PIONEER WOMAN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20170, 13 February 1940, Page 5

PIONEER WOMAN

MRS. MARTHA U’REN DEATH AT 83 YEARS ; ESTEEMED GISBORNEITE l LINK WITH EARLY DAYS ' Members of the older generation . of Gisborne people will learn with ' deep regret of Die death of Mrs. Martha U’Ron. which occurred last night at the Cook Hospital after a lengthy illness. Mrs. U’Ron was 83 years of age, and represented a link with tiie early days of settlement in this district, her husband, the late Mr. Thomas U’Ron, having been the first white bey horn in Poverty Bay, Earn in County Armagh, Ireland, Mrs. U'Ron came to New Zealand as a girl Hi years of age, accompanying a brother who was seeking his fortune in the new colony. Their advent was in 1372, and four years later, in Dunedin, she was married to Mr, U’Ren, coming directly ,to Gisborne. She had spent the whole of the succeeding 62 years in this district, and, had earned the deep respect and esteem of all with whom she came in contact. Troublous Days It was through tier husband that Mrs. U’Ren enjoyed her principal associations with the pioneering' days in the Gisborne district. He was the son of Thomas U’Ren Die elder, who settled in the district in 1340, and became a well-known member of the small community of white people who founded the prosperity of Gisborne. Thomas U’Ren the younger was born at Te Arai in 1841, and his birth was recorded in the archives of the Church Missionary Society’s station, then located in a raupo whare at Te Arai. The family continued to live near the miss-on station at To Arai for many years, and Thomas the younger was a well-grown young man when the Hauhau troubles broke out. He took part in the battle at Wae-reng'a-a-hika in 18(35, which scotched the rebellion so far as the Gisborne district was concerned, and led to Die deportation of large numbers of natives to the Chatham Islands. Mr. U’Ren narrowly escaped death in that battle, during which, under Captain Wilson, he and a party of volunteers endeavoured to make a Hank attack on the rebels' pa. and wore themselves ambushed by natives who cross- . the river not far away. He also 1 ook part in operations against Te Kooti three years inter, and i was wounded in the shoulder at the < fight at Paparatu, in which the loyalists came off badly. His wound prov- ] cd to be superficial, however, and ; later, when To Kooti raided the ; settlement on the Gisborne flats, Mr. < U’Ren was able to evacuate his family from Makaraka, travelling by boat i clown the Taruheru River to safety in ( the township of Turnnga. His house j at Makaraka was burned to the ] ground.

Free Passage to Dominion

These events were long past when Mrs. U'Ron came to Gisborne, but they were still fresh in the memory of the survivors of the Massacre. Mrs. U’Ren had come to New Zealand as the result of enterprise, for she had taken up an offer of a free passage made to an elder sister, by Dunedin residents who wanted the services of a reliable children’s nurse. She sailed with her brother in the ship Christine McCausland, the voyage taking five months, and landed at Port Chalmers in 1873.

Until well past her eightieth year, Mrs. U’Ren possessed all her faculties, and look a keen interest in the progress of a/i inquiry for moneys lying in Chancery, to which she believed she had a good claim. She was tiie Inst survivor of a family of four, and had four daughters surviving, these being Mrs. E. G. Sharp, Gisborne. Mrs. E. .1. Rose. Palmerston North, Mrs. J, N. Talbot, Gisborne, and Mrs. T. Cooper, Gisborne, There are 35 grand-children and 17 great-grand-children living. The funeral will take place to-mor-row, leaving the Church of England, Cook street, immediately after a service at 1.45 p.m. for the Taruheru cemetery.