Richard Ching and Elizabeth nee Pearce

Seaview Cemetery Block 24, Plot 480

Richards’s first wife Jane was buried at Fairfield Cemetery in 1855.

Richard Ching¹ was born on  11 July 1811 in England to Cornish parents - William Ching and Mary Vague. Richard was aged 12 when both his father, aged 40 years, and grandmother, aged 78, passed away within a year of each other. He married his first wife Jane Harris in April 1841 and they later had one daughter and six sons who passed on the family name.

Nine days after their marriage, Richard was on his way to sail to New Zealand on an expedition under the direction of Captain Arthur Wakefield to survey and choose a settlement site for emigrants coming from England. They sailed out on three ships; The Whitby, the Will Watch and the Arrow. The first two vessels sailed on the 2nd May, 1841 but the Arrow did not get away until the 21st. All three vessels arrived in Nelson where there was some argument over the site for settlement. The expedition crossed Cook Strait to explore the district, when it was finally agreed after much debate that the settlement would be located in Wakatu Bay.

The wives and children followed in February 1842 on the Lloyds, where 65 children died, giving it the worst record of any immigrant ship in New Zealand for deaths on a journey.
Richard was one of the first Englishmen to set foot in Nelson and he soon established an orchard and a farm on Nayland Road, Stoke which his sons helped him to run for many years, making the family prominent in the Stoke area. After his first wife, Jane, died at the age of 43 in 1855, Richard remarried to Elizabeth Pearce in 1857 and they had 12 children together.
Richard passed away in 1883 at the age of 72 with the respect of all that knew him.
His children with Jane were²:

• John Harris born 1844
• William -  born 1845, married Elizabeth Doidge in 1868. Their daughter Isabella married William Chisnall whose grandfather was Edmund Buxton of Broadgreen House.
• James born c1849, married in 1871 to Mary Ann Doidge.
• Charles born c1849, married in 1879 to Sarah Jane Norgate. Their son Leslie Ching was one of three brothers who served in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) in WW1. Herbert Charles and Mostyn Roy both survived the war, but Leslie died of influenza in 1919.
• Henry Ching born c.1851. He married Elizabeth Hannah Jellyman in 1877.

The children of Richard and Elizabeth were²: 

• Mary Jane, born.1858 and died 1860.
• Michael born 1859 and  married in 1892 to Lucy Emma Lovell
• Mary Jane born 1861 and married in 1881 to Thomas Holdaway.
• Elizabeth Ann, born 1862, married in 1880 to William Jellyman.
• Eliza born 1863, married in 1894 to James Guger Rankin.
• Richard born 1864, married 1899 to Elizabeth Kate Jenkin Ballard.
• Emma Louise/a,  born 1865, married in 1884 to Edwin Arthur Edwards.
• Thomas born 1866, married Agnes Jellyman.
• Philip born 1868, married 1891 to Ellen Martha Best.
• Grace Pearce born 1870, married in 1902 to Job Meads.
• Sarah born 1872, married in 1901 to Ernest Cawthron Bright.
• Minnie born 1875, married in 1913 to Samuel George Bridgeman.
• John Louis born 1877, married Alice Louisa Hammond.

Henry and Elizabeth Ching nee Jellyman

Seaview Cemetery Block 15 Plot 289 & 290

Elizabeth Hannah Jellyman was born 19 March 1858 in Stoke to Ann and Enoch. Henry and Ann married 21 June 1877 at the Wesley Church, Stoke. Henry, the fifth son of Richard, and Elizabeth, the fourth daughter of Ann and Enoch, both of Stoke.

Henry and Elizabeth had 12 children. Elizabeth died 1 May 1924 aged 66 and Henry died 7 November 1929 aged 77.

The children who were officially registered³ were:

• Wilfred Henry born 1878
• Francis William born 1879
• Percy Enoch born 1880 and  married in 1908 to Annie McCormack and probably remarried in 1918 to Elsie Olive Scott (although this may have been the son).
• Francis Richard born 1882 and married in 1927 to Violet Ann Thompson.
• Raynor Ashton born 1883 and married in 1918 to Francis Mary Bashford.
• Hilda Mary [May] born 1887 and married in 1913 to George Vincent Dee.
• Myrtle Ruby born 1889
• Cyril Victor born 1892 and married in 1911 to Kathleen Burke
• Allen Lee born 1893
• Bertie Louis born 1896 and married in 1921 to Ruby Grace Ricketts.
• Hector Keith born 1903 and married in 1921 to Pearl Albmena.

Thomas and Agnes Ching nee Jellyman⁴

Seaview Cemetery Block 15, Plot 296

Agnes Charlotte Jellyman, daughter of Enoch and Ann Jellyman was born 22 July 1864, had her schooling at Stoke School and by 1895 she was organist at the Stoke Wesleyan Methodist Church. Agnes married Thomas Ching 12 April 1893, who was described as a farmer.

Thomas, or Tom, was born 16 October 1867 and died 10 September 1948.  Tom was initially a farmer probably in the Stoke area, then an orchardist in Chings Road, Lower Moutere. The couple returned to Stoke when they retired from the orchard where Agnes died aged 73, 6 June 1938. Tom survived her by another 10 years. They had no children.

2017 (updated 2021)

Story by: Cheryl Carnahan