J. Croskell

Biography contributed by Mrs Colyn Storer (nee Morley) Sydney, Australia

J Croskell was born Jane Johnson, daughter of William Graves Johnson and Catharine nee Wright, about September 1849 and was baptised on 16 September at St Thomas of Canterbury Mumby Lincolnshire. In the 1851 census, her father was a farmer born at Mumby while Catherine was born at the nearby village of Hogsthorpe. She had six older siblings and three younger ones.

All of the family except her eldest sister Betsy emigrated to New Zealand from the 1860s to mid 1880s. In the 1871 and 1881 censuses her mother was recorded as being deaf and dumb. 

Jane arrived in Canterbury on 2 Feb 1872 on the Charlotte Gladstone with her brother Robert and sister & husband Thomas & Catherine Gledhill. 

On 4 June 1872 at Christchurch she married Richard Croskell, who was born in the nearby village Anderby. His parents were Joseph Croskell and Rebecca nee Marshall. After Rebecca’s death in 1874, Joseph and some of his children emigrated to NZ to join Richard who arrived in 1863. Later her brother Robert Johnson married his sister Eliza Croskell. 

Richard and Jane had three children, Frederick who died as an infant and Gertrude Caroline who married Charles Dixon and Laura Jane married William Calder. Richard was a farmer at Greendale and Kirwee.

Their home was one of the local places of worship till they helped found the Methodist and Baptist Churches at Greendale where they were life long members and involved in all aspects of its worship and ministry.

When her parents celebrated their Golden Wedding in 1888 at her brother Robert’s home, it was stated ‘the whole of the Johnson family are exceedingly musical, and it was a treat to listen to Mr Johnson and his three sons and two daughters Mrs Croskell and Mrs Gledhill , singing solos, duets and quartetts.’ 

Richard retired from the farm to Spreydon in 1910 where Jane died on 2nd September 1917. Her funeral was at Spreydon Baptist church and burial at Sydenham Cemetery. Richard died on 19 August 1924 at his daughter’s home at Riccarton and buried beside his wife.

Mrs Gledhill (nee Catherine Johnson) and Richard’s sister Betsy Croskell also signed the Petition.

Sources

BIRTH, BAPTISM:              

UK GRO Indexes: https://www.gro.gov.uk/ (NOT the indexes on free.bmd or Ancestry or findmypast). These GRO indexes give mother’s maiden names and age at death.

Findmypast.com.au

Including Lincolnshire Parish registers, digitised copies

CENSUSES, FAMILY RECORDS UK

Findmypast.com.au

Including Lincolnshire Parish registers, digitised copies

Emigration Records:

Family Search Citing this Record  "New Zealand, Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1973," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FSYL-1PK : 8 August 2017), Thomas J Gledhill, 02 Feb 1872; citing ship Charlotte Gladstone, Archives New Zealand, Wellington; FHL microfilm

NZ BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES:

https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/

And Ancestry.com.au

Electoral Rolls:        

findmypast AND Ancestry.com.au

New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981

Directories:

Ancestry.com.au = various New Zealand Directories and Gazettes

Parent’s Golden Wedding:

Papers Past AND a copy sent to Lincolnshire was reported in Stamford Mercury 1 June 1888, page 5 of 8 reporting that the Celebration had taken place on 10 April 1888.

NEWS OF THE DAY.  Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7038, 16 April 1888 page 4
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP18880416.2.14?query=johnson

TOWN & COUNTRY.  Lyttelton Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 8457, 16 April 1888 page 4
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18880416.2.23?query=johnson

Death & Burial:

NZ BDM online and PapersPast
Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Cemetery Records, 1800-2007
Original data: New Zealand Cemetery Records. New Zealand Society of Genealogists Incorporated. 

Newspaper Reports:

Papers Past for many of the family, especially Death/Funeral notices

Obituary:

MR A. CROSKELL  (sic – Richard)

OBITUARY. Press, Volume LX, Issue 18165, 30 August 1924 page 14
By the death of Mr A. Croskell at the home of his daughter. Mrs A. Calder, of Riccarton, Canterbury loses another of the band of pioneers who laid the foundation of Canterbury's agricultural greatness. Born at Anderby, Lincolnshire, England, in 1838, the late Mr Croskell was about twenty-five years old when he left the Old Country for Auckland in the ship Gertrude, bringing three prize ewes for Mr Newman.  …………  He and Mrs Croskell were engaged in church work for thirty-three years, for nearly thirty years of which he was superintendent of the Sunday school.  ……….