William Mudford (b. 1833, d. 1904)
William Mudford was born in Stepney, east London on 24 October 1833. It is not know if, or when, he was baptized.
At the time of the 1841 England and Wales Census William, aged 6 was living with his parents John (age 50) and Johanna (age 50) in Church Lane in east London. In addition to his parents, he was living with his siblings John (age 20), Ann (age 20) and Mary (age 15).
William emigrated to Aotearoa with the rest of the family when he was 8 years old. The family traveled on the Clifton, leaving Gravesend on 2 October 1841, and arriving in Port Nicholson on 17 February 1842. It is likely William and his mother, Johanna, moved to Auckland in 1850 when William was 16, as they appear in a passenger list for the Camilla, traveling from Wellington to Auckland.
William married Elizabeth Stafford on the 11'th July 1855. The marriage registration states that they were married in William's house in Parnell. The witnesses were William's brother-in-law William Boyd and Elizabeth's sister Georgina Stafford.
William and Elizabeth had 11 children of whom 10 survived to adulthood. These children were, in birth order: John Mudford (b. 5 Nov. 1855), Johanna (Mudford) Porter (b. 18 Mar. 1857), George Nathaniel Mudford (b. 11 Jul. 1859), William Joseph Mudford (b. 17 Aug. 1863), Harriett Elizabeth Mudford (b. 29 Aug. 1863), James Mudford (b. 6 Dec. 1864), Georgina Martha (Mudford) Hockey (b. 17 May 1867), Elizabeth (Mudford) Thomson (b. 11 Aug. 1869), Daniel Peter Mudford (b. 6 Sep. 1872), Robert Mudford (b. 6 Jun. 1874) and Alice Mabel (Mudford) McIntyre (b. 1878).
William Mudford, b. 1833 WikiTree profile
William appears in a number of Auckland jury lists from 1855, 1856, 1860 and 1861. William also appears as a claimant of old age pension for the sum of £18 per year in January 1901 and February 1902.
William died on 4 November 1904. He is buried in Symonds St. Cemetery, in a plot which also contains the graves of his mother Johanna (b. 1788) and his wife Elizabeth (Stafford) Mudford (b. 1834). William also has a profile on Find a Grave.
Elizabeth (Stafford) Mudford (b. 1834, d. 1894)
Elizabeth (Stafford) Mudford was born in Oldham, Lancashire in 1834, and baptized on 19 January 1835 at St. Peter's in Oldham. Her mother Martha (Mills) Stafford died in 1838 when Elizabeth was 4.
At the time of the 1841 England and Wales Census Elizabeth, aged 5, although actually 7, was living in Barker St., Oldham with her father Nathan (age 30), her brother Joseph (age 9) and Peter and Sarah Mills, age 23 and 25 respectively. It is likely that Peter and Sarah Mills were Nathan's brother-in-law and his wife.
Nathaniel remarried later in 1841 to Mary Jane (Smith) Stafford. Nathaniel and Jane emigrated to Aotearoa with Elizabeth in 1842 on the Duchess of Argyle which sailed from Greenock, Scotland on 9 June 1842, and arrived in Auckland on 9 October 1842.
Elizabeth's name appears in a newspaper article about an "Old Colonists Jubilee" for the Duchess of Argyle and the Jane Gifford, which were the first two immigrant ships from Great Britain to Auckland.
Elizabeth died on 1 August 1894, and her obituary appeared on the 9 August 1894. She is buried in Symonds St. Cemetery, in a plot which also contains the graves of her mother-in-law Johanna (b. 1788) and her husband William Mudford (b. 1833). Elizabeth also has a profile on Find a Grave.
