FOX, Henry and James, continued (General)

by jhopkins , Friday, September 09, 2016, 02:49 (2999 days ago) @ Carl

Carl, my Forest forebears came to Aotearoa in 1860, so perhaps this is not directly comparable to your family's 1900 situation.

However, there were 10 siblings in my great grandfather's family (including him) and five came here and five stayed in Britain (as far as I know; at least I haven't been able to find any records of any of the other five coming here).

Great grandfather was an iron miner, and had a limited future if he stayed in the Forest - as far as I can work out his father would have been a tenant farmer, so there would be little to inherit.

Great grandfather certainly brought his younger 16 year old sister out after him, but what influence he had on the others I do not know. I imagine they would not have come had his opinion been unfavourable!

In comparison with what I have been able to read about in Forest sources, he was able to buy and develop a small freehold farm here (Saltwater Creek, North Canterbury) with a two storey house, and to give his children a reasonable start in life. I think this would have been true for other Foresters who came out here about the same time - what things would have been like in 1900 I am not sure - at least the 1880 depression was over by then, and the Land Wars were finished so your family would not have arrived here at a time a serious conflict. However, a lot of Foresters came to NZ in the 19th Century as you will discover on this forum.

I note that you want to visit Coleford (which is where my Great grandmother came from [Coalway Lane]). We visited the Forest in 2004 from NZ, and I was bowled over by the beauty of the place. Our visit was a bit spoiled by lack of understanding on my part, and when you are this far away it makes it difficult to get a second chance. So I would urge you to find out as much as you can before you go, to make the best use of your time. Example - I thought great grandfather's family came from St Briavels, so we went there as well as Coleford for great grandmother. Unfortunately they came from the parish of St Briavels rather the village of the same name. So the trip to St Briavels village was a waste of time in one sense, because of ignorance/confusion on my part. Now I would plan a completely different itinerary!

Best wishes, John