SIXTY YEARS MARRIED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 192, 16 August 1927, Page 5

SIXTY YEARS MARRIED.

ME. AMD MBS. BBOOK, PAKITCLJL. INTERESTING OLD COUPLE. Celebrating their diamond wedding to-morrow arc Mr. and Mrs. Charlea J. Brook. Takntai Street. ParnelL He i« 82 and she is 79, and both arc wonderfully hale and tremendously interested in life, of which they have seen so much. Mr. Brook, who is a Londoner by birth, raiw out to New Zealand in 1861, at the age of 16 year*, and during the next eight years 'he had as adventurous a time as falls to the lot of most men. His rst billet was in a general store, after which he was in various jobs until the Cororoandel goldfieJd s were opened. He went down there with !hi* father and uncle, but their venture was not successful. After a short spell in a chemist.'* t>lioj» in Auckland, young Brook joined the militia and »w service in the Lower Waikato. After ta»e war he went to spa, and was on a ship that went from New Zealand to Callao when that port wa« blocked by the Spanish. Afterwards the ship went to Mauritius and then on to London, where Mr. Brook signed off and had a spell ashore, during which be married and learned tao trade of builder and joiner. Returning to New Zealand early in 1862, Mr. Brook tried fanning at Awhita, but in ISS3 he c*mt back to the city and started business a* a builder, which be carried on successfully until 1909, when he retired. He has taken his full share in public affair?, being at different times member of the Mannkau County Council, Awhitu Highway Board, Parnell Borough Council. He is a past-master in the Freemasons, and for many years was a church warden at St.. Mary's. These interesting citizens hare a large number of descendants. The daughters are Mrs. Arthur Lee. Awaitu, Mr*. R. Maxwell, Rexnuera, Mrs. C. Monro, Parnell, and Miss Brook, Parnell; the eons are Mr. H. Brook. Auckland, and Mr. A. Brook, Thames, while there are over 20 grandchildren and seven great-grand-children.