DEATH OF A PIONEER

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1690, 24 November 1925, Page 4

DEATH OF A PIONEER

MRS THOMAS GIBBONS. There passed away at the residence of her daughter, Mrs E. Adams, “ Matariki,” Te Awamutu, on Saturday last, one of the oldest pioneers of the province in the person of Mrs Lavinia Gibbons, relict of the late Mr T. Gib' bons, a well-known figure in the timber trade of Auckland for very many years. Mrs Gibbons, who was one of the first white girls born in Auckland, was a daughter of the late Mr Wm. Kilgour, who came to the colony in the ship Jane Gifford in the early forties. Mrs Gibbons was born in 1844, and her early years were spent at the IH’uia, on the Manukau harbour, where her father had taken up land soon after arriving in Auckland. After her marriage she spent about thirty years in the Ohinemuri district, bringing up a large family of seven daughters and three sons, nine of whom are still living The members are Messrs T. W. Gibbons (Wailii), J. Gibbons (Gisborne), and Ken Gibbons (Te Aroha), and Mesdames L. Sealey (Otahuhu), H Lysacht (Matakana), E. Adams (Te Awamutu), W. Tyrrell (Pokeno), A. E. IWight (Te Aroha), aii:l F. Ltpsey (Waiuku). There are 45 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. Mrs Gibbons had reached an advanced age, being in her eighty-second year. She succumbed on Saturday, and was laid to rest in the Te Awamutu cemetery yesterday afternoon’, in the presence of many members of the family and of a large gathering of friends, the deceased lady had a most interesting personality, and her stories oi the early experiences of pioneer settlers in tne vicinity of Auckland were most interesting.