Fanny, as she was always known, was the daughter of Daniel Wilson from Ireland, Whangarei County Engineer and surveyor, and Emily Beuzeville Hewlett, whose father Theophilus(from Oxford and born in the reign of George III) was a son of Esther Beuzeville. Esther’s first husband died about 1820, and she married William Copley. She wrote books to support her family after she became widowed, and continued thereafter. [1]

Fanny met her husband Robert Foote in Whangarei, where he was advancing the family timber business. He died in Nov 1917, leaving Fanny with 7 children, the youngest only one. Presumably he left her reasonably well off; she stayed in Whangarei until the early 1930’s and moved to Auckland to 55 Market Road, and later to 664A Mt Eden Rd. This house served as an Auckland base for many of Daniel Wilson’s descendants.

See Five Minutes with the Wilson Sisters for some reflection on Fanny’s life.