Marianne Wann

Marianne Wann was born in Auckland, New Zealand 1842. Her parents were Charles Edmund Wann and Mary Gass Wann (nee Menary) who had arrived in Auckland from New South Wales in the same year as Marianne was born. I am told that Marianne's cousins pronounced her name as 'Marion' , however my father referred to her as 'Polly Wann'. Marianne Wann was only 5 when her father died in Auckland. On the remarriage of her mother Marianne went to live in Matakana with her mother and stepfather, Thomas Millon. She and her brother John Thoms Wann grew up in the homestead at Wanns Bay, Lower Matakana as the area was known then.

Marianne was a teacher at the local school. In 1895 she married George Alexander Cruickshank at the home of a friend in Matakana. George kept the General Store in the district and he was previously married to Susan Ormonde Cole who died 1888.
Although they didn't have any children of their own, Marianne and George adopted a daughter, Alice Elsie Cruickshank born about 1894. Alice was the natural daughter of George's brother James Cruickshank and his wife Martha who died when Alice was an infant. Martha Cruickshank (nee Cole) was a cousin of Marianne Wann.
M arianne had a step-son - Edward Cruickshank, George's son by his first marriage.

Marianne Cruickshank (nee Wann) died in 1909 and is buried in the Matakana Cemetery.