Biographical information provided by Pauline Gallagher for the He Tohu exhibition:
Annie Blennerhassett (nee Eliot) was born in Nelson on 10 March 1852 to English immigrant parents Henry Eliot and Anna Amelia Bishop. Both parents arrived in Nelson from Plymouth England on the ship Lady Nugent in 1850. The Lady Nugent came specifically to Nelson bringing immigrants for the purpose of erecting a stream saw, flour mill and thrashing machine. Henry was a miller and Anna was a servant.
On 11 September 1873 Annie married Thomas William Blennerhassett, a draper from Tralee County Clare Ireland. They married at the residence of John Newman a blacksmith of Bridges Street Nelson. They would have ten children.
In 1890 the family moved to Whanganui where Thomas was to be the manager for 21 years of the NZ Clothing Factory, a store owned by the Hallenstein Brothers.
Thomas died in 1911 leaving all his property to his dear wife. Annie’s youngest child Arthur was killed during the First World War in France on 4 November 1918, a week before armistice. Annie died at her home in1929. In her will she left her home to her four spinster daughters as tenants in common – none of them ever married.
Click on sheet number to see the 1893 petition sheet this signature appeared on. Digital copies of the sheets supplied by Archives New Zealand.
Community contributions