ARNOLD, Clara
Born 1869; died 24 December 1918; buried 26 December 1918; age 49
Clara ARNOLD was born in New Zealand to Levi and Harriet JACKSON née KEMP. Her father had earned his living as a silk weaver and then as a brickmaker in England before he migrated from Cheshire to New Zealand in 1851 with his wife, Harriet and their first child, Emma. Coming first to Lyttelton, New Zealand, on the Bangalore in 1851 the family took up a farming life in several locations – Ohoka, Kaiapoi, Mandeville (near Gore) before moving to Christchurch. Over the eighteen years after their arrival in New Zealand, the family expanded to eight children, of whom Clara was the youngest.
In 1888, at 19, Clara married Frederick Joseph ARNOLD, grocer’s assistant, (21) at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch (in the wooden church that preceded the building of the Christchurch Basilica from 1901 – that itself was subsequently heavily damaged in the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes). Fred had been born south-east of Ballarat to a German father at Staffordshire Reef, Victoria, Australia in 1867. Fred’s father, John Frederick MUHLEISEN was a butcher and his mother was Winifred STAUNTON. Fred’s parents came to New Zealand; various members spelt their surname in various ways including Mulheisen, Mulheisan, Muhliesen, Mulhesen, and Muhleisen according to different sources. Fred seems to have chosen to use the English name of Arnold at marriage, but reverted to his German surname later in life.
Between 1890 and 1905 Clara and Fred Arnold had five daughters and two sons, one each of whom died as infants. They moved their family from Christchurch to Auckland for a brief time (source school records) and by 1902 the family had relocated to Wellington where Fred earned a living as a canvasser. At first, Clara and Fred lived at 13 Binham St in Te Aro, before moving to 4 Martin St, 13 Taranaki St, 23 Walter St and by the time of the 1905/6 electoral roll to 222 Willis St. Their children attended Mt Cook Infants and Te Aro Schools, with their father’s name given as guardian, except in 1909 when Mrs Arnold enrolled their son Fred in Te Aro school for his last year.
At some point Clara and Fred separated and Fred went to the Hawke’s Bay using his German surname. Working again as a grocer, (the occupation of his older brother in the Whetukura area), Frederick Joseph Muhleisen (Arnold) died in 1912 at Waipukurau Hospital on 30 March and is buried in Waipukurau Cemetery. Fred was just 45. A death notice in the Evening Post on 1 April 1912 was entered under both surnames – Muhleisen and Arnold – indicating he had died in Waipukurau but it was unsigned by those behind its publication. His daughter, Maud, inserted a memorial notice in 1917 for her father under the name Arnold. (Source Evening Post 30 March).
In 1911 Clara Arnold (now with a second name of Mary) was living at 10 Hawkestone St, Thorndon, probably with her unmarried daughters, Clara and perhaps Nellie as well as her young son Frederick John Arnold, who first registered as a voter at this address in 1919, when he was working as a maltster. When she got ill with the flu, at home in Hawkestone Street, she was taken to Wellington Hospital and died there the day before Christmas in 1918. She was buried in the Anglican section at Karori Cemetery on Boxing Day 1918.
Public Health paid a standard £7 grant on 9 September 1919 for Clara’s funeral and burial costs. Her son, Frederick John Arnold, purchased Clara’s burial plot in 1922.
Her children, Maud, Winnie, Fred, Clara, and Nellie, continued to insert memorial notices in the Evening Post until 1921, remembering their mother and what she had meant to them.
Her daughter Clara, and son Fred inserted the following in the Evening Post on Christmas Eve 1920:
I, who loved mother, sadly miss her
As it dawns another year;
In the lonely hours of thinking,
Thoughts of mother are ever dear.
My memory often wanders
As the daylight shadows fall,
Back to days of happiness,
Days beyond recall
Readers who wish to see a photo of Clara Arnold will find one on:
https://www.myheritage.com/family-1_1000091_142230022_142230022/jackson-levi-jackson-harriett-jackson-born-kemp
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 192 E
Born 1869; died 24 December 1918; buried 26 December 1918; age 49
Clara ARNOLD was born in New Zealand to Levi and Harriet JACKSON née KEMP. Her father had earned his living as a silk weaver and then as a brickmaker in England before he migrated from Cheshire to New Zealand in 1851 with his wife, Harriet and their first child, Emma. Coming first to Lyttelton, New Zealand, on the Bangalore in 1851 the family took up a farming life in several locations – Ohoka, Kaiapoi, Mandeville (near Gore) before moving to Christchurch. Over the eighteen years after their arrival in New Zealand, the family expanded to eight children, of whom Clara was the youngest.
In 1888, at 19, Clara married Frederick Joseph ARNOLD, grocer’s assistant, (21) at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch (in the wooden church that preceded the building of the Christchurch Basilica from 1901 – that itself was subsequently heavily damaged in the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes). Fred had been born south-east of Ballarat to a German father at Staffordshire Reef, Victoria, Australia in 1867. Fred’s father, John Frederick MUHLEISEN was a butcher and his mother was Winifred STAUNTON. Fred’s parents came to New Zealand; various members spelt their surname in various ways including Mulheisen, Mulheisan, Muhliesen, Mulhesen, and Muhleisen according to different sources. Fred seems to have chosen to use the English name of Arnold at marriage, but reverted to his German surname later in life.
Between 1890 and 1905 Clara and Fred Arnold had five daughters and two sons, one each of whom died as infants. They moved their family from Christchurch to Auckland for a brief time (source school records) and by 1902 the family had relocated to Wellington where Fred earned a living as a canvasser. At first, Clara and Fred lived at 13 Binham St in Te Aro, before moving to 4 Martin St, 13 Taranaki St, 23 Walter St and by the time of the 1905/6 electoral roll to 222 Willis St. Their children attended Mt Cook Infants and Te Aro Schools, with their father’s name given as guardian, except in 1909 when Mrs Arnold enrolled their son Fred in Te Aro school for his last year.
At some point Clara and Fred separated and Fred went to the Hawke’s Bay using his German surname. Working again as a grocer, (the occupation of his older brother in the Whetukura area), Frederick Joseph Muhleisen (Arnold) died in 1912 at Waipukurau Hospital on 30 March and is buried in Waipukurau Cemetery. Fred was just 45. A death notice in the Evening Post on 1 April 1912 was entered under both surnames – Muhleisen and Arnold – indicating he had died in Waipukurau but it was unsigned by those behind its publication. His daughter, Maud, inserted a memorial notice in 1917 for her father under the name Arnold. (Source Evening Post 30 March).
In 1911 Clara Arnold (now with a second name of Mary) was living at 10 Hawkestone St, Thorndon, probably with her unmarried daughters, Clara and perhaps Nellie as well as her young son Frederick John Arnold, who first registered as a voter at this address in 1919, when he was working as a maltster. When she got ill with the flu, at home in Hawkestone Street, she was taken to Wellington Hospital and died there the day before Christmas in 1918. She was buried in the Anglican section at Karori Cemetery on Boxing Day 1918.
Public Health paid a standard £7 grant on 9 September 1919 for Clara’s funeral and burial costs. Her son, Frederick John Arnold, purchased Clara’s burial plot in 1922.
Her children, Maud, Winnie, Fred, Clara, and Nellie, continued to insert memorial notices in the Evening Post until 1921, remembering their mother and what she had meant to them.
Her daughter Clara, and son Fred inserted the following in the Evening Post on Christmas Eve 1920:
I, who loved mother, sadly miss her
As it dawns another year;
In the lonely hours of thinking,
Thoughts of mother are ever dear.
My memory often wanders
As the daylight shadows fall,
Back to days of happiness,
Days beyond recall
Readers who wish to see a photo of Clara Arnold will find one on:
https://www.myheritage.com/family-1_1000091_142230022_142230022/jackson-levi-jackson-harriett-jackson-born-kemp
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson
Grave Information:
Section: CH ENG2
Plot: 192 E