James Morris Wood

When James Morris Wood was born on 5 October 1842, his father, James, was a 29-year old stonemason in Henley-upon-Thames and his mother, Jane Mabey, was 26. James senior sang in the local choir and competed in rowing races on the river.

James Morris emigrated to New Zealand in 1862, landing in Lyttleton after the the Canterbury-assisted migrants refused to get off at the intended destination of Timaru. At 19, he was one of the youngest men abord the ship Echunga. His elder sister Mary Ann Wood emigrated at about the same time; she married Timaru publican Edwin Hooper in Dunedin in 1863.

James Morris went north. In Napier, he married a migrant from Norfolk, Harriet Gowing. They had a daughter, Louisa, but Harriet died three years later in 1873. Two years after that, James married Harriet's sister-in-law, the widow Caroline Blaker, and took responsibility for her young daughter. He served in the local militia during various confrontations with local Maori, and worked in the Bank of New Zealand.

In June 1880, James Morris Wood was working as Akaroa's Acting Town Clerk, and was involved in a brewery there - possibly in connection with his sister's publican husband.

But then New Zealand's "Long Depression" started in 1880 or 1881 according to many sources...

In November 1880, James' Akaroa possessions were put up for auction due to unpaid rent: https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA18801126.2.18.2. The list included furniture, a cow, horse and cart, and 700 gallons of beer from his brewery.

In April 1881, he and Margaret Glew (nee Borland; wife of the local publican) eloped to Sydney under assumed names.

Benjamin Glew filed for bankruptcy in November 1881 https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GLOBE18811103.2.7?item...

and his Criterion Hotel was put up for auction https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AMBPA18811101.2.17.2?i...

James Morris' abandoned wife Caroline Blaker went to court and gained legal title over his New Zealand possessions.

James Morris Wood and Maggie Glew reappeared in Bega, NSW as a "married" couple named Alexander James Wilson and Maggie Wilson (nee Borland). James worked as a Town Clerk again, gave violin lessons, and was a stalwart of the local School of Arts, conducting orchestras and starring in musical events.

Maggie and James Morris had eleven (!) children together. They took care to leave clues for future genealogists, giving his mother's maiden name "Mabey" to his son Edwin Mabey Wilson.

But in 1895, it was time to skip town again, leaving Maggie and the Bega police fruitlessly seeking a "violin-playing accountant".

Astonishingly, Caroline took him back (personal communication, Ethel Jean Wood), and James spent another 20+ respectable years as the accountant at the Waihi goldmine, and member of the brass band.

The New Zealand government declined his application for a war medal, finding no records of active service.

He died on 29 July 1918 in Waihi, Waikato, having lived a long life of 75 years, and was buried there.