hi David,
Nelson Graham Sydney Bolland (1878-1939) was a Taylor in Wellington. He did not often use his first name Nelson for some reason. He had 6 brothers who also had city names like, Cheshire, Mercer, Wellington etc

* He was 1 of 7 sons of Alfred Robert Bolland (1845-1899), a civil engineer from Chester, Cheshire, England, who was, as a young man, an engineer in Rio de Janeiro, landed in Wellington in 1872 under engagement to Messrs Brogden, the railway contractors and was involved with the construction of the railway to the Hutt and other large works of the Brogdens. After that he moved to Sydney and was a journalist there, on the daily papers.
* His mother was Margaret Jane Vaughan (1852-1934), who was born Wellington. Her father, (Graham's maternal grandfather), Augustus Vaughan (1827-1882) was from Somersetshire and arrived in Wellington at the age of 15 with his parents on the 'Birman'. He too was a Tailor. He married Ann Elizabeth Freeman (1828-1880, Graham's maternal grandmother) of the Netherlands in 1851 at St Peters, Wellington and lived on Lambton Quay. Augustus and his family moved to Westport on the west coast, in the early 1870's. He died in hospital age 54, leaving a wife and family and is buried at Reefton.

* After the death of her husband Alfred, from a short illness at their residence, 29 Epuni St., Aro Valley, Wellington, Graham's mother Phoebe remarried in 1900 to Thomas George Boon (1846-1903) and they are buried together at Karori

Nelson married Phoebe Smith on 8 Feb 1905
* Phoebe's father was Sidney William Smith (1846-1917) who was from Little Moorfields, London, arriving in Wellington in 1877 on the "Leicester". He was a member of the staff of the Government Printing Office, a volunteer fire brigadesman in Wellington and later a member of the City Fire Police.

* Graham & Phoebe's son, Graham Sydney Bolland (1906-1976), was born 6 Feb 1906. He married Hazel May Lawrence in 1931
* Their daughter Rona Joyce Bolland (1912-1996), was born at 67 Nairn-street, Mt Cook, Wellington on 7 Aug 1912. She married George Jervis Kells in 1937

In Sep 1924 Graham Bolland snr, at the age of 46, was sentenced in court for the theft of five tins of tobacco and was sent to Rotorua Inebriates Home for 12 months

Phoebe died suddenly at Wellington Hospital on 5 Dec 1930 aged 52
Graham died 14 Nov 1939 aged 61
They are buried together in Plot 69L, CH ENG2 at Karori

Hi ngairedith
Wow that’s amazingly quick and so interesting information thank you..Fills in a lot of gaps and certainly ties in with what I know already..
Will no doubt still have more questions but much appreciated..
David Bertram
(Great grandson of graham senior)

Hi
Wondering if William Bolland the early missionary from New Plymouth is a member of this family line..
Anne Freeman from Netherlands is intriguing and unusual? in early NZ and wondering if any further information on her background..
Many thanks
David Bertram

FREEMANs
The parents of Ann Elizabeth 'Nancy' Freeman married 22 Aug 1835 in Deal, Kent & had at least 9 children, 7 in the Netherlands, last 2 in NZ
'Nancy' was 15 when she arrived with her parents into Nelson on 10 April 1842 on the ship London. She is listed as a 'Sempstress' (a seamstress) but this does not mean she actually was. After a certain age the immigrants had to show an occupation on the passenger list. Men had an easy choice, women usually chose Sempstress or servant
Her siblings listed:
Ann Elizabeth aged 15
Margaret aged 12
Jane aged 10
Thomas aged 8
Frederick aged 6
John aged 4
Lucretia aged 1
Her Father:
Thomas Graham Freeman (1802-1865), was born in Kent, England 24 Sep 1802, to Ralph Freeman (1774-1820), born Rochester, Kent & Jane Yawkins (1778-1870), born East Sussex, both buried Vlissingen, Flushing, Zeeland, Netherlands.
* Thomas was a shipwright and the signalman at Nelson. He died 25 Feb 1865 in Nelson and is buried at Fairfield cemetery
* Of note .. It was either Thomas or his son, also Thomas Graham Freeman (shipbuilder in Nelson), who was able to interpret for the German immigrants in Nelson
Mother:
Margaretha Schweitzer/Schwedzier (1805-1892), born in Saarbrucken, Saarland, Germany (some say Salzburg) to Captain Frederick Philip Schweitzer (1769-1847), Captain of the Cavalry for Napoleon & Cornelia 'Geertruyd' Maasdijk (1776-1863), both buried Vlissingen, Flushing, Zeeland, Netherlands
* Margaretha died 25 Oct 1892 aged 87 in Nelson & is buried (as Margaret) in Fairfield cemetery

* As above, Ann Elizabeth 'Nancy' Freeman married Augustus Vaughan (1827-1882) on 25 Aug 1851 at St Peters, Wellington
(Mrs) Ann Elizabeth Vaughan died 23 May 1880 aged 52 in Nelson and buried in the old cemetery. She was mentioned in the papers only as "eldest daughter of the late Thomas G. Freeman". This is a bit ominous. She died 2 years before Augustus died in Reefton, yet when he died he left a wife & children which means a remarriage.
Further research shows a fair bit of info on Augustus. He was frequently in court for drunkenness and sometimes given imprisonment with hard labour. In Dec 1877 he was charged with having no lawful means of support and was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment with hard labour in Westport.
His death in the Reefton Herald of 15 April 1882 reveals more .. A tailor named Augustus Vaughan, very well known throughout the West Coast, expired in the Reefton Hospital yesterday. He will be familiar to the public in Reefton in connection with the charge of sly-grog selling some years ago, when the deceased acted as informant for the police at the outset of the case, but allowed his evidence to break down when the matter came on for judicial inquiry. He quite lately revisited Reefton, having come up from Greymouth. On reaching Lardi's he was unable to walk further and as the man was completely destitute and much enfeebled, word was sent to the police. Before any steps could be taken however, he was brought to Reefton by wagon and was admitted to the Hospital on Tuesday last in a hopeless condition and he expired. The funeral will leave the Hospital on Sunday. The deceased was 54 years of age and leaves a wife in Wellington and five children throughout the colonies, but particulars of their addresses cannot be ascertained. It was reported that one daughter was a female operator in the New Zealand telegraph service, but inquiries made by Mr D. O. Preshaw, did not result in the verification of the statement ..

once again thankyou ngairedith..you are a wealth of information..
are you somehow related to Bollands that you can so quickly access this information?

thanx
david b

Hi David, No I'm not. Just a genealogist who spends a lot of time helping on this site 😊

I'm doing a bit of a journal on Augustus Vaughan & Nancy Freeman as we speak. Makes it easier to read in a timeline form. It should be done (enough for posting anyway) sometime today. I will link it to this post so you can find it easily whenever you want

David, the William Bolland you referred to was Rev William Bolland (1819-1847), first minister of New Plymouth. If you recognise any of the following names as being in your family tree, then he was a related to the above Bolland .. good luck

William was the only child of the Rev William (1785-1840) & Sarah Bolland and was educated at Sherbourne School, Dorset and the University College Oxford.
He married Jane Wright (1816-1870) in 1841, 2nd daughter of 10 children of Job Wright (1775-1855) & Dorothy Grayson (1788-1885). He was ordained in 1842 and they left for NZ on 18 Oct 1842 on board the barque 'Union', travelling with Jane's brother Phillip Wright and William's 1st cousin, Rev Henry Govett, son of the incumbent of Staines, Middlesex. They arriving into Auckland 23 March 1843.

They had a daughter, Mary Dora Bolland who died in 1846 aged 2 months. Their son William Ernest Bolland was born shortly before the early death of his father in 1847 and returned to England with his mother Jane after the death.

There are Bolland family letters & papers held at the New Plymouth Library (& probably the National Library). Three letters by William to his mother Sarah Bolland. In two of them William describes his happiness at having married Jane Wright. In three letters written by Jane from NZ she describes their arrival, life as a clergyman's wife, her home and nursing her son through an illness.
There is also a two page sheet entitled `Description of Sunday', probably also written by Jane.

In the autumn of 1847 Mr Fisher, the Superintendent of the Bishop's College, arrived at Taranaki and stayed at William & Jane's house. When he left Auckland the typhus fever had prevailed both there and at the St John's Theological College. The fever was evidently latent in his system when he arrived, for shortly afterwards he became sick. William caught it and in the absence of a doctor, was treated by Jane and the wife of one of the settlers. During this time their son was born and William died very shortly afterwards, to the grief of the entire settlement and the inconsolable sorrow of his young widow. He was buried in the new churchyard cemetery surrounding the St Mary's church he had been minister of, a short distance from the east window and for several years his grave was constantly bedecked with flowers. It is now marked by a stone inscribed .. "Sacred to the Memory of the Rev William Bolland, who departed this life May 29th 1847, aged 27 years. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."

In his 3 years of work he had seen the stone church, St Mary's, built, a chapel built at Te Henui and a Sunday School opened. He also built a hostelry and hospital for the Maori.

Of interest his 1st cousin, Henry 'Harry' Govett (1819-1903), was the second vicar of St Mary's and his ministry lasted 50 years. He was later appointed Archdeacon of Taranaki. He died in Oct 1903 and is buried next to William

* Jane died 12 Dec 1870 at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England and is on William's Memorial at St Mary's

Family of Augustus VAUGHAN & Ann Elizabeth 'Nancy' FREEMAN New Zealand

My quest for Bolland family history continues this time through Graham Bolland’s wife Hazel MayBolland .father George William Lawrence 1885-? and his wife May Alice Meadows.. I believe May died appox 1920’s and George remarried??
Lived in Wellington Nz area but don’t really have anymore information of these my great grandparents
Any help
Thanks