William Chisnall and his wife Sarah (some records say Steadman) arrived in Lyttelton a few months before the First Four Ships. As William was a carpenter, he had been employed by the Canterbury Association to help ready the Port for the new settlers. Aboard the ‘Randolph’ was William Derisley (W.D) Wood, Chisnall’s brother-in-law. Together in …
William, his wife Harriet and their four children arrived in Lyttelton in June 1851. Engineer by trade, William purchased 500 acres and called it Avonwood Farm. William discovered quite a few springs on his land that made the beginning of the Avon River so as it was the head of the Avon River, it was …
It never seemed to occur to Charlotte Godley that staying behind in England was an understandable option. After all, her husband, John Robert Godley was not to be away in New Zealand for more than 3 years. Charlotte Griffith Wynne was born in North Wales in 1821. One of eight children in a well-to-do family, …
