PERSONAL.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 57, 8 March 1911, Page 5

PERSONAL.

Mr T. L. Austin, of Wellington, will arrive in Blenheim to-night. He purposes spending a short holiday in Marlbo rough.

A wedding will take place at Picton on Wednesday next between Miss Annie Lloyd and Mr h . L. Foster.

Mr E., Bamford, Registrar-General of Lands in Wellington, who is retiring, will be succeeded by Mr I*. G. Bridges, District Land Registrar at Christchurch, whose place will be taken by Mr W. Winks, of Dunedin. Mr Winks will be succeeded by Mr C E. NaLder, Invercargill, and Mr Nalder by Mr G. Pauling, of Napier, Mr Pauling by Mr F. A. Aspmall, m Napier, and Mr Aspinail by Mr J. A. Fraser, of' Napier. A vei*y old settler in the person of Mr Thomas Ford, passed away at Upper Moutere last week (reports The Colonist). . The deceased was born in Gloucestershire in 1829. He left England at the age of 13 years, ,and landed, in Nelson in the year 1842 with his parents in the ship Clifford. -For a time he lived in and about the Waimeas, but 33 years ago he went to the, Upper Moutere, where he had lived ever since. The surviving children are: —Mesdames D. O'Connell (Appleby), G. H. Hammond (Nelson), A. Kemp (Westwood), Miss Ford (Upper Moutere), and Messrs L. S. Ford (Maranui) and W. G. Ford (Upper Moutere), •and G. Ford (Onajsune). The funeral was largely attended by settlers from all parts of the district, Another of Marlborough's pioneers has passed away in the person oi: Mr Richard Mclsaac, whose death occurred on February 25 at his home in 'Renwicktown. ' The deceased gentleman was born in Glasgow exactly 80 years ago, and at the age of ten years he accompanied his parents to New • 'Zealand, leaving London in the good ship Clifford in the year 1841. The' Mclsaac family landed at Nelson on May loth, 1842, and made a short sojourn in that place. Young Richard soon showed of. what he was made by taking a mob of sheep from Nelson to Canterbury via the Barefell Pass, being the first person to undertake the arduous task. Upon this occasion Mt McI Isaac had a rough andtrying experience, but succeed<?d' in landing his sheep at their destination with the loss of a very small percentage, , which, succumbed to extreme cold 1 and to the deadly tutu. Mr Mc--1 Isaac was one of the first to settle, in 1 the Wairau district, arriving here an 1851. , In 1854 he built the first house on the Blind River estsite, and the remains of his work there can still be seen at the foot of Adams' Hill. In 1858 Mr Mclsaao was married to Miss Priscilla" Mealing, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. T. D. Nicholson. The aged couple celebrated their golden wedding on May 19, 1908, when there was a great gathering of the family, all the six sons and the two survivino; daughters being present to participate. As an instance of the hardihood of the pioneer's stock, it might be stated that but one member of the family predeceased that event. Since then, the iannly suffered a bereavement in the loss by accident of Mr Robert Mclsaac, there being now left to mourn the loss of ■ the late Mr Richard Mclsaac, his wife, five sons, and two daughters, his brother, Mr W. R. Mclsaac, of New I Plymouth, and his sister Mrs Barton, of Onatnalutu, in addition to thirtyfive £*ro.nd-ehildren and seven greatgrandchildren.