WEST family:
Frederick West came from Chichester, Sussex to New Zealand with five of his children and his second wife, Sarah Ann.,(nee Whitwick.) They had been married two months. Frederick’s parents were William and Rachel West. Like his father, Frederick was a farmer. The family started their life in New Zealand in the Hawkes Bay where they had disembarked. Frederick and Sarah had children born to them in Turanga, near Gisborne, and more after their move, in about 1877/8, to Mititai, which at the time was the largest settlement on the Northern Wairoa and a busy port. The family moved across the river to Te Kopuru sometime in the early 1890’s. Frederick died in 1904 and is buried at the Mt Wesley Cemetery, Dargaville. It appears that Sarah Ann left the district sometime after this as she is not interred there. My husband is a descendant of Frederick’s daughter Hannah. If you have a connection with this family or would like to know more please contact Gael McEwing.