John Nicklin Merry was born in England in 1828 and he emigrated to Australia.  When he was aged 26 he married 19 year old English woman Eliza Price, on 14 February 1855 in Launceston, Tasmania.

They had five children while in Australia – Arthur Henry (1855-1892), Thomas Richard (1857-1947), Mary Elizabeth (1859-1942), Herbert? (1860-?), Eliza Jane (1862), however, Eliza Jane Merry died in October 1862 when she was only six days old.

This may have prompted their decision to emigrate again, this time to New Zealand, at the end of 1862.  They sailed on the schooner ‘Creole’, leaving Launceston on Christmas Day 1862 and arrived into Port Chalmers on 4 January 1863.  The ‘Creole’ sank in the Bank’s Strait at Tasmania a short time later in September 1863.

Eliza’s parents also arrived into Dunedin at approximately the same time, however, her mother, Mary Price, died 21 August 1863 and her dad, Thomas Price, died 21 February 1865.  Mary and Thomas were from England and had also emigrated to Tasmania before coming to New Zealand, and he was a baker.  They are my great great great grandparents and are buried at the Southern Cemetery in “free ground”.  This was a designated area for Class III or ‘paupers’ and was located within a large rectangular plot in the General Section of the cemetery.  “Free ground” means that the grave site was not purchased … but a fee was charged to be buried there.  On ground of this class the graves are not marked in any way.

On 19 October 1863 John Nicklin Merry commenced workfor the Provincial Government as the storekeeper for the Dunedin Hospital, a job that required him (but not his family) to live on site.  On 31 January 1865 he lost his job and he made an appeal to James Macandrew, although at this particular time he was not the Superintendent of the Otago Province.  It appears his appeal was partially successfully because he was employed as a clerk elsewhere shortly afterwards.

They had seven more children in New Zealand including Laura Kate Merry (my great grandmother) – Edward William (1863-1922), Alfred Nicklin (1865-1946), Bertha Letetia (1868), Laura Kate (1870-1949), Louisa Harriet (1873), Frederick Samuel (1874-1875) and Robert Henry (1877-1935), sadly however three of these children died during their first year of life.

John was a clerk when he became insolvent at the end of 1866, a problem that plagued him throughout his working life, however there were legal issues around the availability of a copy of the Act for the Judge to rule on as detailed in the Otago Daily Times.

 

After such time he became solvent again and worked as an accountant, but a decade later his financial state was again in peril and is bankrupted for a second time in 1881.

Over the next two years John Nicklin Merry again paid off his debts and his bankruptcy was discharged.

 

Eliza Merry died in 1891 at the age of 55 and is buried in the Northern Cemetery (Block 80. Plot 14) although there is no headstone remaining, only a plaque.  Their oldest son Arthur Henry Merry dies the following year at the age of 36 and is buried in the same plot, as is Ivy Eliza Merry the two year daughter of Edward.

Overtime John Nicklin Merry slowly built a new and successful business, as a wool and skin exporter, and fulfilled an active role in the community.  Sadly he became ill in 1907 and this caused his business to become unprofitable.  In 1909 he was declared bankrupt for the third time.  The following is the report of the creditors meeting:

He had sold 6 Swan St to his daughter Laura and her husband Edward Lyng in 1908 for £400 but there were no titles to the house (this was rectified in 1909) and the Lyngs lived there until their deaths, Edward in 1937 and Laura in 1949 respectfully.

The above photo was taken at Puketeraki, Christmas 1908, and features the Lyng family. From left to right: Isabella, John Nicklin Merry, Charlie, Lilian, great grandma Laura, Kate, great grandad Edward and grandad Harold.  Also possibly Flick (the dog).

In 1910 John Nicklin Merry again made good on his debts and filed for discharge of his bankruptcy.

He died the following year a debt-free man and is buried beside Eliza in the Merry Family grave at Northern Cemetery.