Hello Peter, I like your idea of adding information like this to the mailing list archives. Was John and Sarah BECK and family, passengers on the Travancore to Lyttelton in December 2850 related to Mrs. Ann Wakelin nee Beck? They settled in Winton, Otago. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/images/Travancore.jpg

Hi Olwyn I don’t know. Some trees have assumed that John BECK on the ship is related to Ann BECK the wife of John WAKELIN on the voyage but I haven’t seen the proof of it. I haven’t had a go at them yet. Presumably John’s death registration should give his parents as long as it wasn’t too early. Could be like Ann though, her’s just said her father was Richard the bricklayer and that she was born in Leicestershire, mother unknown. I haven’t located an original scan of the passenger list, just a summary online (at your pages I think!). An item in the MacDonald Index at Canterbury Museum quoted a pax list for the voyage as a source, so maybe that is at Archives NZ in Peterborough St in Chch seeing as lots of them were transfered there some years ago. Doesn’t come up on Archway though. Peter From: Olwyn Whitehouse Sent: Thursday, February 9, 2017 3:40 PM To: Peter Dillon Cc: new-zealand Subject: Re: [nz] Ann BECK ( =John WAKELIN ) Hello Peter, I like your idea of adding information like this to the mailing list archives. Was John and Sarah BECK and family, passengers on the Travancore to Lyttelton in December 2850 related to Mrs. Ann Wakelin nee Beck? They settled in Winton, Otago. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/images/Travancore.jpg

Hi Olwyn I’ve had a go at John & Sarah BECK on the TRAVANCORE, entertained two possibilities which I had to dismiss, and got nowhere. The only suitable John & Sarah BECK I can find in census data is a couple in 1841 living at Aston by Birmingham which is where Ann BECK & John WAKELIN married in 1840 A George HANDY is with John & Sarah in the census and in fact John BECK married Sarah HANDY, father George HANDY, at Aston Birmingham in 1841. John and George had the same occupations in the census as in the marriage record. Unfortunately, it appears that both John & Sarah were born at Sutton Coldfield and in later census enumerations they lived at Sheffield in Yorkshire and both died there during the 1860s. Therefore they cannot be John & Sarah on the ship TRAVANCORE which arrived at Lyttelton on 31 Mar 1851. I feel that the MacDonald Index card for John BECK has got it wrong when it says that John on the ship TRAVANCORE settled at Winton and later took the Acclimatisation Society position. That position was in Christchurch and John BECK of Winton took it in 1875. He later returned south to Wairio down south and became a farmer. I think the recorder of the index card must have been influenced by the fact that John BECK on the TRAVANCORE was a gardener. https://collection.canterburymuseum.com/objects/708306 Apparently John who was at Winton and went to Christchurch then Wairio was born Ireland, married to Elizabeth GILLESPIE in Scotland and didn’t come out to NZ till much later than the one in 1851. The list of children to John and Elizabeth bears no relation to the list of children to John & Sarah. A newspaper article about his eldest daughter’s marriage calls her Jane. John & Sarah had no Jane with them on board the TRAVANCORE. I think voyage of the ship INVERCARGILL arriving in Otago in 1874 from Glasgow is the correct voyage for the man who took up the Acclimatisation Society in Christchurch (see link below). There were five children with him and Elizabeth and a sixth was born in NZ. He couldn’t have stayed at Winton long to be taking the society’s position in Christchurch in 1875. Winton is brought to our attention by the MacDonald Index card which fools us into thinking that John might have been there for quite a while due to the card falsely stating that he arrived at Lyttelton on the TRAVANCORE in 1851. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DT89-N4Y These items below sum things up, especially the obituary in the Southland Times upon the death in 1884 of John BECK of Wairio. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TS18751020.2.7?query="john beck" winton Star, Issue 2367, 20 October 1875 Acclimatisation Society.— At a meeting of the Garden Committee on Monday, it was decided to appoint Mr John Beck of Winton, Otago, as Curator to the Society, subject to the approval of the Council of the Society. Mr Beck is the candidate who was referred to some days ago, as being the last to apply for the appointment, and who had high testimonials extending over a period of twenty-five years, besides a very strong recommendation from the Curator of the Dunedin Society. As to whether or not Winton was part of Southland or Otago at the time, this reporter of the ODT in 1875 describes it as in Southland. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT18751029.2.5?query="john beck" Otago Daily Times, Issue 4274, 29 October 1875, p.2 Mr John Beck, of Winton, Southland, has received the appointment of Curator to the Acclimatisation Society of Canterbury. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST18760117.2.6?query="john beck" Southland Times, Issue 2265, 17 January 1876 MARRIAGE. Taylor — Beck.— An the registrar's Office, Winton, on the 14th instant, by Duguld Cameron, Esq., Registrar of Marriages for the District, William Taylor, Esq., of Burnside, Winton, to Jane Beck, oldest daughter of John Beck, Esq., Curator of Acclimatisation Gardens, Christchurch https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST18840823.2.21?query="john beck" Southland Times, Issue 5012, 23 August 1884, p.3 Mr John Beck, one of the pioneer settlers of Wairio, has been confined to his room for some months through severe cold settling upon him. He was one who always took a leading part in affairs of public interest in the locality, and his absence is felt very much from public gatherings. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST18841122.2.16?query="john beck" Southland Times, Issue 5092, 22 November 1884, p.2 It is with regret that I have to chronicle the death of one of our most respected inhabitants, Mr John Beck, who was one of the pioneer settlers of Wairio, having been a selector m the first block of deferred payment land thrown open in the district. Deceased was a native of County Down, Ireland, where he was brought up to agriculture, but having a natural inclination to game and pisiculture, he emigrated to Scotland where he engaged in pursuits congenial to his nature for a number of years. Eventually accounts from New Zealand attracted his attention and he determined to try his fortune in the colony, selecting Christchurch, where owing to his large experience and knowledge of game, and also to high testimonials as to character and ability from persons of high standing at home, he received an appointment of trust under the Christchurch Acclimatisation Society, which he held until he determined to settle down as a farmer, selecting Wairio. Ballochmyle, the late gentleman's property, bears evidence to his natural taste for landscape, he having laid off large plantations of trees and shrubs both for shelter and ornament. Deceased always took an active part in politics, and all matters of public taste to the district. Up to the time of his death he held the position of chairman of the school committee, with the exception of one year, from the formation of the school district. He leaves, besides his wife, a family of four sons and two daughters, one of whom is married. I am none the wiser as to where John & Sarah BECK on board the TRAVANCORE were from (groan). Peter From: Olwyn Whitehouse Sent: Thursday, February 9, 2017 3:40 PM To: Peter Dillon Cc: new-zealand Subject: Re: [nz] Ann BECK ( =John WAKELIN ) Hello Peter, I like your idea of adding information like this to the mailing list archives. Was John and Sarah BECK and family, passengers on the Travancore to Lyttelton in December 2850 related to Mrs. Ann Wakelin nee Beck? They settled in Winton, Otago. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/images/Travancore.jpg