenting a floury appearance."
At one time the mission ran a school with a 100 pupils for the children of Maori who had become Christians and others. Bessie stayed with the Morgans for two years, and in 1858 witnessed the initiation of King Potautau as the King Movement was formed as a response to the pressure for land and the Land Wars followed.
With a life-long interest in history Bessie became a well known local writer and journalist, with articles published in the Pukekohe and Waiuku Times, recording her experiences in the early days and during the Land Wars. She furnished the writer James Cowan with much information that he later used in his books "New Zealand Wars" and "The Old Frontier."
After returning to her family in Mauku around 1858, she continued her education with the Speedy children under a tutor engaged by Major James Speedy. Major Speedy was Bessie's mother Maria's nephew, and had emigrated to New Zealand with his wife Sarah and family a couple of months after Maria, arriving 28 Feb, 1856. James had bought 750 acres on the main Waiuku road and built a large house called The Grange at the confluence of two branches of the Mauku stream. (The property is now identified by a monument and small cemetery where Major Speedy is buried.)
When Bessie's father John Mellsop (senior) arrived from America the family moved into a small cottage on the Speedy property about 100 yards up the road from the memorial. John Mellsop Senior appears to have arrived in Auckland to join his family in the middle of 1856 (a few months after the Speedys), and Maria, Mynie and other family members worked for the Speedy family around the property belonging to the Speedys before John Thomas Mellsop purchased property in Glenbrook.
Bessie married her cousin Heywood Crispe on of 14 May, 1874, at St Bride's Mauku. Like many of the men of the district Heywood was a volunteer in the Southern Rifles, which became the Forest Rifle Volunteers, during the 1863 disturbances. Heywood Crispe's sister Charlotte had married Bessie's brother, John Thomas Mellsop, in 1862 so Bessie and Heywood were connected by that marriage.
Bessie spent her life farming with her husband Heywood at their property Stanlake, raising three sons, Heywood (Melvill), Clarence and Colin. A fourth son, Joseph Leslie Crispe, born on 12 January 1880 at Mauku, did not live to see his first birthday and died 14 May 1880.
Heywood was a lay reader at St Bride's, superintendent of the Sunday School, chairman of the Mauku Road Board, and a Justice of the Peace. Bessie survived her husband by fourteen years and both are buried at St Bride's.
Bessie's dates: Born 1949, Dublin, Eire
Died 22 Feb 1924, buried at St Bride's Church, Mauku.
With her sisters Anna and Mynie she spent several years at the Rev John Morgan's CMS mission station at Otawhao (Te Awamutu). Anna was governess to the Morgan children while her younger sisters were getting an education.
Together they witnessed some of the most important events in the Waikato at a critical junction in Maori settler relations. Otawhao was a "model" mission station before the Land Wars forced the settler to withdraw.
Lady Martin, who visited the settlement in the 1850s, described Otawhao at the time: "For miles we saw one great wheat field, . . . and all along the way on either side were wild peach trees in full blossom. Carts were driven to and from the mills by their native owners; the women sat under trees sewing flour bags; fat healthy children and babies swarmed around presenting a floury appearance."
At one time the mission ran a school with a 100 pupils for the children of Maori who had become Christians and others. Bessie stayed with the Morgans for two years, and in 1858 witnessed the initiation of King Potautau as the King Movement was formed as a response to the pressure for land and the Land Wars followed.
With a life-long interest in history Bessie became a well known local writer and journalist, with articles published in the Pukekohe and Waiuku Times, recording her experiences in the early days and during the Land Wars. She furnished the writer James Cowan with much information that he later used in his books "New Zealand Wars" and "The Old Frontier."
After returning to her family in Mauku around 1858, she continued her education with the Speedy children under a tutor engaged by Major James Speedy. Major Speedy was Bessie's mother Maria's nephew, and had emigrated to New Zealand with his wife Sarah and family a couple of months after Maria, arriving 28 Feb, 1856. James had bought 750 acres on the main Waiuku road and built a large house called The Grange at the confluence of two branches of the Mauku stream. (The property is now identified by a monument and small cemetery where Major Speedy is buried.)
When Bessie's father John Mellsop (senior) arrived from America the family moved into a small cottage on the Speedy property about 100 yards up the road from the memorial. John Mellsop Senior appears to have arrived in Auckland to join his family in the middle of 1856 (a few months after the Speedys), and Maria, Mynie and other family members worked for the Speedy family around the property belonging to the Speedys before John Thomas Mellsop purchased property in Glenbrook.
Bessie married her cousin Heywood Crispe on of 14 May, 1874, at St Bride's Mauku. Like many of the men of the district Heywood was a volunteer in the Southern Rifles, which became the Forest Rifle Volunteers, during the 1863 disturbances. Heywood Crispe's sister Charlotte had married Bessie's brother, John Thomas Mellsop, in 1862 so Bessie and Heywood were connected by that marriage.
Bessie spent her life farming with her husband Heywood at their property Stanlake, raising three sons, Heywood (Melvill), Clarence and Colin. A fourth son, Joseph Leslie Crispe, born on 12 January 1880 at Mauku, did not live to see his first birthday and died 14 May 1880.
Heywood was a lay reader at St Bride's, superintendent of the Sunday School, chairman of the Mauku Road Board, and a Justice of the Peace. Bessie survived her husband by fourteen years and both are buried at St Bride's.
Bessie's dates: Born 1949, Dublin, Eire
Died 22 Feb 1924, buried at St Bride's Church, Mauku.
In 1924 Bessie Crispe passed away, and a short obituary appeared in the Pukekohe and Waiuku Times. (Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 14, Issue 819, 22 February 1924, Page 4). A longer obituary was published on 25 February, and included accounts of pioneer times.
The longer obituary can be read at Papers Past. (You can also click on the image of the article on the right to open the page in a new window.) |