Parkin Family Centenary Held At Leeston

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31320, 16 March 1967, Page 15

Parkin Family Centenary Held At Leeston

Celebrations to mark the centenary of the Parkin family were held at Leeston last week-end.

They included a banquet on Saturday at Leeston, a dance in the Lakeside Hall at night, and a service in the Leeston Methodist Church on Sunday afternoon, conducted by the Rev. G. W. Cramond. From a marriage which took place at Papanui in 1872 there are 275 living descendants and 168 were expected at the week-end gatherings.

William Parkin was born at Westmorland, England, in 1834 and sailed for Australia in the vessel Red Jacket, reaching Melbourne in 1856. His first employment was at the Bendigo gold diggings and later be was at most of the gold diggings in Australia, including the Laming Flat rush. Later he tried bis fortunes at Dunstan in Central Otago, but returned to Australia. In 1862 he crossed again to New Zealand, working at Gabriel’s

Gully, but in 1875 moved to the West Coast Giving up gold mining, he moved to Leeston where he took up fanning on the property now held by his grandson, Mr R. G. Parkin. Mrs Parkin, whose maiden name was Easterbrook, arrived in New Zealand in the vessel City of Mersey with her parents, a sister and three brothers, settling at Papanui. Of the descendants, only one family lives in the North Island, the majority being closely associated with the Ellesmere district