Ellen (Eleanor) Jane King was born on 20 October 1856 in London, England, and was baptised on 19 January 1868 along with her sister, Kate (1863) and brother, Henry (1867). Their parents are given as Jane Francis Parsons and Henry Parsons. In the 1871 census she is living in Bethnal Green with her mother, brother and sister.
On 29 September 1877, Ellen, a servant, left London on the Renfrewshire, arriving in Napier on 4 January 1878. During the voyage scarlet fever had broken out and the vessel was quarantine on its arrival. The New Zealand Government paid £13-11-6d for Ellen’s fare to New Zealand. From the ship Ellen went to the Barracks until 29 January 1878 and left to work for Mr Scott at Clive for 10/- a week.
Ellen Parsons, 22, married James King, 26, at the Weslyan Parsonage, Potane, Napier on 10 July 1879. Ellen lived in Potane for 4 months before her marriage.
Ellen and James lived in Napier and had 13 children (James, Ada, Minnie, Violet, Daisy, Mary Anne, John, Rose, Lilly, Stannage, Herbert, Evelyn (died at 9 months old) and Ivy) between 1879 and 1902.
On 22 August 1886 Jane put an advert in Lloyds Weekly Newspaper, which was copied to the local New Zealand paper, The Daily Telegraph, Napier seeking information about her daughter who she had not heard from since 1881. In 1890, an advert placed by her brother thanked the paper saying his sister had been in touch after nine years of silence.
Ellen and James were living in Auckland when James died in 1906.
Ellen Jane King died on 18 November 1928 at a daughters house in Ponsonby, Auckland aged 73.
Biography contributed by Avis Morris
Sources
- Hawkes Bay Cultural Trust
- Ancestry – baptism records and census records
- NZ BDM indexes
Image
James and Ellen King
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
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