Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson The envelope that Gretchen Briant inscribed ‘Grandmother’s letters’ contains more than typings of Sarah Harris’s early letters to her family in England. Twelve pages in Sarah’s hand have been folded into the envelope, not letters but journal notes from 1860, the year of the first Taranaki war. Some miscellaneous notes Read More…
Tag: Briant Family
Grandmother’s letters: Sarah Harris 1841 & 1843
Story and photos by Michele Leggott and Catherine Field-Dodgson The writing on the envelope says ‘Grandmother’s letters.’ The writer is Gretchen Briant and her grandmother is Sarah Harris. Inside the envelope, neatly folded, are four typed letters on foolscap, copies of letters written by Sarah from New Plymouth in 1841 and 1843. They describe the Read More…
Edwin’s Books: The Briant Connection
By Michele Leggott It is 1961. Brothers Philip Winning and Hugh Godfrey Briant look over family papers and books passed down from their late mother Gretchen Briant née Weyergang and decide to gift a letter and a dictionary to the Taranaki Museum. The brothers farm at Bonny Glen, Marton and have been talking to their Read More…
Portrait of Sarah Harris
We are so lucky to be in touch with the Harris Family descendants based here in New Zealand. This week we hear from one of them about their recollections. ________ I am Roseanne Cranstone (nee Briant), a great-great-granddaughter of Sarah Harris, who was one of the first settlers in New Plymouth. She is also the Read More…