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| The Crooks |
Crooks Tree |
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| Most of the information is evidence based, but where it is conjecture, that will be apparent. |
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Terence & Elizabeth (Eliza)* Crooks (nee Waddell) were Mum's maternal grandparents. Various searches have uncovered some information, although there is some discrepancy here and there. They were both born in Northern Ireland, in Larne, Co. Antrim. Terence was born in1837, and Eliza in 1847. They were married in 1870. Larne was and is a market town, and Terence was a farmer.
Here's one of the discrepancies. Ellen is shown as being born in Carrickfergus. OK, That's just south of Larne, so no problem. The others are all shown as being born in Ballygowan, Ballynure, Larne, Antrim - all of these places! Here's the rub. Ballygowan is a wee town south of Belfast, in Co. Down. Ballynure is a wee town north of Belfast in Co. Antrim. According to my 2nd cousin Ken Croskery, Ballygowan is the correct answer. That might suggest that the family moved around a bit. Perhaps Terence had to go where the work was.
Put this in a NZ context, and it's a bit like saying somebody was born in Manurewa, Mt Albert, Auckland. It doesn't quite fit. Suffice to say however that they were all from near Belfast, Northern Ireland.
* Elizabeth Waddell is shown in some records as Eliza Waddell, and some things such as census show both. There is possibly just a typo in some of the old records. On Minnie's marriage certificate, mother of the bride is shown as Elizabeth. It's probable that this is her correct name, but she either called herself, of was known as Eliza. Mary's second name, Weatherup, is most likely a family name from one side or the other. The name crops up in the Co. Antrim area.
Searching further back on both the Crooks and Waddell families brought mixed results. The Waddells drew a blank. A Crooks family was found in the right place, at the right time (1851 census) and head of the house was a farmer. There was however no Terence listed, but a John 14 years old, the same age Terence would have been. |
Could this be a twin or was Terence actually John Terence - i.e. Terence being a middle name, and the one he used? A census only counts those in the house on the night, and it's also possible that Terence was not at home, assuming of course that it was indeed his family. There are several names that reappear in the next generation so there is a remote possibility that this is the right family. If not, they are most likely related. It is alsopossible that Terence was living with another relative - it was common to send the kids to live with other family members, or even other families to learn a trade or vocation. The census finding was as follows: |
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5 Curran And Drumalis Townland, Larne County Antrim (31 April 1851)
Samuel Crooks, Head, M, 48, Farmer, County Antrim
Elizabeth Crooks, Wife, M, 43, Housekeeper, County Antrim
Samuel Crooks, Son, U, 22, Farmer, County Antrim
William Crooks, Son, U, 17, None, County Antrim
John Crooks, Son, U, 14, None, County Antrim
James Crooks, Son, U, 12, None, County Antrim
Elizabeth Crooks, Daughter, U, 8, At School, County Antrim
Hannah Crooks, Daughter, U, 7, At School, County Antrim
Amelia Crooks, Daughter, U, 5, None, County Antrim
Margaret Gribben, Servant, U, 20, None, County Antrim
John Riley, Servant, M, 34, Labourer, County Antrim
Margaret Gribbon, U, 1m, None, County Antrim |
| < source: http://www.searchforancestors.com/locality/ireland/census1851/larne.html > |
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SAMUEL CROOKS, 48 ,Head, Married ,1828 , FARMER ,Antrim
ELIZABETH CROOKS, 43 ,Wife, Married ,1828 , HOUSEKEEPER ,Antrim ,R
SAMUEL CROOKS, 22 ,Son,Unmarried ,, FARMER ,Antrim ,R/W
WILLIAM CROOKS, 17 ,Son,Unmarried ,, NONE ,Antrim ,R/W
JOHN CROOKS, 14 ,Son,Unmarried ,, NONE ,Antrim ,R/W
JAMES CROOKS, 12 ,Son,Unmarried ,, NONE ,Antrim ,R
ELIZABETH CROOKS, 8 ,Daughter,Unmarried ,, AT SCHOOL ,Antrim ,R
HANNAH CROOKS, 7 ,Daughter,Unmarried ,, AT SCHOOL ,Antrim ,R
AMELIA CROOKS, 5 ,Daughter,Unmarried ,, NONE ,Antrim
MARGARET GRIBBEN, 20 ,Servant,Unmarried ,, NONE ,Antrim ,R
JOHN RILEY, 34 ,Servant,Married , LABOURER ,Antrim ,R
MARGARET GRIBBEN, 1 month ,Daughter to servant girl,Unmarried ,, NONE ,Antrim |
| http://irishgenealogy.net/cp/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1713 |
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| Most of the 1851 Irish census was destroyed in the 1922 fire at the Four Courts in Dublin, along with many other records. The largest collection of surviving census fragments pertains to County Antrim, and, in particular, to the following parishes: Aghagallon, Aghalee, Ballinderry, Ballymoney, Craigs, Dunaghy, Grange, Killead, Kilwaughter, Larne, Rasharkin, and Tickmacrevan |
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| More views of Larne around the later part of the nineteeth century. Samuel & Elizabeth would have been familiar with these places. |
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The Samuel Crooks who was head of the household listed above died in July 1879, and Terence Crooks - a farmer of Ballygowan and son of Samuel - was the beneficiary according to the probate. The eldest son is usually the beneficiary, so this could mean that it is a different family, or if the right one, that the older brothers were dead or out of favour. In any case, we do know that Terence and family sailed from Gravesend (London) on November 2, 1879 aboard the ship British Empire, a barque of 1499 tons, owned by Mr George Duncan of London and captained by James Mather. The ships surgeon was Dr. E. Menzies. It was one of the fastest ships making the voyage at the time, although it only made two trips to Auckland.. They would have sailed first from Belfast. With them (in theory at least) were their five children: |
Ellen
William John
Agnes
Samuel
Mary Weatherup |
b. 9 August 1869
b. 8 November 1871
b. 6 December 1873
b. 6 May 1876
b. 8 August 1878 |
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Here's another discrepancy. There were a few more Crooks on the passenger list, but a William is not shown. Further on you'll see that a William John is recorded at Northcote school, and the timing fits, so he must have been with them. They were all steerage passengers. For this particular voyage, there are two lists recorded. |
| One has the Crooks shown as: |
The second list is similar, but there are extras: |
Francis
Eliza
Agnes
Samuel
Mary
Robert
M
M
Matthew
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Sarah
Annie
Samuel
Mary
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Agnes
Annie
Eliza
Francis
Francis
Jane
M
M
Mary |
Mary
Mary J
Matthew
Matthew
Robert
Samuel
Samuel
Sarah Ann |
Looking at other entries on the passenger list, the M appears to be a first initial. I don't know of any other "M"s in the family. The other Crooks may have been related - in fact they most likely were, but just how is a mystery. Perhaps two braches of the family decided in emigrate together. |
| As you can see, there are extras on the alternative passenger list, but also possibly a couple of duplications. |
The journey to NZ brought tragedy to the Crooks family. An unspecified and contagious sickness claimed the lives of the two youngest children during the voyage. One arrivals passenger list notes the death of Samuel during the voyage, but not Mary. To make matters worse, when the ship arrived in Auckland on 4 / 5 February 1880 flying a yellow flag to signify disease on board, it was diverted to the quarantine island of Motuihe. There, the possessions of all aboard were burnt, and passengers were quarantined until clear of sickness. |
There is a comprehensive report on the previous voyage in 1875 available here. Alas, no further details for the later voyage, but it gives a good idea of how things were. The unfortunate little Mary's middle name was Weatherup as seen above. Weatherup was the name of a local family in Co. Antrim recorded back to the mid 18th century, so perhaps her grandmother was one. It was, and still is common practice for a child's middle name to be a family name from an earlier generation. None of the other children had a middle name that seems to be a family name. |
The exact sequence of events is uncertain, but the family purchased land in Glenfield (then called Mayfield), built a house and commenced farming. At the time, Aucklands North Shore was not the prime real estate it is today. It is believed that the Crooks were the first white people to settle there and that Mary Jane (Minnie - my Nana) was the first white child born in the district, in 1882. Samuel James (Sammy) was the next born, in 1884, followed by Edith Annie Elizabeth (Edie) in 1885. There was a brother Jack - possibly the William John listed above, since he used the name John and this was commonly referred to as Jack, in the same way that Bill is often used for William. Anyway, for some reason, he was not spoken of so is a bit of a mystery. There is however a record of a William John Crooks going to school in Northcote. There was also a son Robert, but his birth date is not known at this time. A Robert does appear on the above passenger list however and I have him marrying an Elsie. A photo of Robert was sent to me by Cherie Cook. |
There's a bit of a gap in information here, and nothing much is known about the early years of the Crooks family in NZ other than that the kids all attended school in Northcote.
The Crooks girls all married, as did Robert. Edie, Nellie, Aggie and Robert settled in Auckland. Sam never married. John (Jack?) remains a mystery.
On 17 August 1905, Minnie married Arthur Moore Gracie in the Crooks family home. The following year their first child Eric was born in Auckland, but he died shortly after birth. The next child Kathleen was born in Auckland the following year. In 1908, the Gracies moved to Aratapu in Northland where Arthur took a job as a boiler engineer on the river boats that serviced the Dargaville - Auckland run. All of the other children were born there. Birth certificates state Aratapu, but the maternity annexe was at Te Kopuru, just down the road (see map below).
Terence Crooks died in 1915. The farm was left to Sam, with one small bit left to Robert, who didn't want it and promptly gave it to Sam. Sam continued to live at home and his cousin Cassie (Nellie's daughter) also came to live there to help look after Grandma Crooks. She had apparently taken to her rocking chair and spent her days sipping on gin (for medicinal purposes only of course!). Before Minnie got married, she used to be sent by Grandma into town to buy the gin for her, and she hated having to do this. When Grandma Crooks died in 1923, Cassie stayed on as housekeeper for Sam.
Sam was secretly fond of the old bottle himself and he would hide supplies around the place (behind the cow shed was one) in order to partake when he thought nobody was looking. |
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Clockwise from left Nellie, Edie, Aggie, Minnie |
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Sam Crooks and Cassie Woolley at the Crooks house. c1920 or thereabouts |
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After Grandma died, the Gracies returned from Aratapu and took up residence in the house, which had been enlarged to make room, and had effectively became the Gracie house. Cassie had gone home by this time. Sam continued to live at the house until his death in 1956. Minnie died in December the same year, and Arthur Gracie had died in 1949. |
Various relatives from the Crooks line are scattered about but at the time of doing this site, only one is known. Sally Compain is the great great granddaughter of Terence and Elizabeth. I am the great great grandson, which I think makes us second cousins, once removed - if that makes sense. |
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There was a bit of a mystery surrounding a photograph that was discovered in behind the one of Terence & Elizabeth Crooks at the top of this page. Refer to Aunty Margie for details at end of her story. A new mystery has arisen about another photograph, but at least this one has a name. Amongst some old photos found in a envelope was the photo on the right. On the back is written "Andrew Crooks sent" and "Father of 38 (1), 38 (2)", whatever that means. You may just be able to read at the bottom of the photo the words Mack and Larne. Mack is presumably the photographer or studio and it was in Larne, where the family came from. I would presume that the person in the photo is the Andrew Crooks in question, and that having his portrait taken in Larne at that age means he didn't come to NZ as a child. Also, if he sent the photo, it probably means he didn't come anyway.
Just where Andrew fits into the tree is uncertain. Mum did once say that the brother of one grandfather or other (not sure which one or which side) came over to NZ and the brother here wouldn't see him for some reason. Long way to come on a sailing ship just to get dissed when you arrive! If this bloke is the brother of Terence, and that is one possibility, then it kind of buggers up the theory about the family above whom I had guessed were maybe Terence's lot.
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