When I trace my family line back, the path runs through my grandmother Doreen Stocker, to my great-grandmother Ellen Jane Clarke, and further still to my great-great-grandmother Ellen Gardner — the woman who sailed from Ireland to New Zealand in 1864. Because of her leap of faith, I stand today as the fifth generation born in New Zealand and the 6th generation countring dow from Ellen.
She boarded a sailing ship alone in 1864, leaving her small Irish village behind. Her name was Ellen Gardner — my great-great-grandmother, and the beginning of my fifth-generation connection to New Zealand.
Ellen was born in 1838 in Ballyeaston, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, the daughter of James Gardner, a farmer at Ballyalbanagh, and Mary Jackson. She grew up in a Presbyterian farming family at a time when life in rural Ulster was tough and opportunities were few. Like many young women of her time, she faced a choice: stay, or risk everything for a chance at something new.
At twenty-six, she chose the latter...
In October 1864 Ellen boarded the 1,326-ton ship Mermaid at Gravesend, England. She wasn’t travelling in comfort — she was in second-cabin steerage, alongside dozens of other migrants chasing a new life. The voyage was rough. The Mermaid crossed storms, spotted icebergs near the Crozets, and rolled through tremendous seas before finally sighting Banks Peninsula in January 1865. After 86 days at sea, Ellen stepped ashore at Lyttelton, Canterbury. She was recorded as a domestic servant — a young woman with little more than her faith and courage.
A New Life in Canterbury
By 1868 Ellen had settled in Christchurch. Her intent-to-marry application describes her as a domestic servant, resident in the city for three years. On 8 April 1868, she married William Frederick Clarke, an Irish-born farmer, at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Christchurch (which was relocated to Rangi Ruru Girls High School.
Together they began life at Leeston, before moving south in 1870 to Ngapara, near Oamaru, where they farmed 212 acres. By 1891, they were living at Seadown, just north of Timaru.
Ellen and William raised nine children — Samuel, Henry, Sarah, Edith, William, Levina, James, Robert, and Ellen Jane. My line comes through their youngest daughter, Ellen Jane Clarke (1882–1964), who married Thomas Stocker. Their daughter Doreen Helen Stocker (1918–1999) was my nana — and with her, the family story comes close enough for me to feel.
Ellen’s life was probably not one of public records or great fame, but of quiet endurance. She had crossed oceans, buried a child (little James Frederick, who died aged two), and lived through the transformation of South Canterbury from scattered homesteads to thriving farming communities.
In December 1911, Ellen died at Timaru Public Hospital, aged 73, from cancer of the lung. Her husband William followed just four months later. They lie together in Timaru Cemetery, their headstone still standing as a marker of the family roots they planted here.
Learning about Ellen has given me a new sense of connection. I am part of the fifth generation of her descendants in New Zealand. Her decision to step aboard that ship in 1864 changed the course of every generation that followed.
I think of the courage it must have taken: a young woman leaving behind her family, with no guarantee of what lay ahead. And I think of how her legacy isn’t just in names and dates on paper, but in the lives and communities her children and grandchildren built across Canterbury and Otago.
When I walk along the coast at Timaru, or pass by Seadown where they farmed, I can imagine Ellen’s world — the fields, the Presbyterian faith, the resilience. My life looks so different from hers, but it is built on the choices she made.
For me, Ellen is not just an ancestor. She is the reason I belong here, five generations on.
Side Quest: Are the Two Ellens Related?
As I pieced together Ellen’s story, I found myself drawn into a side quest: was my Ellen Gardner connected to another Gardner family who also married into Timaru’s early settlers?
The puzzle began with Mary Ann Gardner (1845–1888), who became the second wife of Samuel Williams — the same Samuel “Yankie Sam” Williams who ran the early Timaru Hotel and whose first wife, Ann, died in 1860. Mary Ann was from Gloucestershire, England, the daughter of Henry Gardner and Caroline Curtis. She and Samuel married in Timaru in 1861, and Mary Ann’s younger sister was also named Ellen Gardner (born 1860, Preston, Gloucestershire).
At first, it was tempting to think that “my Ellen” might be part of this same family — the names overlapped, the timing fit, and both women’s lives connected to Timaru. But as I dug deeper, the pieces fell into place:
- My Ellen Gardner was born in Ireland, the daughter of James Gardner and Mary Jackson. She arrived in Canterbury on the Mermaid in 1865, and her family roots are firmly in County Antrim.
- Mary Ann and her sister Ellen Gardner were from Gloucestershire, England, children of Henry Gardner and Caroline Curtis. This family remained in England, apart from Mary Ann who emigrated.
The conclusion? The Gardners of Ireland and the Gardners of England were separate families who just happened to share a surname — and both ended up woven into the fabric of Timaru’s early settler history.
It was a coincidence, but a fascinating one. Two women named Ellen Gardner, living worlds apart, carried their names into the stories of two European settler Timaru families.