WINDFALL FOR AN OLD COLONIST.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 12177, 25 April 1905, Page 10

WINDFALL FOR AN OLD COLONIST.

TRAVIS TELLS HIS OWN STORY. ADVENTURES BY SEA AND LAND. Wo published- recently th© story, as told by his son, of the adventurous career of an old colonist named John Travis, who has just succeeded to a legacy of clos© on £40,000, left to him by a wealthy relative in America. Travis, who is at present living in South Dunedin, took th© name of James August Wilson from his stepfather. The following interesting account of his career is abridged from an interview with Travis, or Wilson, himself, which appeared in the "Otago Daily Times" :- "Yes," said Mr Wilson, "I am identical with the James Travis inquired after in connection with the legacy the newepapers are talking of. By the* way, I might tell you that th© Travis family is one of the oldest families in America. Their history dates back to the War of Independence, in which our family figured. W© are on the pension list, and it is not unlikely that th© American Government haa had a hand in the attempts that have been made to trace mc, so as to pay moneys that have been accumulating for years. "As I saj_, my father was Captain Jacob Travis. He was a shipowner, who traded from New York to various places —to tho West Indies and St. Lawrence amongst other places. Ono of these frhips he commanded himself. She was a topsail schooner of about 250 tons, and my three step-brothers—George, William, and Daniel—were the three mates. My mother's name was Lewis, and whfin father died she married a second time to a Mr Wilson. I was •six years old when father died. You can understand now how it camo about that I got the name of Wilson. Mr Wilson then told how, when he was eighteen yeans old, he went to sea. With a friend, he was taken on board th© barque Maria by a Captain Moers, and left New Bedford on a three years' cruise. " After we came round the Horn we cruised up the Spanish Main, thence to tbe Gulf of Carpentaria, the South Sea Islands, and the Okhotsk Sea beyond Japan. Whales were plentiful in those days, and in time we were pretty nearly a full ship. Eventually we ran into the Bay of Islands to provision. Getting an idea from the captain that one voyage was required to learn the trade, and that the prospect of getting any

wages was more than dim, I and five others left without asking leave. That was in 1854. lam the .only one of the si_ who is now living. ' i F |f r a **-*- c * assisted in making sails for and rigging np a schooner just building, becoming friendly with Tamate Walker, whom Sir George Gray dipr* tiCnl,y snn > a PP oint <- d a magistrate at i.200 a year, and so secured his friendship, and with it that of his tribe. About this time the rush to Australia broke out, and I went to Auckland, and made several trips to Australia as nnvigating officer on vessels taking over those who left New Zealand for tho diggings. I got „.-,0 a month for it. On the* other side the sailors almost invariably deserted, and wo had to replace them with as many 'drunks' as we could capture and steal out shorthanded. We brought cattle back with us. Tlio boats that ran across wero for the most part old wooden tubs, not fit to go outside. ''Talking about this kind of boat, you may remember it was stated that Tichborne went down in a vessel called the Osprey. There wore three boats of this name trading in the South Pacific;—ono from Sydney, one from Hobart, and one from Brisbane. None of these went down ; they all went ashore, and not unlikely were placed there so as to get the insurance on them. It was undoubtedly a fraud to say Tichborne was drowned in tho Osprey. "In 1859 I left the sea and joined a survey party working in the North Island. Rough work it was, tool Wild pigs were plentiful in those days, and often lined up and faced us. We ran nt them, waving our blue jackets in front, and they then turned tail. In 1859 I married Mrs Wilson, and afterwnvd*-* knocker? about Auckland, doinc odd jolw for the Government. In 18G3 I came to Dunedin, and bought a piece of bush land up the Valley. Afterwards I came to Dunedin, rigged up a vessel for Mr W. Guthrie, then went into the machinery business, end lastly into the houso agency line. But now I am out of that, and I go fishing and shooting with the boys. ' It agrees with mc, too. "About the legacy? Well, the Travis's were a wealthy lot; but I'll probably know for certain when the next mail comes in. Up to about 1870 or so I wrote regularly to America, but I dropped it when I got news by the ships Nebraska and Nevada, which traded here in the early days, that l*oth my brothers—Jacob and Ira—had died in tbe North and South wars while fighting with the 14th New York Reginient. But Ira seems to lie alive, judging by the advertisement which has been inserted asking for mc. I take it, by tbe account which has appeared in the American papers, that he has got my letter to him. The other person mentioned, Mr E. V. Thorn, Japan, is probably identical with the Thorn to whom my sister was engaged to lie married when I left- America. I am not ablo to say .whether tho amount of the legacy is correct or not, for I havo not had any communication with any of my relatives since I left home. I have been comfortable enough hero, and did not bother about legacies or writing when I thought my two brothers were dead. ' A son of Mr Wilson is the Rev. R "■Vilson, Methodist minister, of Dannevirke. and one daughter is married to «__ f 5$ on _ T ell knou ' n -» a member ot the Cavrrsham Council.