52 Ancestors - Week 6 - Favourite Name - Angelina Lovell/Bliss/Wilkinson
Sometimes you see a name and it creates a picture of the life that person might have had. I always thought that my 3x great aunt Angelina Bliss would have had a wonderful life. However, when I started looking, frankly, I was shocked by uncovering things that hint at a life that belies her name. Angelina Lovell, the youngest surviving child of Benjamin and Hester, was born in 1852 in Motueka, New Zealand, probably in the middle of the town where I now live. Just behind her likely birthplace is Wilkinson Street. I assumed Angelina had married Mr. Bliss, he had passed away and she had married Mr. Wilkinson, who may or may not have been the local dignitary after whom the street was named. Angelina's parents had arrived as assisted immigrants and first settlers to Nelson in 1842 and within a few months had moved to what is now Golden Bay. They quickly moved back to Motueka where there were more Europeans because Hester did not feel safe and, unlike her sister in law Ann, struggled t...