Dates

• Existence: 1851 - 1934

Biography

William and Elizabeth Northey and their family emigrated to Lyttelton from Plymouth on the Mary Shepherd in 1873. They left behind their daughter Martha with her baby Martha Jane (called Patty), in the care of Mrs. Wearne and her family. In 1874 Martha joined her family in New Zealand, leaving Patty with her foster family. She married David Mitten in 1876. In 1909, after the death of her foster mother, Patty emigrated to Canada, taking the letters with her. In 1910 she married Thomas Butterworth. She died in 1954. Her daughter, Mrs Annie Vincent donated photocopies of the letters, from the female Canterbury-based Northey family members to Martha Northey and Mrs Wearne in England, dealing with the concerns of a colonial working class family.

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