Annie Corbett

• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Apr 14 2018, 8:16:41 UTC

Annie was born about 1869-70. Unable to confirm the exact date, some family trees suggest a date as 21 May 1869, other state 1870, and were it exists official information is conflicting. Her death certificate gives her age as 72, making the year 1869, however her grave records age as 73. Some trees indicate her full name as Annie Elizabeth Mary, but once again I have no evidence. Her death notice and marriage certificate simply state Annie. Annie was the youngest daughter of Samuel and Harriett Bowyer and was the niece of Hannah King Hansen, (long thought to be the first white female child born in New Zealand in January 1817). Hannah's grandfather, Thomas Hansen, captained Samual Marsden's ship, the brig 'Active' in 1814. In 1942 Annie was killed in a tramcar accident. She walked out from between two parked cars in Devon St, New Plymouth, crossing from south to north, between Currie and Brougham Sts, near the Currie St intersection. It is thought she did not hear the tram approach.

From the Northern Advocate newspaper, 6 February 1942:

The late Mrs. Annie Corbett, aged 73. who died at New Plymouth Hospital last week as the result of being knocked down by a tramcar. was a descendant of one of the earliest of New Zealand’s pioneer families. She was a daughter of the late Thomas Bowyer, Kaeo. Whangaroa, and a niece of the first white child born in New Zealand. Her aunt, the late Hannah King Lethbridge, was born at Oihi. Bay of Islands, in January, 1816 just over a year after the Rev. Samuel Marsden preached his first sermon in New Zealand at Oihi on Christmas Day, 1814. Mrs. Corbett had lived in the Okato district, Taranaki, for 48 [years]