99 YEARS OLD

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1078, 16 September 1930, Page 7

99 YEARS OLD

PIONEER SETTLER OF TUAKAU AND CLEVEDON WELL-KNOWN IN DISTRICTS Special to THE SUN % TUAKAU, Today. Mrs. Eliza Hyde, a pioneer settler of the Clevcdon and the Tuakau districts, is 99 years of age today. Mrs. Hyde reached Auckland on the ship Excelsior, with her husband and a family of six children, on August 3, 1870. Mr. Hyde’s brother had already settled in New Zealand and he took the family in a cutter from the ship to the mouth of the Wairoa River. The river was so shallow that the cutter could not proceed up it, and the Hyde family completed the final stage of the journey to the new home in a rowing boat. Clevedon district was then known as Wairoa South. The wedding of Queen Victoria is distinctly remembered by Mrs. Hyde, who was born in Huntingdonshire'. In the days of the arrival of the Hyde family in the Wairoa South district. the land was mostly covered with dense bush, and there were large numbers of Maoris in the vicinity. About 10 years after settling at Wairoa South the family acquired property at Tuakau. Clearing of land and the construction of a dwelling were necessary and the family removed to Tuakau definitely after three years. Mr. Hyde died 29 years ago. and Mrs. Hyde and a daughter now live on the property. Two and a-half years ago. Mrs. Hyde broke a thigh as a result of a fall, but she has now recovered sufficiently to be able to make her way from room to room. Three sons and five daughters are living. They are: Mr. F. Hyde. Tuakau: Air. FI. Hyde, Sydney; Air. A. Hyde, Wellington; Airs. Cowden and Airs. Bleakley, Grey Lynn: Mrs. Harris and Mrs. Reeve, Rotorua; and Miss Hyde, Tuakau. There are 19 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.