The Letters From Joseph Smith

THE LETTERS FROM JOSEPH SMITH

We know exactly when Joe Smith, his wife Edie and their three children emigrated to New Zealand. They sailed from Woolwich on board the Shaw Saville & Albion Line S.S. "Mamari" on the 12th November, 1912. There is a picture post card of the ship sent on this date addressed to my Mother, Edith Stanfield, with the simple inscription "Best Love, Joe & Edie". There is also a railway carriage sticker stating "North Staffordshire Railway - ENGAGED" and inscribed "From Burton Station To Euston Station, Date 11 Nov. 1912" with the remark on the back "Taken off Carriage Window, He rode through Measham for London, Nov. 11th, 1912. There is also a penny from Joe given to my Mother. Apparently, in those days, pennies were exchanged as tokens wishing prosperity on the recipients.

The three children were George, Harry and Annie, their fourth child, Joseph, was born later in New Zealand. My Mother and Joe (senior) were cousins as their mothers were sisters and so it was perhaps natural that a correspondence between her and Joe's daughter Annie was maintained for many years after these letters were written. Unfortunately, none of these letters now exist but a number of photographs do, of all the children's families. Contact has now been lost with all of them but perhaps one day, possibly with the help of the present New Zealand Liggins', we shall be able to make contact with these families again.

Now is perhaps a good opportunity to point out that these four groups of letters involve four Josephs and to avoid any confusion it is worth saying how they relate to each other. Joseph Liggins was the first to emigrate and his youngest son, who was the only child of his born in New Zealand, was Joseph Huia Palmerston, often referred to as JHP. This present group of letters are written by Joseph Smith, son of Joseph’s sister Annie who had married George Smith and his son, also born in New Zealand, is often referred to as Young Joe.

It is a pity there are only five letters in this group. There were obviously many more and my Mother was obviously familiar with all this family's doings but at the time that she was alive I had no interest these things and so this information has been lost. However, these letters, although quite short, reveal quite a lot of interest.

They span the years from 1913 to 1939, a period of 26 years. From the first letter it would appear that Joe probably worked for his uncle Joe at Tokomaru. From the second letter, written in 1917, he appears to have taken up the venture in the flax mill but by the time of the third letter, written in 1925, he is a farmer on land at Makerua, near Shannon, the next township to Tokomaru on the railway line to Wellington.

The final two letters are both written in 1939. In the first of these he refers to Miss Wheatcroft who was my Auntie Hettie. She was companion to Lady Cooper who lived in Park Lane, London and her husband, Sir Daniel, had interests in Australia and New Zealand. It was while on a trip there with them that she visited Joe Smith. There is a photograph of her there with Joe and his son Harry in front of a nearby hydroelectric power station which presumably had only just been completed.

There are also photographs of Joe when he visited England in the Summer of 1930. He came on his own "for health reasons" as he was said to be suffering from scabies. Certainly he looks very thin on the photos but was probably a bit of a "creaking gate".

Joseph Smith with his wife Edie (nee Liggins)

and their three children

George, Harry and Annie

Their fourth child, young Joe, was born later in New Zealand