Jewel and Ian Fyfe's Family History Page

Henry Driver and Sophia Renshaw(Driver) and son Samuel arrived in Auckland, New Zealand 13/12/1863 on board the "Green Jacket". They also brought out an orphan nephew Henry Herbert Driver (son of Henry's brother Elijah John- later became book seller in Dunedin).Samuel Shaw Driver (orphan son of Henry's brother Samuel) joined them in 1865 coming out on the "Victory" . He later went back to England and arrived back in New Zealand on the "Lebu" with his wife Mary Congreve and daughter Ann in 1879)

Henry and Sophia lived in Auckland for over two years then moved to Whangarei and farmed for 2 and a half years at Parua Bay. When gold was discovered Henry went for a year to Thames and returned in 1868. Sophia refused to be left behind this time so the whole family moved to Thames.

Henry Driver and Sophia's children were:
Samuel Driver born 16/12/1859 Sheffield married Elizabeth Lindsay 23/4/1888
their children Samuel Driver (1889), Henry Laird Driver (1891) ,Gladys Elizabeth Driver (1893), Kenneth James Driver (1895)

Sophie Elliott Driver(1898) (Thompson), Elizabeth Driver(died aged 14 yrs.
Elizabeth Driver born 23/6/1864 Auckland married Herbert Osmund Cooper 9/10/1883:
their children children Herbert, Berthia, Bertie, Jessie,Alder(Herbert Osmund), James, Cecil, Stanlet, Rosalind (Paynter),Sophie, Henry (Harry)
Annie Sophia Driver b 1866 married William Smyth Wylie 23/10/1884their children Mabel Wylie, Minnie Wylie, Nellie Wylie, Annie Wyllie (Crawshaw), Olive Wylie, Rowland Wylie, Flossie Wylie, Kath Wylie (Alaway), Sybil Wylie (Bull). Drapers in Thames
Mary Driver born 4/1/1869 married Charles Lovatt 22/12/1890
their children were Hilda Lovatt (Mutton), Stan Lovatt , Dorothy Lovatt (Hopkins), Bob Lovatt, Hazel Lovatt(Keyte), Alice Lovatt, Vera Lovatt (Walker), Roy Lovatt, Olive Lovatt(Tapper), Grace Lovatt( Pyle), Gwen Lovatt(Creamer), Lionel Lovatt. Helped found first Baptist church in Whangarei
Jessie Driver b 1870 Thames married William James Steer 1891
their children Vy Steer(Tiller), Annie Steer(Tom), Frances Steer (Campbell), Bob Steer, S.... (Seymour), Lovie Steer
Henry Driver 28/12/1872 married May Pearson 13/1/1913 May was a grand daughter of Elizabeth Driver, in Sheffield Henry
senior's sister)
their children were Annie Driver, Fred Driver , Duncan Driver, Daniel Driver. Went to U.S.A 1920
James Driver b 1/4/1875 Thames married Hessie Goldsworthy (widow) 1916 She had a child May from first marriage.
Sarah Handbury Driver born 18/7/1877 died 7/4/1878
Lucy Susie Driver born 1878 Thames married Thomas Henry Scandrett 6/4/1907
their children were George Scandrett, Mabel Scandrett(Mong), Ray Scandrett, Tom Scandrett

Henry Driver's death certificate states: died 30/8/1890 at Pollen St Thames Iron Monger aged 59 years
Father Samuel Driver , ivory cutter Mother Mary Straps
In NZ 27 years. Married in England aged 27 to Sophia Renshaw. Living issue M 14,18,31 F 12,20,22,24,26
His oldest son died young leaving a wife and young family.
Samuel Driver's death Certificate states he died 17/10/1899 at Waihou aged 39 years. Father Henry Driver,Iron Monger Mother Sophia Renshaw Born Sheffield England. 36 years in New Zealand. Married Elizabeth Lindsay at Wairoa at 27 years old. Issue M 10,8,4 F 6,1 Informant Samuel Shaw Driver.

Henry Driver was christened at Brunswick and Park Chapel,( Wesleyan) Norfolk Street, Sheffield on 9/12/1830. He was the son of Samuel Driver and Mary Straps.
We also found the baptisms of his sisters, Mary Ann Driver born in 5/8/1825, Mary Driver 27/2/1829 and Elizabeth Driver on
19/3/1833 at the same chapel. Why were Henry and Samuel rebaptised at the cathedral  on 15 February 1835?
We have then found a marriage in Rotherham of Peter France and Mary Driveron 25/12/1836. It appears Samuel died before his youngest son Elijah John Driver was born in 04 August 1836 bapt cathedral Jun 4 1837. Father's name given was John a steel turner. Was he Mary's brother or fatherinlaw?. We cannot find this birth or a record of Samuel's death. We have not found the record of Samuel and Mary's marriage but presume around 1824.
In the 1851 Census of Sheffield we find the family living at 47 Broad Lane
Peter France Head married 60 Table blade striker Woodhouse, Yorkshire
Mary France Wife " 47 Dunham, Nottingham
Henry Driver Stepson U 20 Table knife Warehouseman Sheffield
Elizabeth Driver step daughter 18 Dressmaker "
John Driver step son 14 Butchers blade maker "(Elijah John)

In 1841 the family were living in Pond Street Sheffield South. Samuel was not there but in High Street Rotherham there is a Samuel aged 15.

Samuel Driver was born in Sheffield on 15/5/1803. His parents were John Driver and Elizabeth Norman.
Other children of that marriage were Samuel Driver 31/7/1785 (obviously died young)
John Driver 21/11/1787
Henry Driver 18/1/1807
Elizabeth (Betty)  Norman was born on 2 Mar 1768 at St Peters Sheffield Her parents John Norman and Sarah Siddall were married at St Peter’s Sheffield on 4 October 1761. Other children of this marriage is John 1766,William 1769 and 1774, Thomas 1779.

John Driver was born 28/8/1761 at Sheffield, son of Samuel Driver and Elizabeth Oakes. He married Elizabeth Norman at Sheffield on 27/9/1784. Children of this marriage Samuel Driver 1785
John Driver 1787
William Driver 8/3/1795
Sarah Driver 1800
Samuel Driver 1803
Henry Driver 1807 .

Samuel Driver married Elizabeth Oakes 27/6/1760 .Children of this marriage
Mary Driver (died 7/7/1761)
John Driver christened 28/8/1761 (twins?)
Samuel Driver 28/10/1763
Benjamin Driver 30/11/1770
William Driver 12/7/1772
We think this is the Samuel that was a privateer and had a watch made in Genoa, Italy with his names rather than numbers on the face.

Elizabeth Oakes, born 17 September 1732 at Sheffield was the daughter of Benjamin Oakes and Elizabeth Gilliam

Benjamin was a labourer carpenter and other children of that marriage were Benjamin 1734,Hanah 1730, Lidia 1736,Ruth 1738 and Samuel 1728..

On “Sheffieldrecordsonline” there is a table of cutler apprentices.We find  Benjamin Driver in 1791 father Samuel Driver master Samuel Driver, knifemaker. Also Samuel in 1749, father John Driver apprentice to William Blackburn cutler.     The table shows several people who have a father John Driver’s  dating from 1694 so Driver’s have been in Sheffield for a long time. It is very hard to  pinpoint the correct family of Samuel or was my original hypothesis correct that he came from Stainton by Tickhill.       

Samuel Driver is the son of John Driver and Sarah Copley married 26 Jan 1725 Stainton by Tickhill Yorkshire Other children John Driver 7 May 1727 died 22 Jan 1728
Samuel Driver 1 Jan 1736
Mary Driver 6 Sep1738 died 26 Sep 1738
Sarah Driver 9 Nov 1740.
John Driver senior died May 24 1742 . He was the Parish Clerk.
Stainton by Tickhill is a very small parish. There are big gaps in the parish records in the late 1600- 1712. We searched the Bishop Transcripts which are complete but very hard to read particularly around the time when we would expect Sarah to be born. There are no other Driver families.
However we did find a Baptism of William Copley son of Christopher Copley labourer 30 Jun 1719 and the death of Christopher Copley, labourer Jun 14 1726 .There was also a John Copley baptized 1715 son of Christo. Copley and Eliza Smith. There was John Copley who had a son Richard Richard in 1759 and also the death of John Copley 9 Jul 1743 so it is likely Sarah is descended from either John or Christopher.

You will note there is a gap of 9 years between John and Samuel and as we have made a thorough search of the Bishop's Transcripts during this period; was the reason for this gap the fact John was away in the army?

Mary Straps was born 11/7/1803 at Dunham Nottingham. Dunham is 10 miles due west of Lincoln on the Trent River.
She was the daughter of Eastland Straps and Rebecca Mansfield. Other children of that marriage were
Elizabeth Straps 27/9/1801 also born Dunham, Nottingham
Sarah Straps 1807 and Ann Straps 1811 both born in Eagle, Lincolnshire.
Eagle is 10 miles south west of Lincoln. Eastland Straps and Rebecca were married 29/3/1801 at Canwick, Lincolnshire but banns mentioned Rebecca Mansfield was from Grantham, Lincolnshire.

Eastland Straps and Rebecca were married 29/3/1801 at Canwick, Lincolnshire but banns mentioned Rebecca Mansfield was from Grantham, Lincolnshire. The marriage of Eastlands Straps and Rebecca Mansford took place at St Wulframs Church Grantham. Eastland Straps  Bachelor  of the Parish of Canwick in this County & Rebecca Mansford of this Parish.Spinster.Married in this Church by Banns. 14/May/1801 
Eastland Straps was born 30/3/1777 at Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire  near the River Trent. Eastland died on 1 Sept 1850 Crookes, Sheffield at the age of 73.
Other children are Elizabeth born 1774- Newton on Trent, Ann 1779 South Collingham, Eleanor 1780 South Collingham, William was born 1784 at Gainsborough, Joseph 1788 Gainsborough. All these towns are on the Nottinhamshire/ Lincolnshire border close to the major transport route the River Trent.

 Their parents were Richard Straps and Ann? We cannot find the marriage . We suspected that Ann could have been Ann Eastland born in Upton but there is also a marriage of an Ann Eastland in 1784 at Scotter not far from there.

 There are not many Richard Straps on IGI  around that period: a.son of John & Eleanor b 1747 at Donington-in -Holland   and 1753 at Beckingham son of Richard Straps and Ann Sneath.  However, there seems to be gaps in registers around the area and there are a few Straps scattered around Aubourne, North and South Scarle with recorded deaths and marriages but not enough to put complete families together. There was a family at Canwick in 1753 - John Strapps & Catherine Strapps but neither given name comes through the family. There were a Thomas Straps and Elizabeth who had a son Thomas in 1723 who lived at Eagle. At North Scarle a Thomas Straps was born in 1692 son of Thomas and Alice

The Straps family moved north east across Lincoln Fens over generations: from Coleby, Donington, Heckington to Beckingham .

The internet GENUKI history of Beckingham states “the Strapps family were millers in the mill to the north of the town in the late 1700s/early 1800s.”

Children of William and Jane all born are Samuel 1752 John 1753  Jane 1757 Francis William 1762.

Elizabeth Hunt is the daughter of Phil Hunt and Mary Marshall who married 1 May 1746 at Fledborough Nottingham. (someone has entered 11 May, Besthorpe). This is a large family  all born South Scarle ( John 1747, Elizabeth 1748, William  1750, Jane  1752, Philip 1753, Ann 1755, Rebecca  1757, Thomas 1760, Robert 1762, Edward 1764, Alice 1766, and Catherine 1768.

Philip Hunt seems to be the son of Philip Hunt and Phannuel Tenery? (Tonnes?) married 15 sep 1737 Girton Nottinghamshire (near South Scarle)  The Hunt family seems to have been around the South Scarle area for a long time.

Henry Driver's wife Sophia Renshaw was born at Staveley, Derbyshire on 4/1/1835 daughter of William Renshaw born 18/2/1811) and Sarah Handbury. Her brother James also came to New Zealand and set up a hardware shop in
Thames. He later became Mayor of Thames.

Sophia Driver died 23/3/1917 at the home of her son Henry, Richmond St Thames
Sarah Handbury was born at Alfreton, Derbyshire 10/3/1812 daughter of James Handbury and Sophia (Sophy)
Elliott.
Other children of this couple are James Handbury 1813
Mary Handbury 1816
Elizabeth Handbury 1818
Sophia Handbury 1822
Hannah Handbury 1826 (all born at Alfreton)
Ann Handbury 1829
Elizabeth Handbury 1831
Catherine Handbury 1833 (all born in Staveley).

James Handbury and Sophia Elliott were married 18/11/1811 at Alfreton.
James Handbury born 23/11/1788 at Elvaston Derbyshire was the son of James Handbury and Ann Daykin who were married 27/7/1783 at Elvaston. Other siblings all born Elvaston were Mary Handbury 1787, John Handbury 1798, John Handbury 1800 .
This James Handbury born 23/9/1758 was the son of James Handbury and Sarah Bentley who were married 21/3/1754 at All Saints in Derby.Other children were twin of James Handbury , Sarah Handbury , and William Handbury 1760.

Sophia Elliott was born 26/5/1794 at Alfreton daughter of George Elliott and Sarah Tomlinson who were married at South Wingfield Derbyshire. Other siblings were Sarah Elliott 1777, Jonathan Elliott 1780, John Elliott 1782, Lydia Elliott 1784, George Elliott 1786, James Elliott 1789, Henry Elliott 1792, Elizabeth Elliott 1798 .

George was the son of Jonathan Ellot and Elizabeth Radford born 4/10/1753. Sarah Tomlinson was born 27/5/1753 at South Wingfield daughter of Mary Tomlinson.