90TH BIRTHDAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 16

90TH BIRTHDAY

MRS. SARAH BOND LIFETIME IN PROVINCE PIONEER DAYS RECALLED Born in 1849. in a house which stood at the corner of High Street and Vulcan Lane, one of Auckland's oldest settlers, Mrs. Sarah Bond, will celebrate her 90th birthday to-day. Mrs. Bond, who lives with her son, Mr. W. Bond, of William Street, Takapuria, still pursues an active life, although she has been in indifferent health during the past year. Over 100 years ago, in 1837, her father, Mr. John Watson, a native of Inverness, arrived at the Bay of Islands, and after residing for short periods at Coromandel and Sydney, settled in Auckland to become one of the town's original blacksmiths. He built and resided in a house which still stands in Kitchener Street and is at present used as an antique shop. Later he put up the house at the corner of High Street and Vulcan Lane, where Mrs. Bond was born. Even when the second house was built the number of 'homes in Auckland erected in permanent materials could be counted on the fingers of one hand, according to Mrs. At that time the sea came up to Shortland Street and when the tide was in, a plank was used to cross the foot of straggling Queen Street. Mrs. Bond attended Sunday school at St. Andrew's Church, the "iron work of which' had been fashioned by her father. In 1862 Mr. Watson sold his house and surrounding property in High Street and went to Papatoetoe, where he set up a forgo on the Great South Road. There Mrs. Bond received her education and lived until her marriage in 1868 at the age of 19. Her only surviving brother, Mr. John Watson, still lives on the site of the early Papatoetoe forge. At the time of her marriage, her hus-" band, Mr. George Bond, was a sergeant of police in Auckland, who had already seen police service in London and Cornwall. They were immediately sent to Thames, where the rush for gold had started and the following year was probably one of the most exciting and anxious in Mrs. Bond's life. She was thankful when, after a year, Mr. Bond bought a small farm at Papatoetoe. For 20 years Mr. and Mrs. Bond resided on the farm and then they moved to Otahuhu, where Mr. Bond died 39 years ago. Mrs. Bond lived about 20 years at Otahuhu, later residing at Mount Eden and more recently with her son at Takapuna. She has been out of New Zealand on only one occasion, in 1913, when she made a world tour.