Thank you, the bit Kate found about Miss Essex certainly confirms that connection and I see it says the late Lieut Essex. I had been playing with the possibility that her first marriage was to James Henderson Essex but has not found the confirmed link, and the reports I found had not indicated James had died. Good to know that she was widowed before she married again!
I did find Marianne, Robert and Jane arriving here in 1843 but they all travelled as Reay.
I have no confirmed information that Marianne and Robert returned to the UK, or when they went, just reports in various church papers that they had returned. Robert reappears here some time in the mid 1860s and certainly married and died here. He was a surveyor.
For all the money in the extended Reay family, this lot had money troubles. Charles left the UK owing over 100 pound, and there were complaints about Marianne's handling of the widows grant she was given.
There are some interesting stories about Charles' headstone which seems to have been quite elaborate and was sent out from England. It was discovered in a yard in Auckland in the early 1900s, no one knows how it got there or if it have ever been delivered to his grave site. It is now next to the church and he is buried somewhere in the church grounds.
Charles was certainly much loved by the local Maori, and there is a story that they said they were not sure where he was buried because they were afraid that his family would come and dig him up and take him away from them.
OO Kate, I think you have found Marianne in 1851. * does a little dance*
