Bluett Family

Nathaniel Bluett married Mary Butcher and they had 2 children.

Nathaniel, born between 1805 and 181 1 and Mary who was born 10th March 181 1 and died 6th October 1811.

Nathaniel married Eliza Chisnall at Poistead, Suffolk on the 2nd October 1835. Eliza was the daughter of William Chisnall and she was christened at Raydon 10th July 1814 and died 15th November 1885 and is buried at Stoke by Nayland. (There is no record of Nathaniel's death). He was a carpenter and bell ringer in the Church of England at Stoke by Nayland. They had three children, Arthur Nathaniel, born 12th August 1836; Eliza, born 1842; and Martha Jane, born 1st June 1 843

Arthur Nathaniel left London on the 10th September 1856 as an assisted immigrant at a cost of 15.10.00 on the "Egmont". He arrived at Lyttelton on the 23rd of December 1856. Nothing is known of his movements until it is recorded that in 1863 he walked from Nelson to Lyttelton to meet his sisters who had arrived on the sailing ship "Captain Cook". The ship had gone into quarantine and he had to walk back to Nelson without seeing them. He lost his way returning, ran out of food and lived on wekas.

It is understood that he had gone to Nelson to work in the gold fields making sluice boxes and tail races for the miners. At one stage, Arthur was also a bell ringer, like his father. In 1866 he married Sarah Jane Keats and lived the rest of his life in Oxford, North Canterbury.

Eliza, aged 20 and Martha aged 18 years left Spithead in "Captain Cook" on the 17th May 1863 and arrived at Lyttleton in the 5th September 1863. Their parents were bitterly opposed to them emigrating.

The Bluetts were considered to be of good class, having been educated at the Church school (which they had to pay for), and with trades. The children tried to persuade their parents to come out too, and when they refused, they thought it would only be a matter of time before they changed their minds, but they never did, even though there was a depression in England, an epidemic of T. B and it was at the time where New Zealand was being fiercely promoted.

When the girls arrived at the top of the bridle path from Lyttleton and saw the dreadful Canterbury Plains, they sat on their cases and cried "what ever will we do?" On arrival they stayed for a short time with friends in Kaiapoi and then went to Oxford by bullock dray.

Martha Ann married Waiter Ryde at Oxford about 1864. Waiter was a fellow passenger on the "Captain Cook", he was born about 1840 at llisworth, Middlesex and became an engineer. His father Waiter William Ryde had married Mary Ann Davis and he was a lathe render. Waiter was engaged in laying down sawmilling plants, and after some time they moved to Alford Forest, where they stayed for about 18 months before returning to Oxford. They had 13 children, Waiter died in 1906 and Martha died in 1931. They are both buried in the Oxford cemetery.

Eliza married Phillip Charles Bourgois on the 26th February 1864 at Kaiapoi Wesleyan Church by Reverend James Bluett. They had one son. Eliza died at Timaru on the 20th November 1869, and her son, Arthur, also died young. Phillip remarried and died in 1896.