Charlotte Maria (Lottie) - Mum to Many
Charlotte Maria (known in the family as Lottie) was the second of the ten children born to John and Anna Wheeler at Mauku, and was 15 when her mother died at Titi Farm in 1883. She was much beloved by her younger brothers and sisters, probably because she assumed a "mothering" role for them. "Auntie Lottie's" name was always mentioned with reverence and affection by her great nieces and nephews.
Lottie had a complicated domestic life because of the values of her time and her own very strong sense of what was "proper." She raised - or helped raise - two "adopted" sons - Wilfred Wheeler, who was her sister Edith's son, and Bert Cook, who was her son with Sydney Cooke (James) Mills. James - or Jim as he was called - and Lottie had a stable loving relationship for many years before they legally wed, because Jim had been previously married and was not legally free to marry until his first wife died.
It seems that family pride and a strong sense or propriety meant Lottie never openly acknowledged the truth of the boys' birth, but within the family she was a rock, and all her siblings stood behind the boys and helped them get settled in life, so it can be assumed it was an "open secret" in the inner circle but one which was never spoken about.
Lottie's dates: Born 27 August 1868 at Mauku,
Died 16 April, 1940 in Auckland.
Lottie had a complicated domestic life because of the values of her time and her own very strong sense of what was "proper." She raised - or helped raise - two "adopted" sons - Wilfred Wheeler, who was her sister Edith's son, and Bert Cook, who was her son with Sydney Cooke (James) Mills. James - or Jim as he was called - and Lottie had a stable loving relationship for many years before they legally wed, because Jim had been previously married and was not legally free to marry until his first wife died.
It seems that family pride and a strong sense or propriety meant Lottie never openly acknowledged the truth of the boys' birth, but within the family she was a rock, and all her siblings stood behind the boys and helped them get settled in life, so it can be assumed it was an "open secret" in the inner circle but one which was never spoken about.
Lottie's dates: Born 27 August 1868 at Mauku,
Died 16 April, 1940 in Auckland.