Gertrude Goodwin

Gertrude was a sister of my Great Grandfather Phillip Goodwin. He actually had 2 sisters, Gertrude and Beatrice, however Beatrice died in early adulthood, so Gertrude became the only girl in the large family. She had 9 brothers. One died as an infant and her eldest brother William Henry died during WW1 .

Gertrude Goodwin was born on July 14th 1885 in Te Awamutu. (Though her birth registration which was informed by her father James states the 17th!) The Goodwin family had moved to Te Awamutu as father James was working  for the Railways. She was the 4th child to the parents who were both 25 years old.  (They would go on to have a further 5 children before James died in 1898). Gertrude’s early schooling was at Te Awamutu School, and then when the family moved on due to James job, she attended Waharoa School.  Soon after James left the railway and the family moved to Hamilton. Her last day at Waharoa School was October 1897 and it is not known if Gertrude continued with further education after this.
What is known is in on February 3rd 1909 she married Robert  Maisey at the Presbyterian Manse in Cambridge . Gertrude was given away by her older brother James, and her sister Beatrice was her bridesmaid.  Robert was farming in the early years of their marriage and later moved to Auckland where he worked for the Auckland Freezing works.   They had 2 children,  Mervyn, born 1910 and Ivy born 1913 ( and still alive as of 2016!) Robert served for nearly 3 years during WW1 where he contracted malaria and was discharged in 1919 and received a pension due to the debility caused by the malaria.  Soon after the war the Maisey family (which included  Mary Ann Goodwin, Gertrude's mother) began farming in the Waikato.
Gertrude died in 1968 aged 82 and Robert 5 years later aged 87.