written for delwyns who wrote on 2017-10-25, 05:21:08
.. Harris of Christchurch Rd, Kumara, West Coast, NZ. Am looking for any information on Birth: England 1858 abt - John Harris - d. 1923 NZ / Parents and Siblings. There are other Harris's of Hokitika, and are wondering weither they too connect. Charles Joseph Schumacher and Annie Mary Sophia Harris Adopted my Father.
Many Thanks DelwynS
this journal is added in her post but also added here separately in case she accidentally deletes 😉

Hokitika and Kumara are about 50km apart so I feel it is very possible. Delwyn forgot to add names or dates to help in the search, so have written this journal to help her. Would be grateful if anyone knows anything to please write in comments

These are the Harris in KUMARA that delwyn is referring to ...
John Harris (1858-1922) married Louisa Ridley (1866-1944) in 1887
their children were:
* 1888 - 1977 Annie Mary Sophia Harris
** 1895 - 1913 John Major William Harris
* 1892 - Frances Harris
.. and identical twins born 10 Nov 1896
* 1896 - Violet Harris
* 1896 - Jane Marion Harris

* Annie Mary Sophia Harris married Charles Joseph 'Joe' Schumacher (1892-1918), son of Philip Clements Schumacher (1860-1923) and Emily Keziah Housego (1859-1930) .. more about his family can be seen at that link ..
* Charles & Annie adopted a boy, William 'John' Schumacher (1912-1959), illegitimate son of Charles's sister Matilda Jane Schumacher
* Charles & Annie had a daughter Annie Mary Schumacher (1917-)
Charles died 16 Nov 1918 in the Westland Hospital, Kumara during the Flu Pandemic

** John Major William Harris was 18 years old, living on Christchurch Road, Teremakau, when on the morning of 17 June 1913 he decided to ride to Wainihinihi with his friend, *Richard Boys Harcourt (1896-1945), to get some cattle. He saddled up but got his foot caught in the stirrup. The horse bolted and John was thrown and dragged over the Waimea Creek. He is buried at Kumara cemetery with his father John, a Sophia Harris (1841-1913) who died 5 months after him and 1 month old Colleen Marie Neame (1928-1928), daughter of Walter Henry Neame & Marion Jane Harris (1896-1989).
* note Richard Boys Harcourt was born in Hokitika to Richard Allan Harcourt & Sophia Elizabeth Boys. He was driver NX68400, with the AIF, Australian Army Service Corps, 2/3 Motor Ambulance Company in WWII when killed in Malaysia

* In 1916 Louisa Harris drew to the attention of the Westland County Council, the erosion along the old Christchurch road, Teremakau
* In Dec 1918 Louisa Harris, with her neighbour Richard Allan Harcourt (above) and William McKenzie Harcourt (1833-1925), applied for 160 acres of land, block I, at Turiwhate
* John Harris died 20 Nov 1922 and is buried Plot 393, Block 22 at Kumara cemetery. There is also a Sophia Harris (1841-1913) buried there - mother? (as burial dates are the same it needs more research, see burial lists below)
------
Some Harris in HOKITIKA
John Edward 'Jack' Harris (1865-1922), Miner of Seddon's Terrace Rd., Rimu (written in 1905) was born at Wood's Point, Victoria, Australia, in the year 1865 and came to New Zealand at an early age with his parents, who settled at Hokitika. He was educated in the Church of England School and at the Academy at Hokitika. Mr Harris was afterwards at the Jackson's Bay settlement with his father and when but a youth, started mining with him. He was one of the first at the Rimu “rush” in 1882. About the year 1899, Mr. Harris went to the North Island, where he engaged in contracting and sawmilling work in the Wellington, Hunterville, Palmerston North and Shannon districts. He subsequently took up a dairy farm at Shannon and held it for two years. Mr Harris then returned to the West Coast and settled at Rimu, where he has since resided and has a comfortable home. He has an interest in several mining properties. In 1902, Harris was elected to the Westland Licensing Committee. He is a member of the local Miners' Association, and was for some time a member of the Woodstock school committee; takes a great interest in the temperance movement; is chairman of the Rimu and Woodstock No-License League; and is a vice-president of the West Coast branch of the New Zealand Alliance.
* John was a son of Sigvart Christian Harris & Mary Eagle below. He married Florence Burridge Upjohn (1869-1923) in 1888
They had a son
1888 - 1971 Sigvart John William Harris
- Sigvart married Clarice Mary Wilson (1897-1954) in 1920
------
some Harris MARRIAGES in Hokitia
* Joseph Tempest Harris (1845-1916)
married Katherine Jane Creighton (1852-1932) in Hokitika 19 March 1870
- their known children:
1871 - Clara Emily Harris
1872 - Edith May Harris
1873 - George Charles Harris
- Joseph was born at sea when his parents immigrated to Tasmania. He was a son of Robert Harris (1819-1858, from Middlesex) & Clara Weymouth (1823-1893, from Devon). Joseph & his family returned to Australia. He and Katherine are buried together in Karrakatta cemetery, Perth, WA
* Sigvart Christian (Jorgensen) Harris (1824-1908) from Oslo, Norway, married Mary Harris in 1885, they were aged 50. He had first married Mary Eagle (1826-1915) in Australia in 1853
- one of his sons is John Edward 'Jack' Harris above.
He had a daughter, Harriet Matilda Harris (1856-1928) who was born in Australia and married Arthur Ernest Bertram Winter in 1877. They are buried in Hokitika
* Elizabeth Humphrey Etta Harris (1885-)
- daughter of Thomas & Frances Harris
- married Thomas Williams in 1905
------
HARRIS buried at KUMERA to Nov 2017
(dates could be of death OR interment)
* CHARLES Harris, aged 61 - 13 April 1894
- Block 18, Plot 493, with wife Elizabeth Jane & her 2nd husband
* ELIZABETH JANE Harris (Hobbs, Cunningham), aged 69 - 22 Dec 1925
(database has 1-1-1894)
- Block 18, Plot 493, with 1st husband Charles Harris & 2nd husband Richard Hobbs (1841-1908) whom she married in 1895, the year after Charles's death. She next married Charles Cunningham in 1915
* JOHN Harris, aged 64 - 30 Nov 1922
- Block 22, Plot 393, with son John Major William
* JOHN MAJOR WILLIAM Harris, aged 18 - 17 June 1913
- Block 22, Plot 393, with John & Sophia
* SOPHIA Harris, aged 72 - 30 Nov 1913
- Block 22, Plot 392, with father & sons, John & John Major Harris
* WILLIAM Harris, aged ? - 30 Nov 1898
- Block 16, Plot 374A
Ww Harris, aged ? - 30 Nov 1912
- Block 22, Plot 393 NOTE There is no record of a Ww Harris. Check the date with those recorded above. Believe this is William or double up of Sophia OR, because written Ww it could mean wife of William
------
HARRIS buried at WHATAROA to Nov 2017
* MARY Harris, aged 90 - 16 Sep 1915
- Block 2, Plot 7, nee Eagle, first wife of Sigvart Christian Harris (see below)
------
HARRIS buried at Old Ross cemetery (27km south of Hokitika)
* BENJAMIN Harris, aged 65 - 16 Feb 1907
- Block 21, Plot 15
------
HARRIS buried at HOKITIKA to Nov 2017
(dates could be of death OR interment)
* ADA Harris, aged 22 - 6 June 1876
- Block 155, Plot 2294
* ADRIAN WILLIAM FREDERICK Harris, aged 27 - 27 Nov 1918
- Block 147, Plot 4120 with wife Irene Dillon (1894-1959)
- married Irene Ellen Mabel Burrowes in 1914, had 3 children. Irene remarried in 1935 to James Dillon
* AGNES CLEMENTINE Harris (nee Ridland), aged 56 - 31 May 1962
- Block 223, Plot 5103, with husband William Thomas
* ALBERT Harris, aged 56 - 18 Nov 1949
- Block 329, Plot 7370
- married Mary ? who next married Hone Bannister, see below
* BERYL JEAN 'Betty' Harris, aged 72 - 16 March 1998
- Block 292, Plot 6733, with husband Thomas Gordon
* ELMA GERTRUDE Harris, aged 85 - 14 Nov 2005
- Block 222, Plot 5076, with parents John Truebridge Harris & Erica Eva Gertrude Olson
* ERICA EVA GERTRUDE Harris (nee Olson), aged 71 - 19 Nov 1966
- Block 222, Plot 5075, with husband John Truebridge Harris & daughter Elma Gertrude
* FRANCIS Harris, aged 71 - 13 July 1929
- Block 353, Plot 6529, with Thomas (1837-1951)
* GORDON ALEXANDER Harris, aged 53 - 6 July 1973
- Block 97, Plot 2661
- born in Dunedin
* HANNAH Harris, aged 50 - 22 June 1884
- Block 64, Plot 1219
* HARRY Harris, aged 51 - 27 July 1915
- Block 278, Plot 6075
* JEAN LILLIAS Harris, aged 83 - 5 Aug 2005
- Block RSA NO 2, Plot 153, with husband Stanley Lorraine
* JESSIE Harris, aged 69 - 11 Aug 1947
- Block 238, Plot 5362
* JOHN Harris, aged 46 - 9 Jan 1869
- Block 26, Plot 816
* JOHN TRUEBRIDGE Harris, aged 71 - 20 April 1963
- Block 222, Plot 5076 with wife Erica & daughter Elma
- son of Thomas & Frances Harris
* JOSEPH Harris, aged 2 days - 27 March 1931
- Block 359, Plot 6394
* LAURA ALICE Harris, aged 61 - 22 March 1973
- Block 97, Plot 2660
* LAWRENCE Harris, aged 1 day - 2 June 1875
- Block 157, Plot 2374
* LAWRENCE Harris, aged 2 days - 9 April 1871
- Block 157, Plot 2374
* LAWRENCE Harris, aged 26- 15 Aug 1876
- Block 83, Plot 1544
* LILIAN MAY Harris, aged 85 - 16 Sep 1982
- Block 193, Plot 4535, with husband William Henry
* LUCY AMELIA Harris, aged 6 months - 6 March 1869
- Block 29, Plot 1009
* MARGARET MARY Harris, aged 81 - 29 April 1973
- Block 79, Plot 1466, with husband William 'Noah'
* MARGARET STUART ANN Harris (nee Harcourt), aged 88 - 26 May 1986
- Block 309, Plot 6913 with husband Thomas Dromcool
- daughter of Gordon Harcourt & Alice Rugg
OF NOTE Gordon & Alice also had a son named Gordon McKenzie Harcourt, so probably descended from the neighbours of delwyn's John & Louisa Harris (read top)
* MARY Harris, aged 59 - 24 June 1949
- Block 329, Plot 7367, 1st married Albert above, next married Hone Bannister. Buried as Bannister, with her daughter Mary Jane (Mahuika 1908-1998), son in law William Russell Wilson & granddaughter Monica Mary Wilson
* PATRICK EDWARD 'Pat' Harris, aged 93 - 17 July 2015
- Block RSA 2, Plot 210
- No. R152685, Able Seaman, Merchant Navy WWII. Late of England, Lyttelton and Ross, at Greymouth
* ROBERT Harris, aged 58 - 4 May 1955
- Block RSA NO 1, Plot 134
* SIGVART CHRISTIAN Harris, aged 84 - 10 May 1908
- Block 216, Plot 4971, from Norway. (1st) Wife Mary, nee Eagle (1826-1915) is buried at Whataroa
* STANLEY LORRAINE Harris, aged 77 - 27 Sep 1991
- Block RSA NO 2, Plot 15, with wife Jean Lillias
- son of John Truebridge Harris & Erica Eva Gertrude Olson
* THOMAS Harris, aged 88 - 28 Dec 1951
- Block 353, Plot 6529, with Francis (1858-1929)
* THOMAS DROMCOOL Harris, aged 66 - 24 Feb 1953
- Block 309, Plot 6913 with wife Margaret Stuart Ann
* THOMAS GORDON 'Tom' Harris, aged 35 - 29 Oct 1957
- Block 292, Plot 6733, result of aircraft accident, with wife Beryl Jean 'Betty'
- Tom Harris, West Coast Airways manager and engineer, was killed in the crash of Auster ZK-AYB, near Maruia Springs, while checking a potential top-dressing job
* WILLIAM HENRY Harris, aged 74 - 20 July 1962
- Block 193, Plot 4535, with wife Lilian May
* WILLIAM 'NOAH' Harris, aged 83 - 27 Oct 1961
- Block 79, Plot 1465, with wife Margaret Mary
- son of William Hamilton Harris & his 2nd wife, Mary Ellen Clifford
* WILLIAM THOMAS Harris, aged 65 - 20 June 1968
- Block 223, Plot 5102, with wife Agnes Clementine
- son of Thomas Harris & Eulalia Mabel Stevens Manning

PHOTO
Headstone of John Major William Harris
Plot 393, Block 22, RC at Kumara with his father John Harris (1858-1922), a Sophia Harris (1841-1913), grandmother? and 1 month old Colleen Marie Neame (1928-1928), daughter of John Neame & Marion Jane Harris (1896-1989), his sister