The prizewinning whaleboat crew referred to in James' letter, below.
Back row: George Henry Wright (1843-1912) cox, James Wright (1850-1912), William Wright (1845-1924),
Front row: Alexander Wright (1847-1920), Joseph Wright (1851-1914)
The following is the text of a letter written by James on the 30th September, 1873, apparently in reply to a letter he had received. It seems as though it must be the first letter sent to the family in England in all those years for James is telling them the highlights of the thirty history in this country.
All spelling and punctuation, (or the lack thereof), is original.
Island Bay Station near Akaroa
my Dear Brother and Sister i right to you all hoping this will find you all in good health as it leaves us at Preasant thank god i received your kind letter and News Paper we were so glad to hear from you Dear Brother we have twelve children 9 boys and 3 girls we have had fifteen three are dead Dear Brother i know must tell you a little about New Zealand you know when we left England we had nothing we have 6000 sheep besides cattle and horses we have bought 300 acres of land and rent 5000 acres from the Government i Pay fifty Pounds Per year i have to town lots of land in Akaroa my Dear Brother i wish that you would come out to New Zealand labour gets seven shillings per day at harvest time they get one shilling per hour everything hear is very Cheap i will send you a News Paper so that you can see for yourself Dear Brother you need not mind sending any more papers as i get the News of the World every mail from England so i know what is going on in England still i was very thankful for the one you sent me if you think of coming out let me know you can get out here for nothing my Dear Brother what has become of my dear Brother's children Thomas and William and my Dear Brother Joseph i will send you a likenefs of a whale i have not been whaling this last to seasons my Dear Brother i was 57 years old the 9 of last August Hannah was 52 the 8 of last March my Dear Brother my wife says that she thinks the sea would do you boath good my Dear Brother Please to send us my sisters addrefs Leuzer and Harriot we have plenty of fireing i have fifty acres of wood close to my house our sheep are lambing know i will begin shearing the first week in December Dear Brother I have five children married three sons and to Daughters the oldest is a Daughter a native of New Zealand she afs ten Children the next a son only one Daughter 6 years old the next a son 3 children next a son one Daughter next a daughter one son 4 years old the Daughter we had when we left home is dead my Dear Brother New Zealand is a fine place for fruit of all kinds Peaches you can get afs many as you like two Pence Per Dozen walnuts and almonds grow fine out hear in the Season our Summer is your winter in England we are 17000 miles from you our Day is your night my Dear Brother i will send you a small sum of money when i go to town i shall have to go after shearing i shall send sum to Father Please let Father know you have heard from me tell him that i got is letter and was glad to hear from him there is no snakes out here there is a bird out hear that stands 14 ft high i have not seen one there is a Skelington of one in Christchurch 12 feet high Please to right af soon af you get this and let me know weather you think of coming out to New Zealand Dear Brother must know conclude with all of our Kind love to you and your Wife we remain your Dear Brother and Sister
James and Hannah Wright
The following is the text of a letter written by James on 24th April, 1874.
Island Bay
Dear Brother and Sister i received your kind letter and was glad to hear from you hopeing this will find you all in good health as it leaves us at Preasant thank god i send you a little money in this letter my sons have been pulling a boat race against the Champions of Christchurch and hear they won i will send you the Paper and there likeness in the dress they had on my dear Brother i had a very fine harvest i had to hundred bushels of wheat besides oats and peas i had to pay men a shilling per hour and keep them the wages are very high out hear you can get eight shillings Per day for 8 hours there is so much government work going on out hear that they take all the hands afs soon afs they come out hear my dear Brother you had ought to come out hear England is no place for a Poor man my son James is going to be married 28 of this month so they are at our house i shall Wright to you again as soon as i hear from you from your Dear Brother and Sister
James and Hannah Wright
"Dear Brother" never came to New Zealand. James lived until 1894. He was seventy-eight years old. Hannah lived until 1914, by then outliving some of her adult children. She was ninety-three when she died which is rather interesting in view of her hard life and having given birth to fifteen children from about seventeen years of age till forty-three.
The Original Comments from the 360 Page
Political Junkie: This series was just terrific!
I enjoyed it so much!
Man...pregnant 15 times, I just can't imagine going through that!
So many great adventures they all had!
Those Wright boys look a bit like some of the hard-core bikers (harley davidson)around my neighborhood! LOL! Well, they would have to be tough to be whalers!
Dear Brother:
I wonder if everyone wrote in that style, or if it was a personal peculiarity.
I am so glad you put this together. I really enjoyed Hannah and James story, and the way it informed me about the history of NZ.
I truly looked forward to every chapter!
Thank you so much!
Friday 6 July 2007 - 08:07PM (MDT)
Just Jane: Its interesting indeed, that all that hardship did not appear to shorten her life. Too darn busy to lay down and die, I guess.... or maybe just surviving the trip out here and the rigours of childbirth that many times in the conditions then prevalent spoke of an extremely strong woman.
My husband's paternal grandmother had 9 children, raised them on a farm .... so none of the amenities that we take for granted these days... and lived to 96
Saturday 7 July 2007 - 12:23AM (PDT) TB: Have to say Iri these blogs have been one of the most interesting ones that I have seen here on 360....thank you for posting this and I hope that you will post something similar in the future....have a good Tuesday, take care friend Tuesday 10 July 2007 - 02:54AM (CEST)
 | I hope she was well looked after in her old age. She certainly deserved it.
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 | Finally had time to quick read your series. These genalogical tales of rebuilding lives in different countries and just how much a couple can achieve in life when they put their shoulders to the grindstone gives me a lift. Having all those children was pretty much a necessity in order to have help in keeping the dream alive. We are spoiled by comparison....... |
 | 87 and 93! A lot of good genes (the longevity type) in all those offsprings. |
 | I would give a lot to have been able to sit down with my grandparents and talked about their early lives. Thank goodness for these letters; it is in the people's words that we find the true history of a time and a budding nation.
As others have commented, you have the genetic inheritance of incredibly sturdy people.
And fifteen kids! Hannah should have got the Victoria Cross! |
 | I reckon the best invention ever for women was the contraceptive pill (followed by the automatic washing machine). Imagine if the Pope had his way, we would all have families that size! |
 | ha ha ..my dad, in pre-pill days, used to say, the best contraception was a disprin........held firmly between the knees......lmao
guess he never heard about doggy style... |
 | This was a brilliant series, and for me personally it was good to learn some more south island history, most of my knowledge is based on northern places and events. |
| Yes I hadn't realised when I began writing them but this story was very much more a South Island story, whereas the other one was firmly a North Island story and very focused on the NZ wars of the 1840s (which on reflection could have been just called the North Island Wars - I think it was the historian Michael King who pointed out that the North and South Islands in colonial times might well have been different countries). |
 | I thought it fantastic first time - on 360
The comments THIS time crease me up! What an irreverent lot! Remind me to blog the story of the Monastery School sometime. My favourite joke and few people get it - but YOU LOT WILL! You want to hear it NOW? NOOOOOOOOOOOOO I can't, this is iri's blog, she wouldnt do it to ME! Or would she? |
 | sounds like the brother should have emigrated too.
how many cousins do you have from them, and do you keep up with eaxh other? |
 | Very fascinating. The post between England and New Zealand must have worked well despite the hazards of the long sea journey. |
| As long as the ship didn't sink Howard. |
| OK IRI YOU ASKED FOR IT! ( I have never known it to OFFEND anyone!)
The cleverest joke I have heard.
A junior monk was setting an English test for the ten-year-old boys in a monastery school
"Boys, please write down the definition of a nun!" He wrote the words on the blackboard.
The rest of the questions followed, the bell rang and the boys handed in their exercise books and enjoyed their break of milk and ginger biscuits.
In the afternoon, the monk teacher smiled as he read one boy's first test answer:
The lad had written "A nun is a confined woman!" The teacher wrote in the margin, "Strange conception!"
At the end of term, the abbot, who checked the work of the boys and wrote Reports for their parents, was skimming through exercise books when he came across "A nun is a confined woman", the abbot smiled and went on to read the novice teacher's marginal comment "Strange conception!"
His mouth twitching, in beautiful copperplate handwriting, the Abbot wrote "CLERICAL ERROR!"
I would hate the lack of applause to be due to any language difficulties So: "confined" can be used as meaning "giving birth" "conception, well even Ifik knows both meanings of that! But "clerical" can best be explained if one points out that a pastor, priest or parson, who by the way for National Insurance purposes is classed as "SELF-employed" always describes himself as "a clerk in holy orders" clerk, clerical....ok? Now - blank faces or applause? Read it again!
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| I love the subtle ones Tina, especially when it's a play on words
well done.
|
| Lotta other faces blank dya think? Grin. hug "L" Chris. |
| We now know the company we keep, don't we? ( sad smile!) |
 | This was an interesting series. It's interesting to see the types of journey's our ancestor's undertook to find a better life or to explore the world. |
| Nah! It is an esoteric thing. giggle. |
| |
I reckon the best invention ever for women was the contraceptive pill (followed by the automatic washing machine). Imagine if the Pope had his way, we would all have families that size! 