Centenary Of Lili Family

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31563, 28 December 1967, Page 3

Centenary Of Lili Family

About 100 descendants of William Thomas Lili and his wife, Clara, will meet at Willowby, near Ashburton, on Saturday, to celebrate the arrival of Mr Lili at Lyttelton in December, 1867.

Mr Lili was born at Huttoft, Lincolnshire, in England, on December 31, 1846. He first worked in Christchurch. After losing an arm in an accident with a threshing machine, he took on a job in 1875 as bridgekeeper of the road and rail bridge over the Ashburton River.

The bridge had been erected the year before. Only a few chains of East and Moore Streets and Wakanui Road had been formed and there was no church and no hospital in Ashburton. When the railway went through, linking Timaru and Christchurch, Ashburton began to progress. In 1876 Mr Lili married Clara Taylor, the eldest daughter of Thos, Taylor, the first master baker in Ashburton. Clara Taylor was born near Lynn, Norfolk, in England, in 1857. The two were married in the Primitive Methodist Church on Wills Street, the first church to be built in Ashburton, and their wedding was the first to be held in it. The Bible-hymn book presented to them at their wedding is still in the possession of the oldest grandchild. After about 12 years of hard farming on poor land, Mr Lili decided to move to Willowby, and in June, 1890, he and his wife and their six children shifted to their new home. Public Affairs In spite of the demands of farming, Mr Lili gave much of his time to public affairs and local bodies. He was a justice of the peace, a foundation member of the Farmers’ Union, the Wheat Pool (a body of men representing wheat growers, merchants, millers and bakers, later to become United Wheatgrowers), and for 21 years he was a member of the Ashburton County Council. During his term as chairman of the county council a new road bridge over the Ashburton River was built and because of his foresight and energy it was built 22ft wide and not 18ft as many wanted it. Mr Lili represented the county on the Highways Board and the Canterbury Progress League; he was a member of the Ashburton Hospital Board for 15 years with two terms as chairman and 11 years on the Ashburton ElectricPower and Gas Board. School Boards For 27 years Mr Lili was a director (and chairman for many years) of the Ashburton Dairy Company, now the Midlands Dairy Company. He was chairman of the Willowby School Committee for 35 years. He was later a member of the Ashburton High School and Technical School boards and of the Ashburton Agricultural and Pastoral Association.

Mrs Lili was also prominent in local affairs. She was president of the Ashburton Christian Temperance Union for 21 years and it was because of her interest and enthusiasm

that a women’s rest room was built in Ashburton. Mrs Lili worked to have the Railways Department provide, special carriages on expresses for women and children with hostesses to look after them. For many years she was the book critic for Ashburton booksellers. Both Mr and Mrs Lili were staunch supporters of the Methodist Church. Over the years Mr Lili served as ’ ustee, local preacher, Sunday • school superintendent and ! teacher, and one year as vice- • president of the Primitive 1 Methodist Conference. ( Family History

A book on the history of the Lili family, prepared for the centennial by the late Mr

G. H. B. Lili, includes a family tree listing 210 descendants.

Of their 11 children, four are still living and three of them expect to be present at the reunion on Saturday, which will include a thanksgiving service in the Willowby Methodist Church, a family dinner in the district hall, the taking of photographs, and a social programme. Included among the members of the family attending will be a great-grandson and his wife from the State University of Illinois, and others from Auckland, New Plymouth, Havelock, North, Wellington, Picton, Christchurch, Leeston, Timaru, and Dunedin, as well as many who still live in the Ashburton county.