OBITUARY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXI, Issue XXIII, 3 December 1898, Page 723

OBITUARY.

By the death of Mrs Barron, says the "Southland News.’ Southland loses one of its oldest and most highly esteemed residents, and we feel sure that large numbers of people to whom she was known will mourn her loss, for she possessed many of the sides of character that single people out and endear them to those with whom they come into contact—kind, gentle, charitable, and strictly upright in all her undertakings. For many years, until advancing age prevented it, she was to be found at all hours of the night at the bedside of the sick and the suffering, and manj r are the tales told by those whom she has befriended in the early sixties. We feel we are right in saying that probably no one has a greater number of friends in all parts of the district of Southland, where her kindly actions, unostentatiously performed, have earned for her warm regard. Nor is t.iis confined solely to Southland. She had numerous friends in many parts of the colony. Mrs Barron was born in Cork. Ireland,

whence, with her first husband, Mr Thos. Ward, she embarked in 1851 for Australia, to try their fortune in that then comparatively new country. Immediately after their arrival her husband received a responsible and lucrative appointment in one of the large commercial houses of the city of Melbourne, and their prospects were bright and happy. The great leveller death, however, within a few years changed ner whole future. Her husband died from the result of a horse accident, and left his wife with eight young children. Her troubles did not end with the loss of her partner, as within a very short space of time her whole family were stricken down by the then raging epidemic diphtheria, and five of her sons succumbed to the fatal malady. Some time afterwards she married a second time, and in 1862 came on to New Zealand and settled at Bluff, where she has remained ever since. Shortly

after her arrival at the Bluff she found the whole burden of bringing up her family thrown entirelj- on her own hands, and the calm and imperturbable dignity with which she bore her troubles, and the force of character she displayed in working to bring up her family is well known to the old identities since 1862. Mrs Barron has reached close to the allotted span of three score and ten, and though the storms of life have at times swept round her, she looked remarkably young for her years, which was the more marked by the absence of grey hairs. Careful, sympathetic, and kindly disposed, she has earned the repose of a noble-minded woman. There was no issue by the second marriage, and of her first family there survived her only daughter. Mrs C. A. Tipping, of the Bluff, and two sons, Mr W. G. Ward, of the Postal Department. Dunedin, and the Hon. J. G. Ward. There are also several grandchildren. To them all in their sad bereavement the sympathy of their numerous friends will be extended.

The funeral of the deceased lady took place on Sunday afternoon, the cortege being by far the largest ever seen at the Bluff, the friends of the family attending from all parts of the. district. A special train from Winton brought, one hundred to Invercargill, who joined the ordinary 2.15 p.m. train from town to the port, which carried, in addition to the Winton contingent, three hundred from Invercargill, and fifty from side stations. The service in the house and at the grave

was performed by the Rev. Father McGrath, the chief mourners being the Hon. J. G. Waal and Mr W. T. Ward (sons of the deceased), Mr C. A. Tipping (son-in-law), and the grandchildren. The wreaths were so numerous that numbers had to be carried by hand. The Ministry, the Premier and Mrs Seddon, Town Council, the Harbour Board, and other public bodies sent very beautiful ones in addition to those from private friends. The Mayor of Invercargill, members of both branches of the Legislature, and representatives of local bodies were among those present.