52 Ancestors - Week 19 - Mother's Day - Eda Sarah Edwards
Sometimes we learn things about our ancestors in the strangest places. The last place I expected to hear about my great grandmother, Eda Sarah Edwards, was during a eulogy at my own mother's funeral. My mother had been a wonderful grandmother and her grandmother, Eda, had been her role model.
Eda Edwards was born at Taita in the Hutt Valley, New Zealand in 1886. She was the youngest child of John, a carpenter, the local undertaker and small farmer. John had arrived in New Zealand as a child in 1842. Her mother, Mary Ann Grey, had emigrated from Bath in 1867 and had married John within two months of her arrival in Wellington.
When she was aged about 6, Eda’s father died suddenly on his way home from Wellington. Where Mary Ann and her family lived immediately after John's death is unclear though they may have remained at Taita for some years before moving across the Rimutaka Ranges to the Wairarapa. She may have met her future husband, Archibald Forbes McMinn, in Carterton around 1902. There was a dinner held for the Wairarapa Printers at the "Marquis of Normanby Hotel" where McMinn was vice-chairman. The tables were decorated with flowers supplied by young women, including a "Miss Edwards". Eda would have only been about 17 and pregnant when she married Archie on 15 September 1903. Archie would have seemed like a good catch. He was 6'3", and had played rugby as an All Black against Australia. He was a newspaper man like his father and was a talented musician. They were to have two children, a son, Heber and my grandmother, Marcia.
Eda was to learn that Archie was not always the paragon he seemed. He was a bit of a wild man. He would have been a star of the 1905/6 All Black tour of the United Kingdom if he had not been suspended from rugby for a year because of misconduct in a Wellington hotel. A newspaper article suggests that Archie also had a temper at home, and their children spent time living with their grandparents. Eda herself would not have had grandparents and perhaps she learned those grand-parenting skills from Helen, Archie's mother.
By 1919, Archie had died in Porirua Psychiatric Hospital, aged 38. I always assumed whatever psychiatric condition Archie had suffered, it may have been caused by concussion from playing rugby. I was shocked to discover that in fact he died from the effects of syphilis, and he had been in and out of hospital for years. Eda, just 33, was left running a fishmonger's at Dannevirke over 100 miles away and still had at least Marcia in her care.
Eda Edwards was born at Taita in the Hutt Valley, New Zealand in 1886. She was the youngest child of John, a carpenter, the local undertaker and small farmer. John had arrived in New Zealand as a child in 1842. Her mother, Mary Ann Grey, had emigrated from Bath in 1867 and had married John within two months of her arrival in Wellington.
When she was aged about 6, Eda’s father died suddenly on his way home from Wellington. Where Mary Ann and her family lived immediately after John's death is unclear though they may have remained at Taita for some years before moving across the Rimutaka Ranges to the Wairarapa. She may have met her future husband, Archibald Forbes McMinn, in Carterton around 1902. There was a dinner held for the Wairarapa Printers at the "Marquis of Normanby Hotel" where McMinn was vice-chairman. The tables were decorated with flowers supplied by young women, including a "Miss Edwards". Eda would have only been about 17 and pregnant when she married Archie on 15 September 1903. Archie would have seemed like a good catch. He was 6'3", and had played rugby as an All Black against Australia. He was a newspaper man like his father and was a talented musician. They were to have two children, a son, Heber and my grandmother, Marcia.
Eda was to learn that Archie was not always the paragon he seemed. He was a bit of a wild man. He would have been a star of the 1905/6 All Black tour of the United Kingdom if he had not been suspended from rugby for a year because of misconduct in a Wellington hotel. A newspaper article suggests that Archie also had a temper at home, and their children spent time living with their grandparents. Eda herself would not have had grandparents and perhaps she learned those grand-parenting skills from Helen, Archie's mother.
By 1919, Archie had died in Porirua Psychiatric Hospital, aged 38. I always assumed whatever psychiatric condition Archie had suffered, it may have been caused by concussion from playing rugby. I was shocked to discover that in fact he died from the effects of syphilis, and he had been in and out of hospital for years. Eda, just 33, was left running a fishmonger's at Dannevirke over 100 miles away and still had at least Marcia in her care.
During the 1920s Eda met and married Bill Levick, a returned WW1 serviceman, also a rugby player. Supposedly they met on a train, although Bill was also from the Wairarapa and they may have known each other earlier. Eda and Bill were living in Gordon Street, Newtown in Wellington, where my mother first remembered visiting her grandmother, probably about 1931, when her younger sister, Pamela, was born.
Visiting "Ganna" always involved treats. Firstly, there would be a long train journey - Bill worked for the Railways, so even during the depression, rail travel was affordable. Then there were trips into the city by tram, which were exciting for a country child from Taihape. One of the few early photos of my mother, wearing patent leather shoes and with her hair in ringlets, was taken at a studio in central Wellington. Mum remembered visiting Wellington Zoo and hearing the lions roaring at night, while she lay in bed in Gordon Street. Her grandmother had her baptised at St. Thomas's Church and also looked after her for some weeks while she attended Newtown School, possibly about 1935. My mother also visited the 1940 Centennial Exhibition and the annual Wellington Winter Show from her grandmother's. When Mum was to join the workforce during the 1940s, again she went to Wellington and boarded with her grandmother while she looked for a suitable employment. "Ganna's" home was always a sanctuary, and it's really sad that Eda passed away just before the engagement and marriage of her eldest grand-daughter early in 1950.
My mother was a wonderful grandmother too, always available when she was needed to look after her four grandchildren. There were always special books and toys at her house and trips to playgrounds, the beach, and farm parks to arrange. I just hope that if and when the time comes, I can follow on in the footsteps of two wonderful grandmothers.
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