Mrs Anderson
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Original information:
In 1900 Mrs J. Anderson lived in Kaiapoi. She may have been the wife of James Anderson, a local blacksmith. James Anderson had two daughters.
Readers’ response:
A family member has confirmed that Mrs Anderson nee Mary Anne Allfrey was the wife of James Anderson, blacksmith, of Kaiapoi, who emigrated from Musselburgh, Scotland. The couple married at St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Christchurch, on April 22, 1857.
Mary Anne’s family came from Henfield, Sussex. She migrated to Canterbury with her parents, George Allfrey, a gardener, and Arabella (George’s second wife), and her brother Alfred. Upon arrival in Canterbury the Allfreys stayed with the Barker family on a site near the present Worcester Street and Oxford Terrace.
By 1953, the Allfreys were independent of the Barkers and living at The Sandhills, Avon River, near Stanmore Road. The family took over Tweed House, a hotel in Cashel Street and in 1864 obtained a beer and wine licence for it. They sold it in 1864, but Arabella took it over again in 1866, presumably after George had died.
Mary Anne was employed on the Charlotte Jane as a nursemaid for the family of Dr A. C. Barker and his wife. She was a keen member of the Canterbury Early Settlers’ Association and was involved with the women’s suffrage movement. James set up his smithy in Kaiapoi, first on the North Road and then at 8 Charles Street. Mary Anne and James had four boys and three girls − Alexander George (b. 1858), Mary Anne Jane (b. 1860), Charles James (b. 1862), John McDonald (b. 1864), Frederick Andrew (b. 1868), Jessie Elizabeth (b. 1870) and Marion Stoddart (b. 1872).
James died suddenly, aged 57, in 1883. 1 Mary Anne died on January 17, 1920, at Kaiapoi, aged 88, and is buried in the Church of England cemetery, Kaiapoi. 2
Footnotes:
1. Excerpt from A Brief History of the Allfrey, Anderson, Tait and Ritchie Families, Colin James Burrows (February 1983)
2. Death certificate supplied by Jocelyn Prue