I'm trying to find out who were the first European settlers to Karioitahi. Here's what I've discovered so far. For more background information read my previous post. Names are taken from public notices in early NZ newspapers advising which settlers were qualified to vote in the upcoming election based on their land ownership details.
John and Sarah Holmes, Allotment 29:
Now here's a family that did stick around and stayed to make their mark on Karioitahi, Waiuku and beyond! There's been comprehensive research published in a book called "The Holmes Story" by Greg Holmes (1982). John and Sarah Holmes, and their children Alfred, George, Susannah, Samuel, Emily, Charles, Arthur, Eliza, and Ida arrived in New Zealand on the Matoaka in January 1865. The oldest son, Walter, had gone to Australia separately. The Holmes family settled on their land (allotment 29) in Karioitahi and stayed there until 1876 when several of them moved to Australia, returning to Waiuku in about 1882. One son (Alfred) and his wife (Sarah) remained farming at Karioitahi and raised a family of seven daughters and six sons. There have been descendants of John and Sarah Holmes living in Karioitahi since 1865 - truly a Karioitahi name!
John Holmes died in Waiuku in January, 1884, and Sarah died in 1900.
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| New Zealand Herald, 24 January, 1884 |
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| New Zealand Herald, August 2, 1900. |
George Marshall, his wife Mary, and children James, John and George arrived in New Zealand on the Matoaka in January, 1865.
In 1868, a public meeting was called to discuss the need for local defense in the event of an attack from Maori. A prior meeting had resolved to ask the Government to extend the Militia Act. It can be presumed that the G. Marshall mentioned is George Marshall from Karioitahi.
By February 1869, George (G.Marshall - must be the same person) was in the Royal Cavalry Volunteers - Waiuku Troop - and practising target shooting on Mr Constable's farm.
But by July, it was becoming evident that, while men were from their homes on militia duties, their wives and families were left unprotected and their farms were neglected. G. Marshall seconded a motion proposed by A. Campbell (Archie Campbell from the Kentish?) calling the attention of the Government to the unprotected state of the district.
In November 1869, he was one of many Waiuku men who published in the newspaper a request for Ebenezer Hamlin Esq to accept their nomination of him to be the candidate for the Raglan electorate in the forthcoming election.
George Marshall junior's first brush with the law was possibly in 1872 when he was charged with shooting a pheasant. This must have been an interesting - if not somewhat embarrassing - situation for George senior, as he appears to be an upstanding member of the community who attended the same public meetings as the Justices of the Peace and Resident Magistrate.
In 1872, G Marshall (likely to be the same) resigned from the Waiuku Agricultural Society, and his position as vice. No reason given, but a list of new members is included in the article.
In February 1873, G Marshall featured in the places in the 4th Waiuku Agricultural Society show for his winter wheat, horse beans, potatoes, peas and rhubarb. So for whatever reasons he resigned from the committee, he still supported their show.
In the 1874 (5th Waiuku Agricultural Society) show G Marshall / George Marshall was placed in the prizes for winter wheat, English barley, horse beans, field peas, prairie grass, potatoes, mangold wutzels, and grapes. Interestingly, this show was deemed not as successful as previous years, with fewer entries attributed to the dry season, but improvements in the quality of sheep was noted.
It is probably George Marshall (Mr Marshall) who recommends, at the Waiuku Institute's Annual Meeting in March, 1874, that the subscription be lowered to encourage more people to use their book collection. This is probably the earliest evidence of a Waiuku library - and even then, there was concern about the way people treated and handled books! (Scroll right down link to find relevant article.)
George and Mary's sons, James and John, had joined the Volunteer Waiuku Corps, as their name or initial was in a list of scores and placings in a local shooting competition in April, 1874.
George must have rejoined the Agricultural Society by April 1874, as he proposed an amendment that there be no ploughing competition match that year.
It seems George junior was a fairly confident - if not successfully athletic - lad, as seen in the results of a sports day held in Waiuku (Mariarohia) on New Year's Eve day, 1874, when between 500 - 600 people attended from far and wide. You'd think there would have been more entrants in each category but, nevertheless, we can assume it was one of George senior's lads who was the jockey for Mr Dromgool's "Piebald" (Marshall) which was unplaced in the pony race. G. Marshall (George junior) came third in the under seventeen year old 300 yard race - but there were only three entrants. The article is still an interesting read, though.
George was still at Karioitahi in 1875 when his name was published in the Provincial Governmnet Gazette as one of 140 men issues with licences to kill game (pheasants were mentioned) Note spelling of Kariootahi!
In 1875, Waiuku held its sixth annual agricultural show where G.Marshall was placed first, second, or third in such categories as bull, sows, cape-barley, horse beans, field peas, mangold wurtzels, cabbage, potatoe onions [sic], geese and plums. He was singled out for specific praise in the after-match-function dinner (attended by 50 men) at the Kentish Hotel that night, where Mr May commented on the number of exhibits he entered and prizes he won. The article is worth reading just for the numerous toasts and responses. Another report of the same event can be found in the Southern Cross newspaper.
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| The New Zealand Herald, 26 February, 1875 |
About a week after the dizzy heights of agricultural and pastoral success, George Marshall was brought down to earth - very literally - when he was thrown out of his horse and cart on the way into Waiuku. George was just passing the residence of notable Waiuku local and Kentish hotel owner, Mr Edward Constable, when his horse took fright. With the potential of being a fatal accident, he had a lucky escape but still sustained serious injuries. Note the spelling of Karaotahi in this report.
In 1877, George Marshall was a character witness for a man who was accused of breaking into a woman's house in Maioro. In the same newspaper column, a G Marshall was charged with a breach of the Vagrant Act by using abusive and threatening language towards P. Tivanon (another Karioitahi settler) on a public road. G Marshall is most likely to be George's son, George Marshall junior, as he appeared in front of the Magistrate two years later, having taken no lesser person than notable and benevolent Waiuku resident Edward Constable (of the Kentish Hotel) to court for using threatening and abusive language. The case was dismissed with the Bench's unanimous decision that had George junior not been in such an excitable state, the need for such threatening language from Constable would not have arisen.
In 1879 George Marshall of Waipipi advertised that he was selling his farm at Waipipi
(allotments 10 and 10A). This seems most likely to be the same George Marshall, although it it not his Karioitahi property of allotment 18. Maybe he had 2 separate properties or had previously sold his Karioitahi allotment.
The "invisible " wife and mother of the George, James, John, and George junior, Mary Marshall died in November, 1890, at her son George junior's residence, Union Street, Auckland. George junior had married and had at least one child by this stage. It is possible George Senior was living there too, although Mary was returned to Waiuku for burial.
In 1892, George Marshall, Union Street, (does not specify senior or junior) was removed from the electoral roll through not being able to prove ownership of the building attributed to them.
There are numerous other references in newspapers to George Marshall, but none that can be specifically attributed to the Waiuku - Karioitahi George. Likewise other references to James and John Marshall - of which there are numerous, but none an obvious connection to these ones. There are references to a James Marshall at Grahamstown, and it could be that he went goldmining, but hard to prove that it's the Karioitahi James. Also, there is no record of any Marshalls on any of the available Kariaotahi School rolls. Wherever they ended up, George Marshall senior was certainly a founding member of Waiuku society. As usual for the times, there is no published mention of his wife's contributions to the community . . .
James Munro, Section 4, 23 allotment, 10 acres
James and Isabella / Isabel were also passengers on the Matoaka and arrived in New Zealand in January, 1865, but apart from James's attestation for Raglan district 1n 1865 and again in 1870 - 71, there is nothing more to be found on either of them or nothing to indicate what happened to them - or if they had children.
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| James Munroe (now with an e) in the electoral list for 1870 - 71. |
It seems that they lived socially uneventful lives and participated in no civic activities (where names were duly listed when events were reported in the newspapers of the day).
I have found, however, what could be the banns and an entry in the marriage register for James and Isabella. The dates and ages fit the likelihood of them being the same passengers on the Matoaka - in the absence of any other more likely contenders, James was from the parish of Saint Botolph, Bishopgate, and Isabella was from the parish of St Marylebone, London.
I wonder what happened to James and Isabella?
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