PASSING OF PIONEERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18216, 9 October 1922, Page 8

PASSING OF PIONEERS.

THREE DEATHS RECORDED. ME. J. GOEDON, AGED 94. The deaths of three more members of the fast-thinmng ranks of the early pioneers have to be recorded. There passed away on Friday at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. N. H. Goulstone Onehunga, Mr. John Gordon, who had attained the advanced ago of 94 years. The deceased, who arrived in New Zealand on June 23, 1864, was born in Largic. Parish Inch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1828, and was 36 years of age when ho landed in Otago. He took up land on tho Taiori Plain, near Silver Stream, which ho farmed for several years. His pioneering days in Otago were very strenuous, and in addition to tho hard work associated with his farming pursuits, Mr. Gordon built a stone house, which still stands as a monument to his industry. He was single when he arrived in New Zealand, but bis wife, who predeceased him, came out to this country from Scotland in 1865 and they were married immediately after her s,rrival, by the Rev. Will, of East Taieri Church. After ten years on the Taieri Mr. and Mrs. Gordon settled in tho Opotiki dmtrict, where they reared their family. Shortly after his wife's death Mr. Gordon came to Auckland, and had resided with his daughter, Mrs. Goulstone, ever since. He was a most energetic man, and enjoyed good health practically to the day he died. . He was noted for his thoroughness in farming matters. The late Mr. Gordon's family consisted originally of four sons and two daughters. One son died in his infancy, and another, Mr Alex. Gordon, was drowned when the Wairarapa was wrecked on the Great Barrier Island on October 28, 1894. Two daughters and two sons survive their late father, the sons being engaged in farra : ing in tho Opotiki district, while the second daughter, Mrs. Norman -Kerr, lives at Mount RoskUl. The remains of the late Mr. Gordon were interred at Opotiki yesterday. SIRS. JANET SCOTT. Another early colonist, in the person of Mrs. Janet Scott, passed away recently ab the home of her daughter, Mrs. W. Bailey, in Stanley Bay, at the ripe age of 80 years. Deceased, who waa the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Dorren, of Tamaki West, who ;irrived in Auckland in 1842 in the ship Jane Gifford, was born in that year. Later her parents, together .with other early settlers, resided on the site of the old Albert Barracks, since transformed into Albert Park. After a time Mr. and Mrs. Dorren moved to Kawau Island, the former being engaged in the copper mines on tho island. Deceased spent a number of years at Kawau, and married the late Captain Thomas Scott, master mariner, then in charge of the s.s. Coromandel, and for some years afterwards in the employ of the Northern Steamship Company. Captain Scott and his wife lived at Mahurangi Heads, where they both experienced trying times. On one occasion during her husband's absence from home Mrs. Scott's life was threatened by rebel Maoris, who had escaped from Kawau Island. Mrs. Scott waa a conspicuous figure at the annual gatherings of early settlers, nnd invariably displayed the greatest enthusiasm at these functions. She was an exceptionally active woman notwithstanding her age, and retained the full possession of all her faculties right up to the day she died. Hor death was unexpected. Captain Scott predeceased his wife by about 11 years. She is-survived by fo«r sons, three daughtnrs. 18 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. The interment took place at Mahurangi Heads last week. MRS. E. GARRETT, Mrs. E. Garrett, who died on October 4, in her eightieth year, at her late residence. 41, East Street. Newton, was a very old resident of New Zealand. She was born at Whangaroa in 1842, an<J was the granddaughter of the Rev. Thomas Kendall, who arrived at the Bay of Islands in 1814, and who was the first missionary sent out by the Rev. Samuel Marsden. Mr. Kendall also held the first magistrate's commission issued for New Zealand. Mrs. Garrett was a cousin of Henry Kendall, the Australian poet, and the youngest daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Florance, surveyor, of Sydney, and later of Auckland. Mrs. Garrett is survived by two daughters and two sons,' Mrs. T. A. Cooper, Hamilton ; Mrs. Robson, Taumarunui: Messrs. Charles Garrett, Waitoa; and F. Garrett, Auckland. Deceased's late huisband, Mr. 0. Garrett, died at the Thames in 1896.