Frances Rebecca Whiteside

According to Mum, Fanny was the principal antagonist in the dispute that tore the Burrow family apart. On the death of James Burrow's father, some entitlement was to be passed to the oldest grandson. The oldest legitimate grandson was Mum's brother, Bernie. However, Fanny had an illegitimate son who was older than Bernie. There was a looming struggle for this inheritance which James would not be part of. He backed off from the matter very quickly. James distanced himself from his relatives and never spoke of them to his daughter (Mum). Somehow she learned of this matter but it would seem that she did not hear about this from her dad.

Mum seemed to think that Fanny was a battle-axe or a woman of poor character.

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update (conversation with mum) Feb 23 2015:

James Burrow's father (Arthur Burrow) lived in a house in Hawke St, New Brighton, Christchurch, a house which still stands, situated on the bend of the road between the Seaview Rd roundabout and Keyes Rd. Fanny lived in a house in Averill St, Shirley. One or more of her children were first-day kids at a school over there, quite possibly Shirley Primary or Shirley Intermediate School. James Burrow lived in two places during his youth, and it is not clear when and in which order he lived at these places: in the house in Hawke St with his parents and in a house in Draper St, which is in Richmond. James won a school prize as the best swimmer at Richmond school. James's mother, Susan (Woodham) was famously stingy, to the point where if a length of thread was needed for sewing, she would ask how much was needed, and would give no more.

Upon the death of Arthur Burrow, some portion of his estate or some item of value was to be passed to the oldest 'grandson', and this led to a dispute because Fanny had an illegitimate son that was older than the oldest legitimate son, Bernie, who would have otherwise inherited this item/quantity. Mum says that she heard it said by her parents that Fanny had managed to enter the house in Hawke St without permission (she was not welcome even then) and had "taken" the thing that was to be passed to Bernie. This appears to have been the matter right at the heart of the dispute between the Burrow siblings. Bernie was James's son.

Tonight, having been told that Fanny may have had an illegitimate daughter as well as or instead of an illegitimate son, Mum showed no surprise and revised her recollection of the story to mean "oldest grandchild". When asked how sure she was that this illegitimate child had been a son she said that she was not really sure after all, that this had been an assumption she had made.

Mum was keen to point out that the family she grew up in had the opinion that "children were to be seen but not heard", so that matters that were of no importance to the children simply were never shared with the children.

Mum says that she had visited Fanny's home a couple of times in Averill St after the death of Henry Burrow but while she (Mum) was still a child, presumably accompanying her parents on some errands. She has no recollection of the purpose of the visits or what transpired.

Mum met Bob and Lorna Burrow by chance much later in life (circa 2010) at Bob's house in a street off Hulverstone Tce. Mum thinks Bob has since died and the house has been destroyed following the earthquakes of 2011. She has no idea what became of the families since then.

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Birth year 'and marriage year to Henry T Burrow confirmed' on this wikitree: http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Whiteside-336

DIA BDM does not give a death for Francis Rebecca Burrow but does give a death for Francis Rebecca White consistent with birth in 1903. This is a suggestion that she may have remarried. Fuller details may possibly be obtained by buying a death certificate from DIA. There is no record of a cemetery in ChCh for Frances White or any variant of that name, in any year. Ditto for Frances Burrow. I have no recollection of where I obtained the name James Arthur White. The name could not have come from DIA because of their privacy regulations on BDM. It seems as though I copied this from another tree at some stage.

Birth year and birth parents confirmed by birth record on DIA-BDM. Born in NZ in 1903.

NZ electoral rolls (ANCESTRY): Frances Rebecca Burrow 1928-1938 (in Avon), in Sydenham and Christchurch Central (1949). Then Frances Rebecca White 1954-1981(Sydenham - 1963 in ChCh Central)

CONSISTENT WITH remarriage 1950, death 1986.

JAMES ARTHUR WHITE appears in the electoral rolls for Sydenham in the same years up to about 1972, when he goes to live in Ashburton and Rakaia. He is a strong contender as spouse from 1950, divorcing perhaps circa 1972. Howver there are other WHITEs who live in Sydenham and have the right age.

City directory: 1947 - "Mrs Frncs R Burrow" - lived at 144 Hawkes St. (!! how can this reconcile with Mum's story?) The fact that she is listed here implies that she is the owner of the house or at least it's senior tenant.