PIONEER'S BIRTHDAY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19378, 16 July 1937, Page 13

PIONEER'S BIRTHDAY

101 YEARS OF AGE MR. JOHN KILMISTER Older than the city of Wellington, and perhaps the oldest living pioneer in New Zealand, Mr. John Kilmister, 23 Cottleville terrace, celebrated his one hundredth and first birthday yesterday by a small family gathering at his residence. Considering his age, Mr. Kilmister is remarkably well, but the years have taken toll of his hearing and his memory. Nevertheless, he is able to walk and is still a fairly active man.

He was born at Bath, England, and was five years old when he arrived at Lyttelton on March 17, 1841, with his parents in the ship Lady Nugent. His first home in the colony was in barracks on the old foreshore of Wellington. Then his father built a mud and slab hut at the top of Bolton street, and after a few years the family moved to the Hutt Valley. A flood destroyed a lot of their property, so they moved back again to Wellington and built a house on The Terrace. When he was 22 Mr. Kilmister was attracted to Gabriel's Gully by reports of gold finds, but he had little luck. When he at last made his way back to Wellington after working on a sheep station, he married Sarah Ann Judd, a member of a family who .arrived in New Zealand in 1840. She had a sister who is believed to have been the first white girl born in Wellington. He then bought a farm—Sky Farm —behind the Karori Cemetery, and paid 10s an acre for 750 acres. Mr. and Mrs. Kilmister had 10 children who were brought up on this farm. When the eldest boys were able to take over the property, the parents retired to live in Wellington. His father and mother, who were aged 90 and 94 respectively, died on the same day in 1904. and his wife died in November, 1931. at the age of 88. Mr. Kilmister was never photographed until his ninety-sixth birthday, and has never danced in his life. Neither has he smoked nor taken liquor, and he has never attended a picture show,- ■