John Tompkins

John Tompkins came to NZ as a 12 year old with his parents John (a bricklayer) and Mary (nee Roe) and siblings (William 17, Emma 14, Ann 10, Maria 8, Mary 3) on the SS "London" in 1842. His Uncle Thomas Tompkins had been shipped out to Australia in 1813 as a convict at the age of 19. John visited his cousins in Australia around 1850 aged 25-26, where he met and married his first wife Harriet Matilda Chisholm on 4 November 1854 at Wesleyan Chapel, Prahran, Melbourne. John bought his new wife back to Wellington NZ where they had 5 children in 15 years (Arthur, James, Matilda, Emily and Ernest) before Harriet unexpectedly died aged 36 yearsin 1869 (she is buried with her in-laws in Wellington NZ, as Harriets family were still in Australia where they immigrated to on SS Florentia in 1849).

After Harriet died in 1869 John remarried Helen Ramsay Schultz in 1870 and had a further 6 children (Fred, Harriet, Anne, John, Alice and Nelly) . In 1879 John and Helen purchased Section 44 and 45 in the Douglas Special Settlement Block, Rongotea, auction, they already owned and ran a store in Sanson. The road on which these sections are situated was named Tompkins Line after the Tompkins family (later changed to Kellow Road). The Tompkins children, Fred, Ann, John and Alice attended Carnarvon School (1880 onwards) which was virtually at the back of their farm. Their father served on the school committee from 1880-1891.

When the Rongotea Dairy factory opened on 12 March 1895 John Tompkins was listed as one of the original suppliers, John passed away on 2 November 1896, aged 68 years, two months later a clearing sale of his dairy cows took place at Rongotea and the property was sold. Helen died 16 February 1912. They are buried together in Sanson (Sandon) cemetery.

Arthur Tompkins married Lillian Crabb whose brother Ernest Crabb was also an original milk supplier of the Rongotea Dairy Factory. Arthur owned and ran a store at Halcombe. Their son Lance Tompkins was born in 1895 and became a Supreme Court Judge. A book was written about their daughter Gladys who was imprisoned by the Japances in WWII in Changi Prison in Singapore.

Ernest Tompkins married Catherine Cockburn, daughter of Alexander Cockburn whose sister Helen Nichol Cockburn married Henry Hammond.

James and EmilyTompkins married brother and sister Ann and John Sanson.

Frederick Kirk Tompkins married Annie Reilly and secondly Leah Cotton

came to NZ on SS "London" in 1842, aged 9 years with her parents and siblings
Father John Tompkins
Mother Mary Roe
Siblings:
Eliza Bannister-Bassett;
Henrietta Tompkins;
William Haines Tompkins;
Mark Tompkins;
Emma McGlashan;
John Tompkins;
Maria Bradey
Mary Ann Taperell
Anne Minifie