Amanda Charlotte MØRK and the JONSEN family:
Amanda Charlotte Mørk (known as Charlotte or Lottie during her life in New Zealand) was born in Fredriksstad, a county of Christiana, Norway in 1860. Her mother was Sofie Caroline Christoferssen also known locally as Sofie Martinsdatter. Charlotte’s father was Pontus Leonard Mørk, born in Baalhuslehn, Sweden, a town just east over the border from Norway, in 1831. His occupation was listed as a tailor in the 1865 census. Charlotte’s younger siblings were Thor (b.1862), Anna (b.1865) and Sigrid (b.1868). Pontus died in 1872 aged 41 years (reason unknown at this point). Sofie remarried Fredrik JANNSON in June 1873 in what was possibly a marriage of convenience. Fredrik was also a tailor from the same town as the Morks in Norway – with such a rapid remarriage, we might wonder if he knew the family before Pontus died. The family didn’t stay long at Norsewood and moved to Wellington. Fredrik Jannson was naturalised as a New Zealand citizen in 1884 and by 1888 had remarried a widow, Lina Victoria Bennet who allegedly came out on the Hovding in 1872, the year before he and Sofie. There are no records for anyone of that name in 1872, but there is Lina Rivesen who travelled on the same journey in 1873. We might wonder if it is the same woman. Anna Elise Mørk, Charlotte’s sister, is recorded as having married Francis James BROGAN in Wellington in 1885 and had one son, Francis Joseph Anthony Brogan in 1906. I’m wondering a bit about these dates – it makes Anna 41 with 20 years of marriage behind her before this child was born. She may have had other children I haven’t found. Her husband died in 1915 and her son in 1991. Anna’s death was recorded in 1945. Charlotte at some point met Robert William BROWN, from the Wellington region. Family stories have it that she worked for him in a hotel. They married in Palmerston North in 1879 when she was 19 and their first child, Frederick Charles was born in 1882. On his birth certificate, their abode is recorded as ‘Marten Square, Wellington’ and his occupation as ‘Cook’. Charlotte and Robert were hoteliers all their working life and apparently owned a hotel in Auckland at some stage. As well as Fred, they had five more children, Lottie, Florrie, Jack, Harry and Leonard who died as a young child. Their home at the time of Charlotte’s death in 1928 was at 5 Malvern Road, Mt Albert, Auckland - a large and lovely house by all accounts which overlooked a park. Charlotte’s death certificate states she died at age 68 of cardiac disease, cardiac enlargement and cardiac failure. She is buried with her husband and her daughter Lottie in Purewa cemetery in Meadowbank. It may be that their daughter Florrie is also with them, but no name has been added to the headstone. If you have a connection with this family or would like to know more please contact Deb Bartlett.