Recently a university assignment had me researching
the records family leave after they die. I had in the past collected death
certificates and probate records not really knowing what to use them for. The
aim of the assignment was to look at what the person left in their probate
namely their will and how the inheritance was divided between family members.
Basing the assignment on my great, great, grand uncle Joseph Milverton of
Palmerston North, New Zealand did prove to be an interesting exercise. I was not
sure about the records that were available including Journal articles about
inheritance in New Zealand. I soon found searching for articles online to be
quite tough especially when searching for information around the early
twentieth century. It wasn’t actually the journal articles search website that
I perform through the university library, but through Google where most of the
articles turned up including two thesis’ one written around the 1980s.
I found the whole assignment experience to be really
tough as I was searching for information and one thing I did have access to was
Paperspast in New Zealand where I could find obituaries and even death duties,
which provide you with the estate value. From there you can work out what
percentage you would have to pay. During that time I had wondered how much
these properties would be worth in today’s money and I found a program that did
just that. While searching for more information on Joseph Milverton’s death in
1912, I went looking for the property information. I assumed the Testamentary
Registers were what I was looking for. They are meant to provide you with
information on real and personal estate unless I misread the information. A
week before the assignment was due I received the Register microfilm at my local
family history group, but problem was the records I was after did not appear
unless Palmerston North did not give the government all the records even though
there were people from the same town recorded. I had another person to search
for and they did not have a record either even when they died without a will.
The other person was actually Maud Milverton, Joseph’s daughter who passed away
in 1909.
Tracing Joseph and his children was interesting as I
knew some of the story already. Joseph was born in Beaminster, Dorset around
1831 and was a painter, which appeared in the 1851 and 1861census’. Between two
census periods of 1851 and 1861, he had moved to London, where he married Mary
Anne Prior in 1857 from the county of Norfolk. In 1873, Joseph and his wife
Mary Anne left London with their three surviving children, William, Edward and
Elizabeth Brett on board the vessel, ‘Duke of Edinburgh’. The ship arrived in Wellington
after a three month journey from London to Wellington. Joseph was one of the
first rate payers in Palmerston North and he did have a business with either
one of or both his sons called ‘Milverton and Son’. The business sold farm
produce from grains to equipment and appeared in various newspapers advertising
the wares. Both Joseph and his sons were contractors who worked on metalling
(graveling) several local roads and disputed their actions with the local
council on several occasions including being heard at the Supreme Court. Mary
Anne died in 1891 and was buried in Terrace End Cemetery. Around 1895 Joseph
did retire due to failing eyesight. In his daughter’s probate amongst the
letters of administration he couldn’t help sort out her estate as he was blind
so his son William took charge instead.
When Joseph died in 1912, his probate was written to
say his sons would get everything between them and his daughter Elizabeth would
get 300 pounds legacy, which could not be touched until seven years after his
death. If Elizabeth died during that time then her children would get the
money. I did know Joseph owned a house, but wondered about several plots of
land that were in Edward and William’s names as I had seen council rates where
Joseph had paid. The two sons and Joseph were at the same address within the
Electoral roll for 1911 and the brothers were still living there several years
later. The mutual will between the brothers meant when one of them died the
other would receive everything that was owned by the other brother. I had found
from reading that mutual wills were something usually done between husband and
wife. The writing of a completely new will would mean the mutual will would
have been voided. The mutual will had been written in November of 1911, when
Joseph was still alive. I am unsure if Joseph was behind the writing of this
will or not. The first brother to die was Edward in 1925, so William the
survivor would have received everything. Both brothers in 1925 were still
bachelors with Edward aged 66.
William would later go on to marry twice, once in
1929 to Elise Renton and again in 1934 to Jane Pascoe, a year after Elsie had
passed away. William’s story is also an interesting one as he was pretty active
within the Palmerston North community. I did read about several stories
including on during World War One where William corresponded with the New
Zealand Minister of defence during 1917 about tanks known as Milvertanks that
were basically traction engines with armour. No idea if the correspondence
would still exist in archives or not. In 1925 in the same month that Edward
died, William donated a block of land to Palmerston North council for children
to play in. The park would later be known as Milverton
park this is located on the corner of Victoria and Ferguson streets in
Palmerston North. The plot of land was called section 954 at the size of 4
acres. He offered the donation in 1925 and after his requirements were made
said he would hand over the deeds in 1926. One of the requirements said for the
land to be drained. By the time William Milverton died in 1950, he was been
well known in Palmerston North where he was once an elected councillor in the
local council between 1927 and 1929. William had spent around twenty years
trying to get votes to become a councillor and was not successful until 1927. He
did have issues with several of the other councillors to the point where he was
caught tampering with sewerage pipes being laid in Palmerston North and this
issue was bought up at a council meeting. William could have stayed in council
longer than the period of time in 1929, but resigned stating in his resignation
letter he would not sit with the current council.
In earlier years there might have been an
explanation for both the donation of the land and why he requested that it be
drained of water. Within Paperspast there had been various reports where
William had disputed the land values through land assessments as the land was
water logged, several disputes with council about inadequate drainage and these
could have led to him donating the four acres of land so it would not cost him.
William died in 1950 and there were no children, but within his will there were
references to donate money to several local children’s charities through his
estate. He did make sure his wife was cared for by paying her 200 pounds per
year and allowed to live in the house in Main Street, Palmerston North. The
will went on for 8 pages including requirements for having cattle on farmland
and that some belongings were to be donated to the museum when one was built.
When the will had been written William was also blind like his father before
him. His wife Jane had only survived for another year when she died in 1951.
The biggest Surprise was reading Elizabeth Dudson’s
probate as she had married James Dudson and was the sister of Edward and
William. She was the last sibling to pass away in 1957 in Tauranga and what was
written in her will did give me something to think about. Her husband had been
a flax miller, although in Maud Milverton’s probate during 1909, he had been
stated as being a farmer for his occupation. James had died well before
Elizabeth in 1947. He did not leave a will so Elizabeth being his wife would
have received everything. Elizabeth
mentions her surviving daughter as Sister Sylvia instead of by her name Eileen
Dudson. Money was to go to Sister Sylvia, Abbotsford Children’s House in
Waipawa and the Roman Catholic Church’s orphanages in New Zealand. I wouldn’t know
if Sister Sylvia / Eileen would have had children or if the family line had
ended with her. It does raise some questions especially in regards to why she
joined the church and what records are available.
I did find it interesting to research a family line
that I had collected some records about, but had not gone through them. There
are still plenty of records that I had not done any research on. Before my
assignment, I did not know you could collect a bit of information through the
death of an ancestor. The reason I traced a branch instead of a direct line was
that I had limited information on them even though I had some records of my
great, great grandparents who were living in Palmerston North around the time
of Joseph’s family. I had not actually done any research into the main branches
of the Milvertons. One of then Frederick from the United States died in
Washington DC, but I cant access his probate records unless I apply in person.
Others I had not even traced very far and the lecturer did mention expense in
doing the exercise so this would be left for later. I will leave a list of some
sources that I used. Throughout the time period not one parliamentary Act would
completely cover the family as they were always changing to include something
including death duties or the Family
Protection Act of 1900 as an example where family would be taken care of
instead of being left destitute.
Sources / Bibliography
‘Death of Mr Joseph
Milverton’, Manawatu Daily Times’, 9
March 1912, p. 5.
Christie, James
‘Testator’s Family maintenance in New Zealand’, Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, vol. 18,
1918, pp. 216 – 231.
Galt, Margaret Nell
‘Wealth and income in New Zealand c. 1870 – c. 1939’, unpublished doctorate
thesis in Philosophy in Economic History, University of Wellington, 1985, pp. 1
– 295.
Kennedy, Stacey ‘Dead
wrong: A critique of the death provisions of the property (Relationships) Act
1976, and the case for change’, Unpublished B.A. (Hons) thesis for Law,
University of Otago, 2014, pp. 1 – 65.
Littlewood, Michael
‘The history of death duties and gift duty in New Zealand’, New Zealand Journal of Taxation Law and
Policy, vol. 18, 2012, pp. 66 – 103.
Matheson, I. R. ’Birth
of Palmerston North, centenary supplement’, Evening
Standard, 13 March, 1971, p.22.
Nield, Sarah ‘If you
look after me, I will leave you my estate: The enforcement of testamentary
promises in England and New Zealand’, Legal
Studies, vol. 85, 2000, pp. 1 – 20.
