The Timaru Herald. 27 May 2025. Rachael Comer
Roselyn Fauth shows a rock she found on a recent trip to Larrikins on the West Coast that she hopes to include in a memorial she is planning at Timaru Cemetery.
One line in a book of many.
In meticulous calligraphed black ink, her name appears last on the first page of the St Mary’s Church parish burials register.
“November 18, 1860, Ann Williams, 36 years old, wife of Samuel Williams, place of residence: Timaru.
“By whom the ceremony was performed: Rev George Foster.”
But just where Ann Williams – the mother of a boy believed to be Timaru’s first recorded European baby – was laid to rest remains a mystery that local history researcher Roselyn Fauth is determined to solve.
Fauth became fixed on finding Williams’ resting place after realising her burial location did not appear in any records.
It had also led to Fauth’s discovery that many burial sites in the cemetery did not have gravestones, and she is now working towards setting up a monument for the area once known as the “pauper section” of Timaru Cemetery.
Fauth said she had found records of Ann’s death in the doorway of the Timaru Hotel, which was located near the Landing Service Building.
Her husband Sam was left to raise their two children, aged 3 and 6. He later remarried and had a third child.
“I can see it in the newspaper, I can see it in sexton records, and we can see it in the St Mary’s death register. But unfortunately, nothing about where and if she was buried.”
Fauth’s discovery came while researching the town’s whaling history – Ann’s husband Sam, known as Yankie Sam, arrived in Timaru as a whaler and returned with his wife and daughter Rebecca as one of the town’s first European settlers.
However, she was not confident which year that was – some records say 1854, others say 1856, Fauth said.
The pair’s second child, William, was born in Timaru in 1856.
Fauth said the Williams’ home was a small cottage on the beach, next door to where the Landing Service Building stands today. The cottage was built by George Rhodes – his first home with his wife Elizabeth – who, with his brothers, established an enormous sheep station, The Levels, and acquired a lot of land,