MARRIED 65 YEARS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22864, 20 October 1937, Page 5

MARRIED 65 YEARS

ONEHUNGA COUPLE MR. AND MRS. JOHN GEORGE BOTH BORN IN AUCKLAND Probably the oldest living New Zea-land-born married couple, Mr. and Mrs. John George, of George Street, Onehunga, celebrated yesterday the 65th anniversary of their wedding. Both were born in Wyndham Street, Auckland, Mr. George 92 years ago, and Mrs. George nine years later, and they have resided in Onehunga for the greater part of the time since. Mr. George's parents reached Auckland by the Louisa Campbell in 1842, and Ins father, Mr. Edward George, had charge of the first bonded store in the city, then situated on the present site of the New Zealand Insurance Company's buiMing in Queen Street, and ho occupied the only house then standing in Wyndham Street. In 184<, when the pensioner settlement of Onehunga was being laid out by the surveyors, the George family opened one of the first hotels in the township. After Mr. Edward George's death in 1855, the hotel, known as the Royal, was carried on bv his widow, who died in 1892, at the age of 88. Mr. and Mrs. John George were married by the late Father Paul in the Church of the Assumption, Onehunga, on October 19, 1872. While Mr. George has of late years not been in the best of health, Mrs. George is remarkably alert and active for one of her age. Her parents arrived in Auckland bv the ship Bolivia from Mauritius in 1841, her maiden name being Lillie Grimley. Her family comprises three sons and three daughters, all of whom, with the exception of one son killed in the Great War, are living. One of the sons is the well known golfer Mr. Hex George. There are seven grandchildren and one greatgrandson. The wedding anniversary was appropriately celebrated b\ r the family last evening.