Ellen CRANKSHAW
1839-1928 
Or was she CRAWSHAW? CRONSHAW? CRONKSHAW?
For years we had believed that the maiden name of my great-grandmother, Ellen McKenzie, had been CRAWSHAW. My grandfather, David McKenzie, had evidently thought so, for he bestowed on his eldest son, two second names, LAWRENCE and CRAWSHAW, in honour of the child’s two grandmothers. Yet, it seems we must now accept that Ellen’s surname was actually not CRAWSHAW, but CRANKSHAW.
Ellen was born 13th November 1839, at Warren Lane, in Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, the fourth child in the family of James CRANKSHAW and his wife Alice nee BURY. That much is known from her certificate of birth. James, her father, has been described variously as ‘wheelwright’, ‘joiner’, and ‘calico printer’, and the spelling of the family surname has varied greatly from time to time.
Oswaldtwistle is in the parish known as Church or Church Kirk in Lancashire, and it was in this Church of England parish that Ellen was christened, but this did not take place until the 23rd January 1858, when she was 18 years old. A younger sister, Alice, was christened on the same day, both entries having the word "adult" written beside them. This also occurred with the children born after Ellen and Alice. Prior to this the family appears to have been of the Baptist persuasion, the birth of the eldest brother William being recorded in the Lower Baptist Chapel in Accrington in 1833. This probably accounts for the Adult Baptisms in the Church of England of the later members of the family.
1841 Census District 4 Page 15 Badge Row
James CRONSHAW/ 25/ Calico Printer/
Alice CRONSHAW/ 25/
William CRONSHAW/ 7/
Jane CRONSHAW/ 5/
Betty CRONSHAW/ 3/
Ellen CRONSHAW/ 1/
1851 Census Folio 97 Warren Lane
James CRONSHAW /head /m /40 /Joiner /Oswaldtwistle/
Alice CRONSHAW /wife /m /38 /Blackburn/
William CRONSHAW /son /u /17 /Print Works Labourer /Oswaldtwistle/
Jane CRONSHAW /daur /u /15 /Weaver Cotton /Oswaldtwistle/
Betty CRONSHAW /daur /13 /Free Tenter /Oswaldtwistle/
Ellen CRONSHAW /daur /11 /Scholar /Oswaldtwistle/
Alice CRONSHAW /daur /9 /Scholar /Oswaldtwistle/
Nancy CRONSHAW /daur /5 /Scholar /Oswaldtwistle/
Susannah CRONSHAW /daur /5 /Scholar /Oswaldtwistle/
John James CRONSHAW /son /9m /Oswaldtwistle/
1861 Census district 4 folio 123 page 27 James CRONSHAW/ head/ m/ 47/ Joiner/ Oswaldtwistle/ Ellen Crankshaw has not yet been found in the 1861 Census Returns, but we do know of her whereabouts at the end of the following year. She was then a passenger aboard the ship "Clara", sailing from Liverpool to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia - where she arrived on 1st February 1863. Described as ‘Ellen CRANKSHAW, cook, aged 23’, it was noted that she could read and write. On the 28th April 1863, she was employed by a Mrs Dawson for three months at Kanyatong, Belfast. The next record of Ellen is on the 27th February 1864, when she crossed the Tasman and arrived at Port Chalmers, Otago, in New Zealand, aboard the ship "Gothenburg" from Victoria. On this ship’s list, she was simply "Miss CRANKSHAW, single, aged 19". Note the age she gave, compared with that given when she had first arrived in Victoria from Liverpool, just one year previously. Less than three weeks later, Ellen Crankshaw (aged 24 years), and David McKenzie (aged 33 years), gave notice to the authorities of their intention to marry. Both were described as "of Invercargill", the future bride having resided there only 14 days, the groom recorded as having been there 4 months. It is supposed that the couple had probably met in Australia, before crossing the Tasman separately to New Zealand. At any rate they were married "in the house of David McKenzie, Esk Street, Invercargill", on the 22nd March 1864, by Reverend Andrew Stobo, Presbyterian minister of First Church, Invercargill. David McKenzie was described as a contractor, and Ellen, surprisingly, as a "gentlewoman". Details of the couple’s movements during the first year of their marriage are not known. But by 1865, David McKenzie is recorded as living in Timaru in South Canterbury. It was not long before they had moved to the Raukapuka Bush, near Geraldine, and here they made their home. Sawmills were erected in the Bush, and McKenzie and his partner McKissock soon had a thriving business employing many men. Children were born to them in 1866 (Margaret Alice), 1867 (Ada Eveline), 1868 (Lucy Jane), 1870 (David John), 1873 (Edwin William ), 1875 (Maud Mary), and 1877 (Arthur James). While details are known of David McKenzie’s work as a sawyer, builder , - and even an architect during his latter years - his wife Ellen remains a vague figure in this family story. Let us return now to Oswaldtwistle for a brief look at the family in Lancashire. James CRANKSHAW, Ellen’s father, now appears as a joiner; the household now consisting of three generations. 1871 CENSUS Section
Alice CRONSHAW/ wife/ m/ 47/ Oswaldtwistle/
Betsy CRONSHAW/ daur/ u/ 23/ Maker Up of Cotton Prints/ Oswaldtwistle/
Alice CRONSHAW/ daur/ u/ 19/ Cotton Power Loom Weaver/ Oswaldtwistle/
Nancy CRONSHAW/ daur/ 15/ Cotton Power Loom Weaver/ Oswaldtwistle/
Susannah CRONSHAW/ daur/ 15/ Cotton Power Loom Weaver/ Oswaldtwistle/
John James CRONSHAW/ son/ 11/ Print Works Labourer/ Oswaldtwistle/
Sarah CRONSHAW/ daur/ 9/ Scholar/ Oswaldtwistle/
Jane Ann CRONSHAW/ daur/ 3/ Oswaldtwistle/
James CRANKSHAW/
head/ m/ 60/ Joiner/ Oswaldtwistle/Alice CRANKSHAW/ wife/ m/ 48/ Blackburn/
John J CRANKSHAW/ son/ u/ 20/ Mechanic/ Oswaldtwistle/
Sarah CRANKSHAW/ daur/ u/ 18/ Cotton Weaver/ Oswaldtwistle/
Jane A CRANKSHAW/ daur/ 13/ Cotton Weaver/ Oswaldtwistle/
John CARSON/ boarder/ m/ 24/ Labourer/ Spotland/Scotland?/
Nancy CARSON/ daur/ m/ 24/ Cotton Weaver/ Church/
James CARSON/ grandson/ 1/ Church/
By the time of the 1881 Census, James & Alice Crankshaw were living with a widowed daughter at 32 Commercial Street in Church parish. Ellen’s siblings had married, and all seemed to have remained in the general area in which they had been born.
This does make one wonder the reason for Ellen’s own emigration ….why would just one child in a family emigrate? And on her own? Was she the only one to want a better life for herself and her children? If this was her aim, then she surely succeeded – by colonial standards she had a comfortable home, a husband with a thriving business, and a recognised place in the country community of Geraldine.
But this was not to last. David McKenzie died rather suddenly on 22nd August 1886, leaving a widow and 7 children. "The Timaru Herald" published a commendable obituary, outlining the deceased’s contribution to the community as a builder and architect, and his involvement with the Geraldine Racing Club in the capacity of Secretary. Only at the end is mention made of "Mrs McKenzie" to whom deepest sympathy was extended.
We have been unable to piece together exactly what happened during the next ten years. The children all left their home and made their own lives. The next that we hear of Ellen is when she was married on 2nd March 1896, by the Primitive Methodist persuasion, at the "residence of Reverend Joseph Sharp, Wai-iti Road, Timaru" to one James Masters Morgan, a 40 year-old bachelor and labourer of Timaru. Ellen acknowledged that she was the elder of the two, and gave her age for the marriage registration as 47. In reality she was 55 years old.
Again, there is a gap in our records. Did they remain in Timaru near Ellen’s family – or did they move elswhere?
By the 1920s, Ellen, now in her eighties, and her husband "Hoppy" Morgan, had moved to the North Island of New Zealand. She was seen only infrequently by her children and grandchildren, most of whom were living in South Canterbury. She died at her home in Palmerston North on 22nd October 1928. A headstone marks her place of burial in Kelvin Grove Cemetery.
Her family have never spoken much about her; her son David travelled up to Palmerston North to attend his mother’s burial, but he didn’t linger long, returning home almost immediately. No family stories of the Crankshaw family have been passed down through the generations; nor any family mementos. All that appears to have been retained is a small faded photograph of Ellen McKenzie (nee Crankshaw), as an elderly lady.
And to further confuse us, on her death registration, her father’s surname has been recorded as – CRUICKSHANK!
To view details of Ellen’s immediate family in Lancashire, and her New Zealand-born children, please click here.
Or return to IMMIGRANT ANCESTORS