John Alfred Chaney married Nicoline (Lena) Petersen in 1887 in Wellington. He was 21 and she was 17. Lena arrived in New Zealand in 1873, aged 3. She came from Denmark with her parents and two sisters. John was born in Lyttelton.
John and Lena’s sons John, William and Albert were born in 1888, 1890 and 1892 respectively. It was later said by Lena’s sister that John treated Lena cruelly and that she had to work to support herself. She thought John did support his children though.
In 1902, and claiming to have not heard from her husband for 9 years, Lena married Otto Herman Maymond. John who had been suffering from delirium tremens in Wellington Hospital turned up six days after the marriage took place, and then died a week later.
In 1922, Lena was questioned by Detective Sergeant William Butler of Napier about her third marriage to Benjamin Henry Charles Bright (alias Charles Benjamin Chapman) at Hastings that year. She denied having married Otto Maymond and only lived with him. She was charged with bigamy.
Lena’s defence lawyer stated that under the Crimes Act, no one can have committed bigamy if either party had been absent for seven years. Her marriage to Benjamin was ‘all right’, said Lena’s lawyer, because her marriage to Otto was not valid as her first husband was alive. The jury retired at 12:30pm and at 12:45pm returned a verdict of ‘not guilty’. The judge quipped ‘Well gentlemen, if you can reconcile that with your consciences, it’s your business, not mine’. Lena died in 1925 in Palmerston North.
John is the only interment in this plot, which is unmarked. Thanks to Kieran for supplying the photo.
Plot: *Ch Eng/X/12
By Julia Kennedy
