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: sarah harris
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…
Sarah Harris’s Ghostly Letters
By Michele Leggott The Turnbull Typings It is like looking at ghosts. The Alexander Turnbull Library holds typed copies of four letters written by Sarah Harris in New Plymouth to her father and sisters in England 1841 and 1843. Thanks to an accompanying note dated 1922, we know more or less how the copies came Read More…
Sisters at a Glance #3 Unnamed Daughter
By Michele Leggott and Brianna Vincent Unnamed Daughter 7-12 March 1841 Before my confinement I felt very unwell for some weeks, I wanted the frequent doses of Castor Oil as was my custom in England, but from the scarcity of it on board I could not have it, so I was induced to take two Read More…
Flames and archives
In her diaries from the 1880s Emily Harris tells two stories about burning. The first concerns the destruction of a diary when she was a young woman in Taranaki in the late 1850s. She is painfully conscious of the loss her action imposed at the time and regrets it still: Well, long ago, some seven Read More…
Writing Lines: highlights from Emily’s 1860s letters
There is nothing like copy editing and proof reading to focus the mind and eyes on textual detail. But the same close attention also tunes the ear to tones and inflections of the voice coming off the page. After our latest stint with Emily’s writing, it was the work of a moment to go cherry-picking 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…
Sail | Walk | Drown: The Wandering Texts of Sarah and Emily Harris
‘My sweet babe.’ Thirty years after losing her five-day-old daughter on the voyage to New Zealand, Sarah Harris can barely speak of the experience. Her words wander across the notebook page, she breaks off, starts again, cannot find words or syntax to convey her feelings. Phrases trail off, repeats falter. She can’t find her way, Read More…
Edwin Harris, Painter &c
Sometimes the answers are right there. It just takes a while to see them. We’ve read the William Bryan passenger list, 7 names in the cabin, 141 men, women and children in steerage. The Harrises are there: Harris, Edwin Painter 32; Mrs 30; Boy under 7; Girl under 7; Girl 10 months. In fact Edwin Read More…
The Family Songbook Goes Live
‘A night or two ago I dreamed that I said it is a long time since I called at my Father’s and your parents and that I was determined I would go the next day. I awoke to disappointment wishing I might never dream again.’ (Sarah Harris #15) ‘Will you in the next send me Read More…