My Gawith Family Connections
My Great Great Grandfather Samuel Gawith was born in Ulverston, Lancashire in 1816. He trained as a Cabinet Maker and subsequently moved to Leicester and then Lymington, Hampshire. He was the 9th of 10 children of John Gawith (shoemaker) and Margaret (Peggy) Fawcett (believed to be a Quaker).
About 1837, Samuel married Keziah Feltham at Boldre, Hampshire. They had a son (George Feltham Gawith b.d.1837) but Keziah died 1839 and Samuel then married Jane Bird at Boldre.
They had 5 children (2 children in Hampshire and 3 in NZ), and Samuel and Jane, together with William (aged 8) left from 18 Eldon St Leicester and via Gravesend (8th Sept 1848) on the "Ajax" and arrived Wellington, New Zealand on the 7th Feb 1849.
On arrival in NZ, Samuel worked for the NZ Company as a carpenter and later as a cabinet maker for himself. In the 1850s, Samuel built and was the proprietor of "Gawith's Family Hotel" in Thorndon, Wellington and later built the "Metropolitan Hotel" which he still owned at his death.
At the beginning of 1860 he moved to Northlands where resided until he died in 1886. Jane died in 1860 and in 1863 Samuel married Eleanor Isabella Edgar from the island of St Vincent in the West Indies.
Samuel's family line descends from "Robert of Ulverston" (m circa 1634) (see the link above for a .pdf file of the line)
Note: In the .pdf files, the numbers behind each person's name are my computer generated "Record Idendification Numbers (RIN #s) used for identification purposes.I would appreciate learning of any family details you know of that are not described here. Please email me: Keith Vautier