Carroll/Carrell/Carrel Book
John and Talitha Carroll - From Jersey to Wanganui
This book, written by Anthony Carrell, was first published in September 2019. Sadly, Anthony passed away less than three years later.
Due to demand, the book became out of print. Brian Oliver of nzolivers, in September 2024, republished it, with the support of Anthony's wife, forwarding working material, research, some digital files, and original papers.
To find out more about the book and ordering information, please see here:
https://nzolivers.com/carrollbook.html
- - - -

Name and year and place of birth (as Birmingham, Tipperary, Ireland) from Jenny Smith whose late husband, John Monro Menzies, was the grandson of Telitha Carrel (b. 1885), sister of Maud Oliver (nee Carrel).
Jenny says lived at 98 Bell Street, Wanganui New Zealand.

Surname of CARREL adopted by John and Talitha while living in Jersey. According to Brian Carrell, (grandson of George Robert Carrel, George being a son of John and Talitha) says:
“The surname 'CARROLL' was the name John brought with him from New Birmingham, Tipperary, Ireland, to Jersey in about 1851-2. Because John could neither read nor write, when any transaction took place and it was recorded by a Jersey official; (eg priest, marriage registrar etc.) they spelled it as they heard it - but in the francophile Jersey way, 'CARREL'. There are various bits of evidence from Jersey days showing both these spellings, but haphazardly and not in any natural progression. They seem to have wandered between the two”.

Jenny says John and family arrived in Wellington, New Zealand, on the "Soukar" on 2 December 1874. John would of been approximately 45 years of age.

Date of death from headstone in Heads Road Cemetery in Wanganui, New Zealand. Headstone says aged 50 and also states John Carrel, late of Jersey. This would make him born ca 1829.
However, marriage certificate says John was aged 22 when he married in May 1853. That would make his year of birth ca 1831?
Occupation and marriage in Jersey from Brian Carrell, grandson of George Robert Carrel, George being a son of John and Talitha (nee Hutchings) Carroll.
At time of marriage, living in St Catherine’s Bay, Eastern side of Jersey.

In a paper titled, “John Carroll, His Final Weeks” by Anthony Carrell, (brother of Brian Carrell above and received from Anthony in an email dated 11 March 2018), Anthony writes that since John’s arrival in New Zealand, he had spent four years working on various railway construction projects. In November 1878, John was one of a large team of labourers building the first part of a railway line that would eventually link Wanganui with New Plymouth. Known as the Brunswick Line, this nine-mile section ran from Wanganui to Kai Iwi. John was working on the closer Wanganui section so was able to live with the family in their Alexander Street home and not in accommodation huts. Accidents were not unknown with construction work such as this and sadly John died, in his own home on Monday the 2nd of December 1878, three days after an accident. The Death Certificate records that this had resulted from a 'Ruptured Uretha and Inner Intestinal Injuries – 4 days’. Newspaper reports were as follows:
Wanganui Chronicle on Saturday 30th November 1878
ACCIDENT – A man named Carroll, who was working on the Brunswick railway line, met with a very severe accident yesterday afternoon, owing to a slip taking place, by which he was precipitated down the embankment, the earth falling across his loins. He was at once conveyed to his home, and Dr Cole called for. The doctor was in attendance in a few minutes, and we understand is rather apprehensive as to the possible results of the accident, the sufferer having sustained serious internal injury.
Wanganui Chronicle on Saturday 30th November 1878
The Late Railway Accident. The unfortunate man John Carroll, who was hurt by a fall of earth on the Brunswick Line railway, succumbed to his injuries yesterday. He will be conveyed from St Mary's Church to the Cemetery at 5 o'clock this afternoon.

Place of birth corrected as “New Birmingham” from Anthony Carrell in an email dated 27 March 2018. Anthony is the brother of Brian Carrell above.

- -
In the email dated 27 March 2018, Anthony Carrell finds some interesting history on New Birmingham and relates it to the Carroll family. Anthony writes:

I have found the following which may or may not have Carroll relevance.
Google reports that, ‘New Birmingham was founded by Sir Vere Hunt (1761-1818), a wealthy and eccentric Anglo-Irish landowner, with the help of Fr Michael Meighan, the local parish priest, in the early 1800s, for the workers in his coal mine at Glengoole.  In his entertaining diary, he records having laid out the street pattern in person. He also obtained a charter giving him the right to hold one or two markets, and several fairs every year. Hunt evidently hoped to turn New Birmingham into a major manufacturing centre, but he failed in this aim, as he did in most of his business ventures’.
A possible scenario comes to mind. The Carroll family as it was in the early 1800s are living in New Birmingham, father working as either a coal miner or as a labourer helping to build the cottages for the anticipated  miners. (There is evidence that at this time, both groups of workers were living in  Vere’s New Birmingham village.) With the collapse of this enterprise and the subsequent loss of work, the Carroll’s move, eventually ending up by the early 1840s in County Antrim. From here, as we know, they move to Jersey.
A  year 2017 Google map search shows cottages lining the single road. Their 1800s construction style strongly suggests these are some of the original cottages built for the workers. This raises the question – did the Carroll family live in one of these?
The local church (R C) is St Patricks and St Oliver. This is a newish modern church, presumably having replaced that where the Carroll’s might have attended, presuming there was one in the village at that time. 
I have no knowledge of where in  County Antrim the Carroll family  may have been living prior to leaving for Jersey. By this time the Hutchings family were already in Jersey. Did they go directly to Jersey from their Somerset home?

- -
In an email dated 2 April 2018, Anthony Carrell writes:
“On the record of John and Talitha's marriage John signs his name with a cross as at that stage he could not read or write. {The family} has… the 'Child's Primer' from which John learned to read and write. It is interesting to note the difference in quality of the painstaking entry of his name on the front cover and the more confident signing off of his name on the end cover. Marks and dates in the course of this little leather bound book indicate the progress he made in the early days of their marriage. Hence we might understand how in the course of time as their family came along, different spellings of their surname occurred - which we endure today! Talitha on the other hand comes across as a well educated young English woman. The strength of her signature on the marriage entry also suggests this”.
Anthony Carrell goes on to say his brother Brian comments, “John was likely recruited as an Irish labourer along with a team of others to work on completion of repairs to the parish church at the eastern end of Jersey (St Catherine's Bay)?”.

In the same email dated 2 April 2018, Anthony Carrell writes that he heard from Diana Scott [great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Annie Carrell] a while back saying, “John Carroll was born in Tullamore (Offaly Co). John was in military service at about 16 years old (1846,47?), lost his toes (frost bite) so was pensioned off and went to Jersey”. Anthony says he is sceptical on Tullamore but will follow up with Diana.

Full date of birth from Anthony Carrell in an email dated 7 September 2018.

Confusion between Birmingham and New Birmingham
Brian Oliver of nzolivers notes that in the marriage certificate John’s place of birth is written as “Birmingham, Tipperary” which is confusing. Brian’s understanding is that Birmingham is not in Tipperary, rather, it is in County Galway. It is “New Birmingham” that is in County Tipperary, about 170 km to the south of Birmingham. (That’s an equivalent distance of say, Wellington to Palmerston North or, Christchurch to Timaru). So, quite a different location).

Jan Kelly in an email dated 11 September 2018 writes, “It is a bit of a conundrum having two Birminghams in Ireland but I am hoping that it is the New Birmingham in Tipperary is where Thomas/John came from rather than the County Galway one.  There are three sources of evidence now that have John as having come from Tipperary:
(1) the John and Talitha’s marriage certificate
(2) the immigrant shipping list that I got some years ago from the National Archives
(3) John Carroll’s death certificate.
“…Birmingham Ireland in County Galway is in another county and it may well be that Thomas came from there originally. While in today’s standards it is close but I believe people didn’t go too far afield in those early days so hopefully my assumption about it being New Birmingham Tipperary is right – time will tell.  Why they (in the documents mentioned above) never called it New Birmingham and just Birmingham is interesting! I don’t suppose our ancestors were as worldly wise as we are today and may have not have thought of any confusion they caused to their ancestors in future years”.

- -
Result from death search on New Zealand BDM website in March 2022:
1879/1331. Carroll, John. Died age 49Y

Full date of death of 2 December 1878 confirmed from further searching in March 2022 on BDM Search by incrementally changing the date range for the death.

New Zealand Electoral Roll - House of Representatives, Electoral Roll for Wanganui 1869-1870, 1870-1871, 1871-1872 found in March 2022:
Carroll, John; Place of Abode: Wanganui; Qualification: Leasehold; Property: Taupo Quay, Wanganui

New Zealand Electoral Roll - Electoral Roll of Wanganui 1878-1879, 1879-1880, found in March 2022:
Carroll, John; Place of Abode: Wanganui; Qualification: leasehold; Property: House and section, Brunswick Line
[NOTE: Brunswick is 7 miles (11 km) north-west of Wanganui. The first European settlers to the area were the Campbell family, who arrived in February 1853 from the Canadian province of New Brunswick. They began livestock farming 225 acres, which they called Brunswick farm; it later became a name for the whole area].