Over the past weekend our Cotton family bible turned up and I now have it. I didn't know it existed and it has been hidden under a bed for decades, so it is in rather good, mostly unfaded condition. In fact, it looks like it has hardly been opened - and that is of no surprise. In the middle of it are some pages designed for writing in the important family dates and from here I have the actual birthdate of my GG Grandparent and their children. I am delighted. However, it says my GG Grandmother (Margaret Atkinson) was born on the 15th April 1850 - and I know she was married in 1865 as being of full age. 15 is pretty young but is it considered 'full age'? She would have had her father's permission as he brought her and her sister to New Zealand. Richard Atkinson (my GGG grandfather) was murdered in Dec 1865 and Margaret was stabbed as well. She managed to lure the attacker outside and to lock him out, then took charge of the situation in firing a gun to attract help, and then ordered others to get the police, doctor and magistrate out to Waipori. A very young age to handle such a traumatic event if she was only 15. I will hunt for her baptism in Portadown now I have a date.

devine-spark - 2019-04-02 12:23:00

Congratulations! What an amazing find!

But don't think for a second that because it's a Bible, everything in it will be true... (our family Bible certainly isn't). And have a look in between the pages to see if there's anything stashed there. Our family Bible had all sorts of ephemera in it which no on knew about because it was so fragile - restorer found them!

"Of full age" usually meant 21 or over, but people lied about it. Sounds like she was a very competent 15 year old! I think they quite often were back then.

rednicnz - 2019-04-02 13:32:00

D-S have I asked you before if your Atkinsons were from Co Londonderry? Had an Atkinson marry into Ramage family in Nthn Ireland and they moved to NZ - Timaru initially I think.

PS what a great find!

Edited by shanreagh at 1:56 pm, Tue 2 Apr

shanreagh - 2019-04-02 13:56:00

Hey there shanreagh, she was from Portadown and I found her records in the Seagoe parish. There were a lot of Atkinson who came over. I think there was a James who was a cousin who came with mine, but then his father, Robert, came out too (I think). There were some you went to the North Island....I shall check the tree, but I don't have all of them.

devine-spark - 2019-04-02 16:52:00

The 1926 obituaries for Mrs Margaret Cotton claim she was 17 or 18 at the time. But who knows? Age at death was claimed to be 78.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19261209.2.5
1

stock - 2019-04-02 17:26:00

Can't find a reference now but believe that marrying at 14 years was legal in 19th century.

amasser - 2019-04-03 10:26:00

devine-spark wrote:

Over the past weekend our Cotton family bible turned up and I now have it. I didn't know it existed and it has been hidden under a bed for decades, so it is in rather good, mostly unfaded condition. In fact, it looks like it has hardly been opened - and that is of no surprise. In the middle of it are some pages designed for writing in the important family dates and from here I have the actual birthdate of my GG Grandparent and their children. I am delighted. However, it says my GG Grandmother (Margaret Atkinson) was born on the 15th April 1850 - and I know she was married in 1865 as being of full age. 15 is pretty young but is it considered 'full age'? She would have had her father's permission as he brought her and her sister to New Zealand. Richard Atkinson (my GGG grandfather) was murdered in Dec 1865 and Margaret was stabbed as well. She managed to lure the attacker outside and to lock him out, then took charge of the situation in firing a gun to attract help, and then ordered others to get the police, doctor and magistrate out to Waipori. A very young age to handle such a traumatic event if she was only 15. I will hunt for her baptism in Portadown now I have a date.

Oh WOW Kerry that is awesome, I myself got hold of a couple of Diaries that belonged to the sister's family of hubby's great great grandfather

Edited by crab2 at 6:33 pm, Thu 4 Apr

crab2 - 2019-04-04 18:33:00

I went to school with a Sandra Cotton in the 1960's (Chch) She may be related to you. Anyway what an interesting find, the Bible! Its so neat to discover information of generations back. This site has been wonderful at helping me over the years. I now have lots of details about my GG parents, even some photos.

robin23 - 2019-04-05 19:00:00

Hi Robin, I am not sure about a Sandra but a lot of the Cotton families are related. I have had some very generous people help me out too. My first foray here was solving my husband's illegitimate grandfather's origins and it was a very VERY exciting time. WALE from Chardstock was the family we eventually sleuthed. We actually visited the village and banged into a cousin and ended up with a photo of his mother - and the likeness to my father-in-law was uncanny! He was so moved to see her and know where his dad's sad origins were - and he died a few months later. Sometimes the work that people do here has so much importance. A big thanks to all the helpers.

devine-spark - 2019-04-09 21:27:00

Hi devine-s, Thats so interesting. Through this site I found info about my great grandfather too. He was put into a London work-house at age 12 and immigrated to NZ where he raised a family of 9. Poor guy died in 1913 and never learned to read or write. I was so fascinated in this new found information but had no-one to tell as sadly all my immediate family have died. Im so appreciative of the help Ive received on here though.

robin23 - 2019-04-15 16:26:00

What an amazing find. And great that "that old thing" hadn't been tossed out in a clean-up.

4pc - 2019-04-16 22:49:00