Maria (Mynie) Stevens
Died at 26 but was mother of a dynasty
Died at 26 but was mother of a dynasty
Mynie was the third of John and Maria Mellsop's surviving children, arriving in Auckland aboard the Carnatic in December 1855 with her mother at the age of 13.
Although she died young and left only one surviving daughter, Clara, she founded a Gibbison family line which today numbers dozens of descendants. Born in Dublin, soon after arriving in Auckland she went with her two sisters, Anna and Bessie, to the Rev John Morgan's mission station at Otawhao (later Te Awamutu) travelling up the Waikato River via canoe. She stayed at Otawhao for two years for a general education. The station ran a school which at one time had 100 pupils and Anna, her sister, was also the governess for the Morgan family there. Mynie returned to Glenbrook at around the age of 15 to complete her education with her Speedy cousins under a tutor. In 1862 she married the charismatic Francis Stevens in a double wedding at St Brides, Mauku, with her brother John and his bride Charlotte Crispe. Over the next two years Mynie had two daughter's Ada Minnie , born 10 June 1863, and Clara Elizabeth, born 3 Dec 1864. The family lived in Auckland, where Francis Stevens was a clerk in the Crown Lands Department and the Defence Office until he was transferred to Wellington, where he eventually became Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands. |
Maria Mynie Stevens' children were:Click here to return to the page for Mynie's parents, John Thomas and Charlotte Mellsop.
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Both Mynie and her daughter Ada died in a scarlet fever epidemic only three months after arriving in Wellington, leaving three months old Clara to be raised in her early years by her grandparents John
and Maria Mellsop at Mauku.
Maria's dates:
Born Sept, 1839, Dublin, Ireland
Died 11 March 1865, Bolton Street, Wellington
and Maria Mellsop at Mauku.
Maria's dates:
Born Sept, 1839, Dublin, Ireland
Died 11 March 1865, Bolton Street, Wellington