Recently I was asked to do some research into a branch of
family members that I had not done research on before and while shaking one of
the branches, I came across some interesting information while doing an archive
search that lead to a search through past newspapers in New Zealand. I ended up
with some unexpected information that got my attention and that was the rest of
the afternoon gone running down the basics to what I could find.
The search began when I searched for some information within
the New Zealand National Archives website looking for William Henry Frankpitt.
I wanted some clues to other family members and unexpectedly stumbled across
two divorce records for William and a trial file from Greymouth that is
available from the Christchurch archives. I was wondering about the three files
so did the usual search on the Papers Past website and I came up with plenty of
results on the life of William Henry Frankpitt. I will try to get these records
in order.
I cannot find his birth for the time being, which is around
1871. Henry is married in 1904 to Mary
McArthur in New Zealand and a year later in 1905 they have a son Samuel Frankpitt.
Around this time Henry is mentioned as being a shopkeeper in Kokataki on the
South Island near Greymouth. Between 1908 and 1909 there are several civil court
cases involving large sums of money from who I assume are companies (one being
a biscuit company) from amounts ranging from 6 shillings to 27 pounds. It could
be the beginnings of what would happen in years to come. In 1911, Mary passes
away leaving Henry with their young son, Samuel. Henry does marry again once in
1913 and again in 1920, but this is plenty more to the story that I have found.
The biggest chunk of information was to occur in 1913. I
will talk about the court case and leave the marriages until later as one of
them does interconnect it seems with this court case. William appears within
newspapers once again on the 8th of March, 1913 where he had been
charged with an offence by having under false pretences 17 bales of wool with
the value of around £196 from a local farmer, William Clayton. William represented
himself to the farmer as being an agent for a wellington wool broker. It was
mentioned he was a storekeeper residing a few miles away from Hokitika. On the
29th of March the prosecution needed a further week to
work on the case and a bail application was made of £200 and two sureties of £120
each. It turns out within the news on the 9th of April 1913 Mr
Frankpitt had represented himself as an agent for Murray, Roberts and co from
Wellington and also told the farmer that he could obtain £2,000 in
credit. By the 18th of June 1913, William had been sentenced to 9
months imprisonment.
Amazingly at the same time, William had remarried in 1913. He was a
storekeeper in Auckland when he had a marriage ceremony. It was after the ceremony
that William had learnt his wife, Nellie was a divorcee. According to the
newspaper he had been acquainted with Nellie for several months. They travelled
to Greymouth and he went away on business while he was there. The ‘business’
could have very well been in regards to the wool, but when he returned Nellie
had vanished to Christchurch after selling all his furniture. He had gone to
court to get an annulment for his wife’s desertion. He had been unable to find
her in the city. The Judge in the court case to do with the bales of wool
during sentencing concluded that both cases were actually separate when William
had mentioned what had occurred with his wife. An interesting note before going
further would be when William enlisted into the Army in 1915. He states he had
not been sentenced to imprisonment by the civil powers even though he was
discharged as being medically unfit.
William would marry Mary Braun in 1920, when Samuel would be around 15
years in age. In 1922 problems arise with the previous marriage. It turned out
that the first marriage had not been nullified through the courts and was not
until 1922 that this case would appear in the courts. According to the New
Zealand Herald on the 31st of May, William had only found that his
wife whom he thought was dead was actually alive and well in Wellington 12
months after he had remarried to Mary. The judge declared that the current
marriage would be null and void would be made absolute within three months
time. The matter went before the court again in regards to the second marriage
not being binding and that William may have to pay maintenance or some form of
alimony. It was pointed out that Mary was now working and William was now in
hospital after an accident of some sort. William passed away in April in 1924
at the age of 53. It did not say if he died because of being crushed in an
accident.
I found this case to be an interesting one as you never know what the
twists and turns would be until you place the information together. All this
came about on a whim through researching some records within New Zealand births
deaths and marriages. I had only gotten the basics through official records,
but further research uncovered more information. I will have to do some more
research on William Henry Frankpitt especially order a certificate to confirm
who his parents actually are. His birth certificate is actually missing, but
other records say he was born in New Zealand on the West Coast on the South
Island. There are several other people with the same name. I will get lucky and
that is all what family history research is all about. Here I was thinking the
added branch from the Downey family that married the Milverton’s in Palmerston
North would not contain much at all.
Sources used
Family
Search
Births, Deaths and
Marriages, New Zealand
New Zealand National
Archives
Papers Past
The following are
through Papers Past the search terms were William Henry Frankpitt
Civil Court Cases, Evening Post, 7 February 1908
Grey River Argus , 8 April 1913
Supreme court sessions, West Coast Times , 17 June 1913
William Frankpitt, Civil cases, Evening Post, 9 April 1913
William Downey, A DEAL IN WOOL , Grey River Argus, 9 April
1913
William Frankpitt divorce, Auckland Star, 13 May 1921
Marriage Annulled, New Zealand Herald, 31 May 1922
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