Biography

John Adams ( ? – 1893)

John Adams was the husband of Elizabeth Stacey (Eliza). The two were married in Bristol. Gloucester, England on 28 April, 1856, at Holy Trinity Church.

John’s birthplace and parents are unknown and while he and Eliza appear to have had two children in the U.K. only the baptism records of a daughter have been traced. Adams. Elizabeth Ann, F.C. 15 March 1857, Holy Trinity, Bristol, Glouster. Father: John Adams, Mother : Elizabeth.

The 1861 U.K. census records Eliza, Elizabeth Ann and William Henry living in Bristol. Eliza’s occupation is listed as a shoe fabricator. John, whose occupation was noted on the marriage certificate as a ‘mariner’ may have been at sea at the time of the census.

The family appears to have immigrated to New Zealand in 1865 as Eliza appears on a list of debtors to the Otago Province. ” Debtors to the Otago Province” : Elizabeth Adams by ‘Thracian’, 29 August 1865 to Otago (debtor) has guarantors, John Adams and John Barr.

In New Zealand the couple had a further 5 children: Mary Harriet 1866, Sarah Maria 1867, John Arthur 1869, Frederick Herbert 1871, Thomas Stacey 1872. In 1877 Eliza died of a heart ailment and in the same year John married Jean Munro, possibly seeking a wife to take care of young children. John appears to have been a bootmaker but at his death in 1893 his occupation was listed as a storeman.

John is buried with his first wife Eliza, his second wife Jean, 8 month old Edwin James, considering his death in 1876 probably the son of Eliza and John and another child, possibly a grandchild, John Irwin.

The marriages of John and his children are listed as:

1877 John Adams to Jean Munro

1878 Elizabeth Ann Adams to John Cunningham

1883 William Henry Adams to Eliza Johnston Dagger

1888 Sarah Maria Adams to Thomas Frederick Landels

1889 Mary Hariet Adams to Thomas Cunningham

1897 Frederick Herbert Adams to Sarah Hurst

1897 John Arthur Adams to Janet McTaggart

1902 Thomas Stacey Adams to Annie Shaw Young

1914 John Arthur Adams to Barbara Rodger

Some of the children along with John, Eliza and Jean Adams are buried in the Northern Cemetery. William Henry and his wife Eliza Johnston are in Block 73, plot 41. Frederick Herbert and his wife Sarah are in Block 174, plot 8. The remaining children of John and Eliza are buried in the Gore and Oamaru cemeteries and at Anderson’s Bay Cemetery, Dunedin.