OBITUARY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18236, 3 November 1933, Page 4

OBITUARY

Mr. Joseph Crisp, who was a member of the railway service and Public Works Department from 1874 till 1908, has died at Auckland. Deceased was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity: The death occurred at Woodlands, Southland, recently of Mr. James MeKerebar, aged 93. He arrived at Dunedin from Scotland with his parents 75 years ago and took a prominent part in pioneer land cultivation and stockraising in Otago and Southland. One of Foxton’s oldest residents, Mr. Charles Edward Robinson, has died at Lady’s Mile, Palmerston North, after a lingering illness, at the age of 66 years. The deceased was a member of an old pioneering family of farmers, being the seventh son of the late Captain Francis Robinson. The death occurred in Hamilton on Monday of Mr. Moses McNickle, of Gordonton, at the age of 84 years. Mr. McNickle was born in Stewart Town, County Tyrone, Ireland, and came to New Zealand 60 years ago in the ship Queen of Nations. He settled in the Waikato. The announcement of the death of Mr. Thomas Gordon, which occurred in Christchurch last Saturday, was received with the deepest regret by members of the Scottish Society of New Zealand. Mr. Gordon was immediate past chief of the society, and at the time of his death he was still its secretary. He became ill about five wpeks ago, and succumbed to haemorrhage of the brain. Mr. John Francis Andrews, who died at his home in the Tahakopa Valley, Balclutha, last week at the advanced age of 83 years, was won of the first settlers in the valley 35 years ago, when it was opened for settlement by the Government. Afterwards it became famous as the location chosen by {Dr. Truby King for a model dairy farm and dairy factory. Mr. Andrews was a native of Lewis Well, Gloucestershire, England, and came to New Zealand in the ship Scimitar, over 60 years ago. The death occurred recently in Christchurch, of Mrs. Elizabeth Johns, formerly of Ashburton, and a very old resident of Canterbury. Mrs. Johns was born at Illigon, Cornwall, and arrived in New Zealand in the ship Merope, in September, 1875, after an eventful voyage of 12 weeks. The ship struck an iceberg and for the remainder of the voyage the pumps had to be worked continually. This was the last voyage of the Merope, as she was burned at sea on the next trip. Mrs. Harriet A. Herron, who died in Roxburgh recently, aged 97 years, was the type of pioneer who will be proudly remembered by those admitted to her friendship and acquaintance, says the Otago Times. She was a native of Deal, Kent, arid arrived in New Zealand in 1858, and was married in Timaru two years later to Mr. H. IT. Heron, a son of Major Heron, who was commandant of Cockatoo Island, Sydney. Upon hearing of the Tuapeka gold rushes Mr. Heron decided to go there. Nowadays one cannot fully realise the long and arduous journey on horseback and pack saddle. Mrs. Heron, in her narratives of the past, made light of the hardships that had to be experienced. Mr. Heron engaged in a large mining venture, buying and selling gold to the hunks. He built, also, a store and butchery on the banks of the Molyneux, and continued in this business for 14 years. During that period Mrs. Heron had many and varied ,experiences. For over three years sho was without the companionship of another woman, and on ono occasion, in the absence of Mr. Heron and tho miners in the immediate vicinity of her home, she entertained unawares two of the Maungatua bushrangers and murderers. In 187(1 Mr. Heron became proprietor of tho old Commercial Hotel, Roxburgh. Borne years after Mr. Heron's death, Mrs. Heron built the new Commercial Hotel. She was fittingly called the “Grand old lady of Roxburgh.”