EIGHTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20306, 13 July 1929, Page 12

EIGHTY-NINTH BIRTHDAY.

MRS. W. HOLDSWORTH.

EARLY DAYS OF AUCKLAND.

A resident of Auckland for the past 65 years, Mrs W. Iloldsworth, of Armadale Road, Remuera, celebrated her C9th birthday yesterday. Mrs. Iloldsworth, who enjoys good health and frequently visits the city, -.vas born in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. She arrived in Auckland with her husband, the -late Mr. William Holdsworth, in 1864, in the ship British Tridant. For a time the couple lived at the top of what is now Swansoi- Street, then a popular residential quarter, but Jater they removed to Ilopetoun Street, l'oiisonby. Auckland was then little more than a village, and Ponsonby, unserved by tram or bus, was considered quite an outlying area. Mrs. Iloldsworth recalls that there were no two-storey shops in Queen Street. Tho roads were in a very bad scate and pedestrians had to make use of stepping stones in what is now Albert Street to avoid the mud. The heights behind tho town, now occupied by the Karangahape Road area, were covered with undergrowth, and there were not more than a dozen houses in the vicinity. Of a family of 10 children there are five sons and one daughter of Mrs. Holdsworih's living. Her husband died some years ago. The children are Mr. W. J. Holdsworth, Mr. S. C. Holdsworth, Mr R. N. Holdsworth, Mr. T. A. Holdsv.orth, Mr. A. F. Holdsworth and Mrs. H. Adams.