An important day in history

May 17^th is a significant day in history, as it is the day my wonderful husband Dean was born. 

Also on this day my Great, Great Aunt Amelia Ann Hurst was born May 17, 1832, in St. Helier, Jersey, on the Channel Islands of Britain, the ninth child of William Hurst and Mary Ann Green. Five of her siblings had passed away by the time of her birth, three as infants and two at age nine. Thus, Amelia joined a family with one sister and two brothers.

 

Her father and mother had moved to the Isle of Jersey from Hampshire, England, to run a nursery. Two more brothers were born by the time the family sold the nursery in 1839. 

 

There was a lot of interest in their community at this time generated by an association promoting the systematic colonization of New Zealand. This company envisioned the creation of a new model English society in the southern hemisphere. The New Zealand Company promoted elaborate and grandiose advertising of undulating plains suitable for the cultivation of grapevines, olives and wheat.

The Hurst family caught the immigration fever, feeling it would be advantageous to go to a new country, leaving England in December, 1839, bound for New Zealand and arriving there sometime in April, 1840, landing in what is now the city of Wellington.

Prior to their arrival the New Zealand Company had purchased several large tracts of land from the Māori’s for the English settlement. The Hurst’s soon realized that the land differed greatly from what had been promised. Instead of undulating plains, they arrived at a swampy delta of high hills and steep gullies. Each settler was allowed to purchase 100 "country acres" on which they could grow their food and support themselves.

Wellington

This acreage was located outside the town proper in an area of dense forest, scrub, flax and swamp, prone to flooding.

The Hurst family found the country very wild and uncultivated. In addition to the physical challenges of cultivating the land, daily life was filled with frightening experiences with the natives who were unfriendly at best and hostile at worst. Before the end of 1840 the natives took up arms and commenced murdering whole families because of the imposition and oppression of the whites. 

The Hurst children, being too young to bear arms, carried food and supplies to their father as he worked clearing the ground and fighting off the natives. 

It is left to our imagination the fear this family lived with through the next several years in which it is estimated between 30,000 and 40,000 Māori’s lost their lives in battles with the colonists.

At long last, peace was reached in 1849, but a new conflict soon arose in the family over religion. In 1852, the year Amerila married Georg Henri Goltz, her brothers Frederick and Clement were baptized into the Mormon Church. This caused a great divide in the family which would not be repaired. Frederick and Clem ardently bore testimony to their family through letters, but the family did not accept the teachings proclaimed. Amelia had a particular animosity toward the Mormons. Frederick records a letter from Amelia saying she was “ashamed to own him as a member of her family”. 

Frederick was not deterred. He continued to share his beliefs with his sister in letters, which are full of love, as demonstrated by these excerpts:

• “My Ever Dear Sister Amelia, Though we are Mormons we have not forgotten you, but love you all the more.”  

•  "My Ever Dear Sister Amelia, Obey all the commandments of God as far and as fast as they are made known to you, in so doing the Lord will bless and prosper you.  You have our testimony to the truth of this work. I have proved it every way to my satisfaction, therefore, my dear Amelia, hesitate not, but serve the Lord. As for Clement and I, we will serve the Lord come what may, even death, for we love the Lord Jesus Christ. May you receive His spirit to lead and guide you into all truth, is and ever shall be the earnest prayers of your affectionate brothers in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Twenty years later Frederick returned to the islands as a missionary, but was still rebuffed by family members who had “scratched their names from the family record.”

 

Amelia and George eventually moved to Tahiti where she remained very opposed to Mormonism, writing letters which Frederick described as “of the most abusive and rabid style” to her brothers. 

Amelia raised a family of six children and lost one at childbirth. She passed away in 1901 in French Polynesia.

Ever loving, forgiving and faithful and with the knowledge that Amelia would still have the opportunity to accept the truth, Frederick arranged for vicarious temple work to be performed in her behalf in 1905.