OBITUARY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 278, 24 November 1898, Page 3

OBITUARY.

By the..death-of Mrs Barron . (remarks- the^ 'Southland News') Southlaic- loses one of its oltlest and most highly. esteemed . residents, and -we feel sure that large numbers of people to whom she was known will mourn her loss for she possessed many of the sides of character that single people out, and endear them to those with whom they come into contact —• kind, gentle, charitable, and strictly upright in all her undertakings. For many years, until advancing age prevented it, she was to be found at all hours of the night at the bedside of the sick and suffering, and many are the tales told by those whom she has befriended in the early sixties. We feel we are right in saying that probably no one has a greater number of friends in all parts of the district of Southland, where her kindly actions unostentatiously performed have earned for her warm regard. Nor is this confined' solely to Southland. She had numerous friends in many parts of the cclony. Mrs Barron was born in Cork, Ireland, from whence, with her first husband, Mr William Thomas Ward, she embarked in 1851 for Australia, to try their fortune in that then comparatively new country. Immediately after their arrival her husband received a responsible and lucrative appointment in one of the large commercial houses of the city of Melbourne, and their prospects were bright and happy. The great leveller death, however, within a few years changed her whole future. Her husband died from the result of a horse accident, and leftMs wife with eight young children. Her troubles did not end with the loss of her partner, as within a very short space of time her whole family were stricken down by the then raging epidemic diphtheria, and five of her sons succumbed to the fatal malady. Some time afterwards she married a second time, and in 1862 came oh to New Zealand and settled at Bluff, where she has remained ever since. Shortly after her arrival at the Bluff she found the whole burden of bringing up her family thrown entirely on her own hands, and the calm and imperturbable dignity with which she bore her troubles and the force of character she displayed in working to bring1 up her family is well known to the old identities since 1862. Mrs Barron has reached close to the allotted span of three score and ten, and though the storms of life have at times swept round her, she looked remarkably young for her years, which, was the more marked by the absence of grey hairs. Cheerful, sympathetic, and kindly disposed, she has earned the repose of a noble-minded woman. There "was no issue by the second marriage, and of her first family there survives her only daughter,- Mrs C. A. Tipping, of the Bluff, and two sons, Mr W. T. Ward, of the Postal Department, Dunlin, and the Hon. J. G. Ward. There art also several grandchildren. To ■them all in their sad bereavement the sympathy of their numerous friends ■■will be extended

The funeral cortege was by far tlie largest ever seen at the port, friends °f the family attending- from all parts °f the district, A special train from Winton brought 100 to Invercargill, joined the ordinary 2.15 p.m. wain from town to the port, which carried, in addition to the' Win ton contJEgent, 3.00 from Invercargill and 50 froni side stations. The service in the louse and at the grave was performe<J. by the Rev. Father McGrath, the chief mourners being the Hort. J. G. Ward and Mr W. T. Ward (sons of the deceased), Mr C. A. Tipping (son-in-law), and the grandchildren. The J^eaths were so numerous that numbers had to be carried by hand. The jMinistry? the Premier, and Mrs Sedfl°n, Town Council, the Harbour

Board, and. other public bodies sent very beautiful ones in addition to those from private friends. The Mayor of Invereargill, members of both branches of the Legislature, and representatives of local bodies were among those present. ..—."■