Williamina Dean (Minnie Dean)
Where she lived
Minnie Dean lived in Winton. She was born in Greenock Scotland but no one knows when she moved to Winton, New Zealand.
Her family
Minnie Dean’s husband Charles Dean died in a house fire but there was no evidence of their marriage. Willamina also had two daughters. There is no evidence of when they were born and what happened to them no one knows. Willamina Dean came from a family of eight girls. Minnie’s Mother died from cancer.
Why she was hung
Minnie Dean killed babies. She MURDERED them !!!! Willamina Dean was the first and last women in New Zealand to be hung. On the 2nd May, 1895 a railway guard saw Minnie board a train. She was carrying a baby and a hat box. On the trip back home she only had the hat box which looked slightly heavier. Police searched the tracks then they investigated her home. They found the bodies of two babies and an older boy buried in her garden. Minnie adopted a three week old baby from its single mother for £25. Police traced Minnie to a boarding house where they found the baby in dirty clothes and being fed out of a bottle which had sour and curdled milk in it. She said she would take care of the baby's for free but people did not know she would purposely kill them under her care.
Rumors
Rumors have it that the grass around her grave is all dead. But I think people are just spraying it. Minnie was buried in an unmarked grave. People used to say to their children be good or I’ll send you off to Minnie Deans farm and you’ll never be seen again. A normal person would be buried six feet down but it was said Minnie was buried
deeper than everyone else. She also was buried face down in her unmarked grave because she she was so evil.
Her life
In 1878 Charles Dean turned to farming, he was a pig farmer. While Willamina started to take care of children. Minnie’s father was a railway engineer. Her mother died in 1957 from cancer. Willamina was born September 2nd, 1844 and died August 12th 1895 (age 50). Now she lies in Winton cemetery.
By Nicole
