Thomas Edward Michael LEWIS d 12 Feb 1929 Cuba Street Waihi Nth Is. NZ, aged 67 yrs, bp Creswick Victoria, 16 yrs in NZ, s/o Henry LEWIS (Brickmaker) and Phoebe ms SEDDON, m Creswick Victoria, aged 21 yrs to Phoebe SPARK, now widowed aged 64 yrs. Issue living: M. 26, 23; F. 41, 38, 30, 29, 19. Causes of Death: Pneumokoniosis - 20 yrs; Cardiac Failure - 5 days. [97377] bur 13 Feb 1929 Waihi Cemetery (no headstone) Occupation: 1883 Brickmaker, 1909 Gold Miner, 1912 Mine Manager, Italians, 1929 Miner.

Thomas LEWIS, Bachelor, bp Creswick, Brickmaker, aged 21 yrs of Creswick, s/o Henry LEWIS (Miner), and Harriett SEDON m 23 Aug 1883 Wesleyan Methodist Church Creswick, Phoebe Elizabeth SPARK, Spinster, bp Ascot, Domestic Duties, aged 18 yrs of Creswick, d/o John SPARK (Dealer) and Catherine SHOMACK. He made his mark, she signed, in the presence of George KNIGHT and Harriet LEWIS [Vic 3753]

2. Phoebe (Phebe/Febay) Elizabeth Mary/Myrtle SPARK
b 25 Feb 1865 Ascot Victoria (birth registration not found)
Phebe Elizabeth SPARK chr 12 Feb 1873 St John's Anglican Church, Creswick, b 25 Feb 1865, d/o James SPARK, Hotelkeeper (also Farmer, Cattle Dealer and Drover) and Catherine SPARK (ms SHUMACK), Residence: Ascot [CRES1 260] A civil registration of her birth has not been found.

Phoebe Elizabeth Myrtle LEWIS d 28 Jul 1929 Public Hospital Waihi Nth Is. NZ, Widow of Waihi, aged 64 yrs, bp Victoria, 15 yrs in NZ, m aged 18 yrs to Thomas Edward Michael LEWIS. Issue living: M. 26, 22; F. - . Causes of Death: Diabetes, Heart Failure - 10 yrs [97232] bur 30 Jul 1929 Waihi Cemetery NZ (no headstone)

Immigration to New Zealand
Thomas and Phoebe LEWIS Arr Bluff, NZ 1913 on Ulimaroa, a steamship of the Huddart Parker Line which made regular passages across the Tasman. Thomas and Phoebe would have been aged about 51 and 48 yrs. I do not have the shipping for this couple or any of their children listed below.

• Thomas James Henry LEWIS immigrated to NZ, enlisted in the NZ forces and died of wounds in France in Aug 1918. His wife Ella Isabel (ms HARVEY) and a daughter Laurel Adeline LEWIS either did not immigrate or returned to Australia.
• Catherine Mary and her husband Bernard Donald HARPER either returned to Australia or did not immigrate.
• Ruby Lillian, her husband Herbert William HEARN and three children Herbert Edward HEARN aged abt 8 yrs, (Lizzie) Elizabeth Louisa Myrtle HEARN aged abt 11 yrs and Lyell John HEARN aged abt 1 yr, arrived in Waihi in 1917.
• Lavinia Alice Hazelmere Vera Victoria LEWIS aged 15 in 1913.
• Elizabeth Merven Jubilee Ladysmith LEWIS aged 13 in 1913, later m 1915 Blacks Point, NZ, Albert Henry GUY.
• Silas George Membra Baden Viscount LEWIS aged 11 in 1913, later m 1924 Blackball, NZ, Thelma Myrtle NUTTALL.
• Clarence Bernard Raymond Harold LEWIS aged 8 in 1913, later m 1924 Ahaura Westland, NZ, Violet May CURNOW.
• Doris Daphne Eileen Jane LEWIS aged 4 in 1913, later m 1925 Waihi, NZ, Albert Lawson HARDEN, later known as HARDEN TUNSTALL.

The story was that the whole LEWIS family went to NZ (perhaps at different times) except for their daughter Phoebe Harriet Edell LEWIS who married William Edwin GUY in 1910. Phoebe Harriet (as she was known) said she was one of 13 children so perhaps there are 2 still to find. As the goldmining in the Staffordshire Reef - Italian Gully area declined the LEWIS family decided there were better job opportunities in the NZ mines but William and Phoebe Harriet GUY (my grandparents) and their two young children remained. William was working as a miner at Italian Gully. He made the transition to tile worker in Ballarat and later became the manager of the Eureka Tile Company.

Children of Thomas APPS SEDDON LEWIS m 1883 Phoebe Elizabeth SPARK