Jane Thompson Middlebrook

1849-1935

 

Jane Thompson Middlebrook is quite a mystery woman.

She was aged 13 when she arrived in New Zealand with her parents and 6 siblings

Her father's untimely death would have occured when she was 17 and it was not long after this, in 1868 she apparently married James John McRae a Tasmanian Scotsman who had emigrated to New Zealand with his brothers some years earlier.

I say apparently, as there is no definitive proof as yet that any marriage took place,There is no official registration that can be found in New Zealand and  in fact until late in 1868 James John was still married to his first wife in Tasmania. His divorce only becoming legal that year. However the book McRaes to New Zealand by Molly Acres states Jane was married on 18 May 1868 in Auckland and then again in July 1869 in Tahiti. Again there is no evidence of a trip to Tahiti by either Jane nor James at this time.

Jane and James had 7 children . The first, Amelia in January 1869 in Tararu Creek Thames. ( Again there is no proof of these facts, as strangely there are no official birth records for Amelia nor her younger sister Ellen.

Amelias birth location is taken from her marriage certificate.

The second child Ellen Margaret was also apparently born in Thames  in 1870 but we have no records at all for her birth, nor for her death.

Subsequent children are born at various locations but are officially recorded.

It appears at some point Jane and James became estranged. He clearly is not living with Jane when she is writing from her residence in Opua  to James' brother Welsh in 1887 and in one of those letters Welsh gives Jane an address for another McRae brother, Hector.  In 1890 Jane marries Hector. ( On the marriage certificate she states she is a spinster however James is most definitely still alive at this time, because his death records state he died in 1894 in Helensville after falling on the wharf and hitting his head)

For the most part it appears though that Jane lived an independent life as there are few electoral roll records where Jane and Hector appear in the same area.

Jane moved around a lot, and owned property in various streets in Auckland- at one point living in Cobden Street next door to her mother. Later her  mother moved in with her in her boarding house in Arkles Bay Whangaparaoa ( this is where Ellen died in 1915)

Later she moved to Devonport where she owned at least 2 properties and it is here at her home at 20 Kiwi Road Devonport that in 1935 that she died aged 86.