Living

Living + Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Stephen + Jessie Fox. Jessie (daughter of Charles Francis Fox and Frances Kidd) was born in 1910 in New Zealand. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Charles Francis Fox was born Kasper Rubenach. He changed his name before migrating from Tasmania to New Zealand.

Charles married Frances Kidd on 6 Jun 1906. Frances (daughter of William Kidd and Ann McQueen Alexander) was born in 1887 in Greymouth, West Coast, New Zealand; died on 16 Jun 1958 in Westport, West Coast, New Zealand. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Frederick + unknown. unknown was born in cir 1850. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

William was a jeweller in Scotland and went to sea when he was about 15. Some time between 1875-85 he made his way to New Zealand.

William married Ann McQueen Alexander on 18 Jul 1885 in Greymouth, West Coast, New Zealand. Ann (daughter of Thomas Fraser Alexander and Isabel McLean) was born in 1867 in Stafford, Hokitika, West Coast, New Zealand; died on 20 Oct 1914 in Westport, West Coast, New Zealand. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Presbyterian

Notes:

It was in Brunnerton that Ann McQueen Alexander met William Kidd. Their marriage certificate lists William as a coalminer and Ann's mother, Isabella McLean Alexander, as a witness.

Around 1909-1910, work was beginning on the building of the Otira tunnel through the Southern Alps, connecting Westland and Canterbury. It was in 1914 that Ann Kidd died in Westport of breast cancer. William Kidd was an electrician at this time and went to Otira to work on the Otira tunnel project. His youngest daughter, Elizabeth Ann, went with him, presumably to keep house for her father.

Ann was born at Stafford, Hokitika during the gold rush era. Situated on the bar-bound mouth of the Hokitika River on the West Coast of the South Island, Hokitika sprang into life in 1864 when gold was found at her back door and despite its hazardous entrance and the snags that infested the river, Hokitika was officially gazetted as a port on 8 March 1865 by the Canterbury Provincial Government which was desperate for revenue. It developed into a thriving mining town and an important port. The first settlers were John Hudson and James Price who set up a store on the banks of the Hokitika River in 1865 to cater for the miners pouring in following the gold strike in 1864. In 1866, with a population of more than 6,000, the town was almost twice its present size. People were either digging for gold along the banks of the river or servicing the gold mining industry that had spread along rivers in the region. By 1866 Gibson Quay was usually crowded with small ships - or at least those that had survived the ordeal of entering port. Despite this, more overseas vessels and more immigrants arrived at Hokitika than at any other New Zealand port in 1867. Between 1865 and 1867 there were 108 strandings - 32 of which were total wrecks. River floods joined the surf in making difficulties. Food and supplies came by sea by many coasting-craft which broke their backs crossing the bars or which ended their working-life on the north or south. Hundreds of adventurers were willing to pay £5 apiece for the 12-hours passage from Nelson and the high rates of insurance did not deter ship owners. The Hokitika Harbour Board did not come into existence until 1876 and the Hokitika Harbour limped on long after the gold ran out, trade dwindled and the port was closed in 1954. Hokitika was the largest "port of value" between 1865 and 1867.

In 1948 there were still several banks, hotels, boarding houses, a hospital, newspaper, breweries, dairy factory, a whitebait canning factory, etc., and the largest gold dredge in the world was still working three miles from the town. The population of the Hokitika borough was 2,840 with gold mining (sluicing and dredging), saw milling and farming the chief support for the town.

Ann was a self-taught nurse and midwife. It must be remembered that they always lived in mining communities that were quite small and most had no doctor, and the nearest hospital was far away. Ann's grandson Frederick "Snowy" Fox had grown up with his grandparents close by. Snowy told how his grandmother Ann was often out at nights attending sick people or delivering babies.

When Snowy himself was born his mother Frances (nee Kidd) was very sick and they could not get Snowy to breathe. He was premature and weighed only two and a half pounds. Ann put him under the kitchen tap and ran warm water over his face; after two minutes of this he cried. She oiled him, wrapped him in cheesecloth, tucked him under her coat and took him to her home, which was just along the road. Despite his troublesome beginning, Snowy lived till his nineties.

Ann got her skills from delivering many babies over many years and looking after sick people. With her daughter Elizabeth "Ann", she also lay out the bodies of anyone who died. "Ann" was about 15 when her mother died so she was pretty young to be doing this.

On 20 October 1914 Ann Kidd died in Westport of breast cancer. Work had begun around 1909-10 on the building of the Otira tunnel through the Southern Alps, connecting Westland and Canterbury. William Kidd was an electrician at this time and went to Otira to work on the Otira tunnel project. His youngest daughter "Ann" went with him, presumably to keep house for her father.

William's granddaughter Maud Sophia Gear, living with her family in Blackball at the time, also visited Otira. She remembered travelling by horse-drawn coach from Otira to Arthur's Pass, sitting on a knee of a soldier, on his way to the First World War. Her Aunty Elizabeth "Ann" Kidd went with her and together they made the return trip to Otira with the coachman. Maud was very young at this time but her memory of her visit to Otira was always very vivid and remained with her all her life. Otira tunnel was opened on 4 August 1923.

Elizabeth "Ann" Kidd's son, Jack Burgess, stated his mother was the first woman to go through the Otira tunnel. When the viaduct across the Otira Gorge was built, my Aunty Della walked across it on the day it was opened in 1999 and before it was open to traffic.

Notes:

Married:
The marriage took place in the Presbyterian Manse at Greymouth.