Anne's Story - Final installment.

The Elms Mission House
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Meanwhile life went on at the Puriri mission station as usual.

House fires were a real danger to the families, a raupo (NZ bullrush) hut burnt very quickly and fires were needed to help keep away the mosquitoes. Apparently by the time you counted to 20 the house would be burned.

“We have scarcely any excitement here but the other day Mr Preece’s chimney caught fire but providently the wind blew in the contrary direction or the house would not have been long a house. You will find Puriri looking very shabby. The dwellings begin to decay, the garden neglected. All things seem dreary except hope. I hope to see you soon.”


Missionaries children were not all little angels……

“The dear children are behaving remarkably well now. They have lost the bad example of Alex Chapman and the little Fairburns.”

Little did she realise that one her nephews would later marry one of the Fairburn children.

“I am very careful to keep our children from Alex Chapman. I am more and more convinced of the necessity. Mrs Brown begins to see it too and seems very careful also. Little Hawker grows a sweet little fellow. Indeed they are my only solace in this exile from you. John and James are behaving well.”

The other missionary wives provided wonderful support for each other. It wasn’t easy for them, they all came from different backgrounds and often had to share the same dwellings. Anne mentions many of them in her journal.

“Dined at Mrs Fairburns” “Mrs Chapman drank tea with us” “Teaching the children in the morning, Mrs Morgan dined with us” “In the morning sewing for Mrs Preece. Dined at Mrs Fairburns” “The Preeces have been uncommonly kind to us since we came here.”

Sickness was an ongoing problem;

“A miserable Sunday. Unwell and very much distressed not only with anxiety about my absent husband but a sick child. The low state of missionary spirit at this house is truly grievous.”

“Now it is night and dear little James who has shown signs of being poorly several times today, is in a fever and delirious. I fear it may prove the Puriri fever from which my family suffered so much when residing here formerly. The bare idea fills me with an inexplicable horror. I feel inclined to send for my husband but should he come only to suffer what he did before, how can I wish for him. If that illness should attack us again I feel as if I should sink under it.”

“Little Hawker grew very much sicker after I last wrote to you. I looked into Graham* and found an emetic recommendation. I therefore administered one to him, a third of a grain of emetic tartar. He suffered very much from it at the time but has been better ever since.”

In 1837 they shifted to Waimate but again John was often absent. Over the next two years Anne Wilson’s health worsened. Her headaches became more frequent and she discovered a lump under her arm.

Anne writes to her husband;

“Mr Marsden is expected here tomorrow. Everyone seems rejoiced but my poor heart is not in time with theirs. On Friday night I put on a blister which drew amazingly but does not seem to have done my side any good. It is rather worse than before.”

Later:

“Mr Marsden arrived last night. He is staying at Mr Clarkes. There is a doctor of the vessel come over here and Mr William Williams will consult him about me. Since I wrote this I have discovered a small hard lump coming under my left arm and am decidedly worse. I think it my duty to tell you so.”

On New Years Day 1838, with Anne expecting her fourth child, the Wilsons and the Browns embarked aboard the “Columbine” to return to Tauranga. Their fourth son George was born just weeks after their arrival in Tauranga.

Anne’s health continued to deteriorate and on 23 November, 1838, age 36, she died at The Elms in Tauranga. Her grave was the first European grave in the Mission cemetery.

She was nursed with great care and love by Charlotte Brown who later described her as:

“an endeared and highly valued friend and assistant….an affectionate and tender mother and a wife whose worth her husband only could really appreciate”

Anne Wilson became an inspiration to her family for many years to come.

She was my Great Great Great Aunt.
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Reference: Max Armstrong 'My Hand Will Write What My Heart Dictates'

*Graham was a medical reference book.