MR. JOHN JAMES WILLIAMSON

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 60, 8 September 1937, Page 13

MR. JOHN JAMES WILLIAMSON

Recently a link with the early days of Wellington was broken by the death of Mr. John James Williamson at the age of 90. Born in Norwich, England, in 1847, he came to New Zealand in the sailing ship Waymouth with his mother and brother Stephen, arriving in Wellington in 1866. In 1867 he and his brother took up bush land in the Ohariu Valley, Makara, where they farmed for some years. Disposing of the Ohariu property, he went to South Africa, but returned to New Zealand five years later. In those days there was not a great deal of land being opened up for settlement and about a year later he took up "Waituna" in what is now known as the Waituna West district, where he carried on farming operations for many years.

Mr. Williamson served as a councillor and chairman of the Kiwitea Road Board and later the Kiwitea County Council and the Palmerston North Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. He was a member of the directorates of. a number of financial institutions. For the past thirty-five years he lived in Wellington. He is survived by his brother, Mr. Stephen Williamson, of Waituna. his wiie, and three sons, who retain a part of "Waituna." and two daughters, Mrs. Heath and Mrs. Fordyce, of Wellington.