Do you have any other information available, if so could you post it as this makes it easier to track the right family, date of arrival etc.

Does William Leonard and Sophia Anna Warburtons marriage certificate not give you any further clues, their fathers names, occupations and mothers maiden names and it should also give their ages at time of marriage.

Any dates and places are always useful, I'm presuming they emigrated to New Zealand from your Nelson reference.

I have Sophia death certificate.It says she was 16 arriving in NZ,with mother Mary no record of fathers name. I have had no luck in finding much info on her. She was born in Manchester.Died 20 oct 1920 in Murchison. William i have had absolutely no luck on. They married in 1862 in Nelson. All i know is that their first born son was Thomas Francis and he was born in Taranaki 1859, 3 years before they married. Sophia as she was known but her name was either Anna Sophia or the other way around, on her death certificate its Anna . At some stage she met William and moved to Nelson where they were married. I was told this was probably because Taranaki was very new in those days and churches were few and far between. I do need their marriage cert, but i am only just getting back into this after finding this website. There is a large Leanard family that i keep coming across that were mainly in ChCh and southern areas, i find myself constantly on the wrong trail. I have only found one William Leonard's arrival and that was as a young steward, as yet i havn't found where or age when he passed either.

on Sophias death cert i have her having one female aged 56 and 2 sons 61 and 53. That's a line i haven't thought to pursue as yet,

I still think your best course of action would be to get the marriage certificate it will give you lots of information and steer you on the right track for the family.

How old was Sophia when she died?

Yes i will do that she was 79, Cheers for that

Hi anniec. I have also been researching Sophia or Anna Warburton as I am a descendant of one of their sons John Harris Leonard born 1868. Not sure if you have made further progress since you posted this a few months ago. William Leonard unfortunately died at the age of 29 in Onehunga Harbour Auckland. Papers Past were a good source of information about this. It seems Wiliam got work on boats between Auckland and Nelson. I have also been stuck finding information about his place of origin although a William Leonard did arrive in Aucklanf on the Egmont in June 1858, although the passenger lists do not have an age to verify this any further or a place of origin other than the ship left. from London. I think Sophia may also have remarried although this is not noted on the death certificate. One certificate I have she also calls herself Hannah. Perhaps coming from Machester her 'H' was converted to Anna. Hopefully this is helpful.

Hi thanks for that i had just got back into it and had sent away for certificates, death marriage etc, altho i already had the marriage one years ago, just forgot. all the ones i ordered were wrong so i was just going to do a few more. i would love to talk to you if possible, my email is russell.m.c@xtra.co.nz. On their marriage it has Hannah below her name Anna. I spent a lot of time and energy on the leonards to find i had the wrong family. Have you looked at the electoral rolls to see if she married again. My line was their first born, Thomas Francis Leonard born 1858 in Taranaki,I took me 2 years to find his birth under Sophias maiden name, i havent gotten around to looking for more children, i know there were more.
Cheers Annette

The only William Leonard i have arriving was a ships steward,

Hi Annette,
I would love to discuss this topic further with you. I will gather together some information and send you an email address you have supplied over the next day or so.

the children of William & Sophia Hannah were:
1864 - Emily Margaret Leonard
1867 - George William Leonard
1868 - John Harris Leonard
1869 - Mary Hannah Leonard
- Mary was born about June 1869
- she died 10 Feb 1870 aged 8 months
- she was 3 months old when her father, William Leonard, was a Steward on board the steamer, the ss "JOHN PENN". The 'John Penn' arrived in Manukau, Auckland on 28th Sep 1869. William hired a horse to visit some relatives living in Panmure, returned the horse to the stable later that night, but did not return to the steamer and it sailed back to Nelson without him. A few days later, when the steamer returned to Manukau, it brought a letter from Sophia expressing her surprise at his non-appearance and asking what had become of him. It was then verified that the body found drowned on the beach at Onehunga, Auckland on 29th September was that of William Leonard. He was aged 29

Sophia died Oct 1920 aged 79
- she is buried PLOT 053 - BLOCK 01 at Wakapuaka cemetery, Nelson under the name Anna Sophia Leonard
- the base born son of her daughter Emily Margaret, William Henry Leonard, died aged 3 months in May 1888 and is buried next to her

at time of her death Sophia's children ...
Thomas Francis (1859-1926) would have been about 61
Emily Margaret would have been aged about 56
George William would have been aged about 53
John Harris (1868-1940) would have been about 52


ALSO found since last post above...

A William Henry Leonard was born in June 1865 to William & Hannah Leonard
- he died aged 3 weeks and is buried Plot 007 - Block 01 at Wakapuaka
- buried with him is:
* Mary Ellen Leonard, born about Nov 1862, died 28 Feb 1863 aged 3? months old
* Mary Anna Leonard who died 10 Feb 1870 8 months old (as above)
* Frances Henry Leonard who died 3 Nov 1872 aged 20 days

If Mary Anna was a daughter and she is buried with these other 3 children it is possible that they also were children of Sophia & William EXCEPT for Frances Henry who was born 3 years after the death of William

Warburton of Hale Barns

Thanks for all that. Ngaire where do you get all your info so quickly.There were 3 other Leonard families in Nelson at the same time i was crossing over into there line quite often. They had a william as well. That family all originate from chch. The piece about the letter was that in the papers past web site? You have made my day i now have to drag myself away from the comp and go to work, cheers for all the help