Our Family History

“OUR FAMILY HISTORY”

Charles Henry Anderton
Isabella Ross Anderton

September 2000

CHARLES HENRY ANDERTON

Born: 15 February, 1920

Charlie, Charles, farmer, husband to Isa, father to Ross, Neil and Judy and grandfather (poppy/pop) to Cassandra, Juliet, Hamish, Kate and Nicholas, father-in-law to Sue, Donald and Diane.

Charlie Anderton with Wag, winner of the Straight Hunt, North Island Champion in 1970.

MRS. AMY ANDERTON

WHANGAREI RESIDENT

One of New Zealand’s early residents, Mrs. Amy Wilhemina Bentick [Bentinck] Anderton, now of Whangarei, celebrated her 88th birthday recently. Mrs. Anderton was born on the voyage from England on the German sailing ship Lord Wilhelm Bentick, her father, the late Mr. William Head, having been called to service in the Maori War in 1850.

At the conclusion of the war the family returned to England, where Mr. Head left the service after 22 years with the Royal Engineers, during which he was presented with the Victoria Cross and a good conduct medal at Aldershot by Queen Victoria.

Mrs. Anderton’s people then returned to New Zealand and at the age of 18 she married Captain Frank Robinson, of the Charlotte Anne. After three years of marriage Captain Robinson was drowned off Whangarei Heads, leaving his widow and a child. Later Mrs Anderton married Mr. Charles Anderton, of Preston, England, a cousin of the Victorian statesman Sir Robert Peel. At the time of his death Mr. Anderton was a farmer in the Waipawa district, Hawke’s Bay.

Photo caption -“MRS AMY ANDERTON”

Early Resident 0f Whangarei Celebrates 87th Birthday

Last Thursday, an early resident of Whangarei, [Miss] Amy Wilhelmina Bentick Anderton, celebrated her 87th birthday. She was born during the voyage of the German sailing ship, Lord Wilhelm Bentick, and spent more than 30 years of her early life in the Auckland district, residing at the Bay of Islands, Thames and Bombay.

Her father, the late Mr William Head, fought in the Maori War in 1850, and after the war the family returned to England, where Mr Head was discharged after more than 22 years of service with the Royal Engineers. He won the V.C., and was also presented with the Good Conduct Medal by Queen Victoria.

When she was 18 years old, Mrs Anderton returned to New Zealand with her family, and married Captain Frank Robinson, a nephew of Squire Peek, of Hazlewood, London, founder of the well-known biscuit firm of Peek Frean. Captain Robinson was drowned at the Whangarei Heads three years later, there being one child. Later, Mrs Robinson married Mr Charles Anderton, of Preston, England. Mr Anderton was a cousin of Sir Robert Peel.

There are four sons and four daughters living. They are Messrs. A. and D. Anderton (Otane), and Messrs. G. and A. Anderton (Taihape). The daughters are Mrs Lorenzen (Whangarei), Mrs Mason (Otane), Mrs McNeill (Hunterville). and Mrs K. M. Commor (Waipawa).

A crumpled newspaper article announcing the 88th birthday of Mrs. Amy Anderton of Whangarei is the first information we have on the life of Charles Henry Anderton. Amy is his grandmother. She had been born on a German sailing ship en route to New Zealand where her father Mr. William Head had been called to service in the Maori Wars of 1850. He was awarded the Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria. Amy returned to England following the Maori wars but then came back to New Zealand, marrying first at the age of 18 to Captain Frank Robinson. After Robinson’s drowning, Amy married Mr. Charles Anderton of Preston, England, a cousin of the Victorian statesman Sir Robert Peel. Mr. Charles Anderton, Charlie’s grandfather, was a farmer in the Waipawa district. Arthur was the son of Charles.

Amelia Anderton   Arthur Anderton

Charles’s Parents

Widespread regret will be extended to Mr. Arthur Anderton, of “The Pines,” Otane, by the loss he has sustained in the death of his wife, Mrs Amelia Anderton, who passed away at a private hospital in Hastings on Monday at the early age of 34 years. She was a daughter of Mr. W. H. Williams, of Kereru, and was highly esteemed by a wide circle of friends for her amiable and charming disposition. Besides her husband, she leaves four children and a large number of friends to mourn their loss. The funeral took place this afternoon, when a short service was held in Hastings Methodist Church prior to the remains being laid to rest in the Havelock North Cemetery. The officiating minister was the Rev. A. McBean.

Charles Henry Anderton was born to Amelia (nee Williams) and Arthur Henry Anderton on February 15th 1920 in Hastings. He became a motherless child at three and began the independent, confident and courageous life he was to lead.

Charles father had been a bullock driver at Te Aute Station, he then moved to Kereru and worked at the timber mill. There was a sister Elsie and soon to be a brother Hector born after the family moved to Otane in 1923. Amelia died during the birth and Elsie took over the role of mothering Charlie as soon as she was able. Hector was raised in Taihape by Uncle Albert and Auntie Maggie and did not return until he went to High School at Waipawa.

Charlie attended the Otane Primary School arriving at school each day on a small pony (1925). He later attended the Waipawa High School, but his intelligence was not challenged in an academic setting – he needed to be a man in the world of farming as soon as he was able. He worked hard, played hard too and he found his place in the work of sheep and cattle. Motorbikes were a passion and a downfall, having very nearly killed himself in his mid-twenties by smashing into an unmarked gate. He bears the scars to this day.

Charlie age 4

DANGER TO MOTORISTS

The Racecourse Gates

‘OUGHT TO BE PAINTED WHITE’

The danger of the Hastings racecourse gates in Market Street to motorists at night, as evidenced by a recent accidecnt [accident], was the subject of comment at yesterday’s meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Provincial Executive of the Farmers’ Union and it was decided to make representations to have the gates painted white.

Mr. T.B.H. Priest, who brought the matter up, said he had inspected the gates and knew the young man – a stranger to the town – who had been seriously hurt just over a week ago when he mistook Market Street for Railway road in an attempt to return to Otane. The gates ought to be painted white, Mr. Priest suggested, so that they could be seen at night. There was no light near the gates, and the crossroad was some distance away. “I have been told that there was an accident there previously, but I do not actually remember it.”

Mr. H.J. McKeesick suggested that a letter should be sent to the Jockey Club asking that the gates be painted white or that some other precautions be taken to eliminate the present danger. A stranger could easily think he was on a main road, said Mr. McKeesick.

It was decided to adopt this suggestion.

The accident referred to occurred shortly after midnight on Saturday, June 12, when Mr. Charles Anderton crashed into the gates of the racecourse while riding a motor-cycle and suffered serious injuries. He is still in hospital and his condition is regarded as critical. A pillion rider escaped serious injury.

ENGAGEMENTS
ANDERTON – EDWARD.

Mr and Mrs J. Edward, of Fairfield, Waipukurau, announce the engagement of their third daughter, Isabella Ross, to Charles Henry, second son of Mr A. Anderton and the last Mrs Anderton, of Otane.

He found another love in his life – that of Isabella Edward who became his wife in 1943.

These were times of great uncertainty in the world – Hitler loomed as a formidable menace threatening to destroy the British Empire. New Zealanders felt safer than any others at the beginning of the war but the call to save the empire was just as strong as it was overseas, and the young husband did not hesitate to enlist.

In 1944 Charlie left New Zealand for the Middle East knowing that if he did not return, a child would be born to the newest Anderton family. His training had been as a wireless operator, but he was given a tank driver’s position in the army. A raging voice and outstanding courage earned him the name “Bull” and also the Military Medal for his work in the line of fire. Only Bull will ever know the reality of the war stories – few of which have ever been disclosed to his children.

All we know, is that he faced terrors and fears more real than we will ever encounter, and that he is one of the men we are thankful for each year on Remembrance Day.

Award of Military Medal

Advice of the award of the Military Medal to her husband, Cpl. Charles Henry Anderton, has been received by Mrs G. [C] Anderton, who resides with her mother, Mrs J. Edward, of Fairfield, Waipukurau. Cpl. Anderton was educated at the Otane Primary and Waipawa district high schools, and prior to going overseas was employed on various farms in the district. He has one child, a son, born since he left New Zealand.

That he survived and returned home to welcome his new son Ross we are doubly glad of. Ross, born while Charlie was overseas, is honoured with the name of Charles as part of his own.

Constant passion for dog trialling

GONE are the days when a farmer pulled on his woolly hat and went to hand milk the cows.

Computers, consultants and contractors may be the buzzwords of the 90s, but 75-year-old Charlie Anderton, pictured, who’d been farming in Central Hawke’s Bay all his life, remembers a time, not so long ago, when these terms might have been part of a foreign language.

Now leading a quiet life at Mangatarata Station, Waipukurau, which he farms with his wife Isa and their daughter and son-in-law Judy and Donald Macdonald, Charlie was born at Kereru, where his father Arthur was logging.

“He would hitch his bullock team of eight to haul huge logs from the bush,” Mr Anderton remembers. “As a young man he helped clear and drain the Te Aute swamp at Otane, a scheme of Archdeacon Samuel Williams.”

Sometimes a bullock would become bogged and it would take three or four men to pull it out.

Mr Anderton was three when they went to Otane, hand-milking a small herd of cows.”

His mother died soon after they went farming and so it fell to his father to tell the bedtime stories. Anderton children remember being entertained with tales of his bullock-driving days.

Mr Anderton’s first job was farmhand for Roslyn Tod who grew ryegrass for seed, probably one of the first to do so. Seed crops are still grown in the area today.

Harvesting was done by hand; huge gangs of men having been employed to do the job. “How the seed survived the way it was handled and stacked is a mystery,” Mr Anderton says.

Later the miller would arrive with his portable traction engine, thrashing mill and chaff cutter. “There was quite an art to tossing the grass into the mill. The seed was thrashed out and bagged.”

He joined the 20th Army Regiment, going overseas from 1944 to 1946 and taking part in the final campaign in Italy which led to the German surrender in 1945.

On his return he and his wife settled at Otane, taking over the family herd and re-establishing a team of dogs.

Wanting to expand, they bought more land two miles from home, sold the dairy herd and went into sheep. In 1960, to get all their land within one boundary, they sold their Otane properties and moved to the other side of Waipukurau.

It was during the 20 years at Carlyon that Mr Anderton had some of his best trial dogs.

Originally a hobby, trialling “somehow grabbed me and became a passion,” he says.

The years after the war began a time of building the farming life that has proven to be one of the most successful in the Hawkes Bay area. A small block of family land at Otane was taken over for dairying in 1946 and sheer hard work gave the new family the resources to buy the neighbouring farm, and later 100 acres nearer Waipawa. The cows were sold, and sheep took over.

BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES.

BIRTHS

ANDERTON. – On December 12, 1951, at the Rathbone Maternity Hospital, Waipawa, to Isabella, wife of Charles Anderton, Otane – a daughter. Both well.

Isa, Judy Charlie   Neil

In 1948 a second son Neil was born, and 1951 Judy arrived to complete the family.

Charlie Cassandra and Isa 1971

Charlie Judging Charity Dog Trial at Gisborne. Isa Timekeeping.

When most other men were considering slowing down a bit, Charlie took on the largest piece of land he had ever farmed and shared the responsibility of this with a man he found to be his equal – younger, willing to share in the dream of a great farm in the making, and one who had the skills to take farming into the new age of agricultural technology.

It has been the intellectual side of Charlie that has flourished during the time of gradually handing over the management to Don Macdonald. He has since become president of the Pakeke Lions Club, continued judging dog trials, putting in TV. Appearances and managing the events at the Waipukurau show.

Charlie is the last remaining member of the four children in his family and gives us all hope with his continuing good health and mental abilities. He walked the Milford Track when he was 70 and still enjoys a tramp around the farm. This older man is wiser! He has moved with the rest of us into the computerized world and communicated regularly with his sons Ross and Neil via email. Family contacts remain strong partly because of this but also because travel has been an interest and has always included a stop over to visit the grandchildren in England and Canada.

MASTER SPORTSPERSON

Two CHB farmers buy Mangatarata Station

Mangatarata Station has been bought by two Central Hawke’s Bay farmers, Mr D. Macdonald and Mr C. H. Anderton.

Mr Macdonald is a great grandson of Mr James Macdonald, who first leased 5000 acres of the station in 1908.

Mr Anderton is Mr Macdonald’s father-in-law and Mr Macdonald confirmed today they would be farming the station in partnership.

Mr Macdonald is farming 829 acres (335.47 hectares) at Wakarara. Mr Anderton is farming 1124 acres (454.44 hectares) in Farm Rd, near Waipukurau.

The 1021-hectare (2525-acre) station, one of the oldest sheep runs in Hawke’s Bay, went up for auction on Friday. In a three-way battle the station was secured.

1955 was the year that Charlie’s father died, and also the year that he took up the passion of his lifetime – dog trials. The Tikokino club was his first membership.

In 1960 the family sold the Otane property and bought 1,023 acres at Carlyon on Farm Rd. He there joined the Takapau dog club where he is still a member. All the top prizes are engraved with the Anderton name and Charlie is known throughout New Zealand for top level honours in national championships in events with dogs such as Star, Bruce, Tam, Wag and Dick at his side. Although he is now 80, this man continues to be “the main threat” at any event, and none of us can imagine him without a dog at his side. Charlie continued to farm at Carlyon until 1980 when he and his son-in-law Donald Macdonald bought Mangatarata Station.

LIVESTOCK – March 14, 1995

Mr and Mrs Anderton at their Mangatarata home.

June 14, 1993

Trust one marriage secret

Tolerance, trust and loyalty are attributes Waipukurau farming couple Charlie and “Isa” Anderton say helped them through 50 years of marriage.

The Mangatarata pair celebrated their golden wedding on Saturday, looking back over the years punctuated by the war, farming and dog trials.

Mr Anderton is an “addicted” dog trialist.

The Andertons spent some of the day…active service in the Middle East and Europe including the Battle of Monte Cassino.

He was later awarded the Military Medal.

He returned home to a farm on Drumpeel Rd, and later moved to Carlyon, on Farm Rd.

By then, Mr and Mrs Anderton had a family of three – Ross, Neil and Judy.

In 1980 they moved to Mangatarata Station, forming a farming partnership with son-in-law Donald Macdonald.

Our family reveres this man – our Dad, our Grandfather, our Father in Law. At this time of his 80th birthday we offer him this quote:

“I am not afraid of growing old I look forward to growing as I get older”- BROCK TULLY.

We thank him for teaching us the lessons of courage, hard work, and the rewards of applying oneself to a chosen task. We wish him many more years of growing as he gets older.

Happy 80th birthday!

BEST WISHES FOR THE NEXT 80 YEARS
CASSANDRA

ACROSS THE OCEAN AND FAR AWAY BUT AS CLOSE TO MY HEART AS THIS VERY SPECIAL DAY.
JULIET

HAMISH

NICHOLAS

KATE

ISABELLA ROSS ANDERTON
BORN OCT 18TH 1921
HASTINGS, NEW ZEALAND

First Generation:  William and Sarah Clarkson   Nee: Nickolson

Second Generation:  Mary Ann Sarah Carson   Nee: Clarkson

Third Generation:   Emily Florence West   Nee: Carson

Fourth Generation:   Ethel Edward   Nee: West

Fifth Generation:   Isabella Ross Anderton   Nee: Edward

Joan   Elsie   Alec   Isa   Eileen   Margaret

Isa was born in Hastings, the third of five girls to John Edward of Banffshire Scotland, and Ethel West also born in Hastings. Elsie, Eileen, Isa, Margaret, Joan, and finally, Alec, comprised the Edward family who started married life in that same city.

Photo captions-
John & Ethel Edwards
Granny West (holding baby) and her two sisters Matt. and Jenny.
Alec Joan Margaret Isa Eileen Elsie

We’ve always known her as Isa. When we first met in 1961, I thought her name could have been “Oi!” for she responded to such a call from her husband Charlie. This was the first glimpse at the life of this post World War Two woman – a life spending working alongside a partner, supporting and guiding a young family, managing a farming household and having considerable influence on the way things unfolded.

I was “going out” with Ross at the time, both of us, awkward and inexperienced in our high school adolescence. It should have been a daunting experience to meet Ross’s mother at the time, but she was welcoming, interested in her son’s new love, and I was keen to be accepted. I wonder if either of us ever imagined our meeting would grow into a life-long friendship?

Isa went to Primary School in Hastings where her father was farming, but the family moved to Raukawa when World War Two began, and she had to enroll in correspondence lessons for high school tuition. Her early years were spent being involved with the large family and farm life in general. Her father was an accomplished musician – untrained, but able to entertain the family on the violin and accordion. He was also a well-known hay stooker and horse trainer. It was on this farm that she met her husband-to-be who passed her on the road one day and fortunately took a second look at the dark slim young woman walking by. Her dad, John, discouraged her from meeting with Charlie whom he considered an unsuitable suitor due in part to his wild ways. (He rode motorbikes, and, I suppose, liked a bottle of beer now and then!) The Edwards were a rather conservative family and John would only have wanted the best for his daughter, but he was worn down by Charlie’s persistence and the two were married June 12th 1943 at St. Mary’s Church in Waipukurau. With a bevy of sisters around, Isa didn’t have to look very far for bridesmaids! They had only six months together before Charlie left for a long stint overseas during World War Two.

Photo captions –
Isa and Ross.
Isa.

During this time, Isa became involved in the war effort and for two years was stationed at an Air Force base in Ohakea working as a signals officer. It is difficult for us to imagine the stress those “at home” lived under, each day wondering how their loved ones were – or even if they were still alive. Charlie returned on leave twice which must have been times of great joy for both. Ross Charles was conceived during one of these visits and born October 5th 1944 in Waipukurau while Charlie was still overseas. Isa, at this time, was lucky enough to be able to return to her family home and supported in her new role as mother, by her own parents. Now there were two people for Isa to worry about, an absent husband and father, and a sickly baby who was taken from his mother due to “failure to thrive” and sent to a Karitane hospital to gain weight. (Maybe it was this experience that later led her to give 21 years of committee work to the Plunket Society.)

The strength of character required to deal with these kinds of circumstances is what we appreciate and have learned from Isa, although none of the family can claim to have met her standards. She has had, and still at 80 years of age, has a strong sense of being able to manage her life in a positive and organized way. Nothing happens without Isa thinking through all possible outcomes and preparing for them. Her strength of character and organized positive approach to life has been the pattern for developing her own family, managing farm life, volunteer work in the community, and her support for her husband and growing children over the years.

Photo captions –
ROSS
NEIL
JUDY

Two more children were born after Ross – Neil Alexander (August 22 1948) and Judith Mary (12 December 1951). All three were educated at primary school in the local area and then attended boarding schools for secondary education. Ross became a Doctor of Respiratory Medicine and lives in Canada with his wife Suzanne and daughters Cassandra and Juliet, Neil became an engineer and lives in London with his wife Dianne and son Nicholas, and Judith practised physiotherapy and now managed a farm-stay and conducts lifestyle training courses. Judith met her love in the cockpit of a training flight and married Donald Macdonald with whom she had two children – Hamish and Kate. Donald and Judith bought Mangatarata Station in partnership with Charlie and Isa in 1980 and they all continue to live on the farm in 2001 although Charlie and Isa have now retired from the farm business.

Photo caption –
Neil   Ross   Judy

Isa was one of the main supports for Judith (Jude), and Donald at the time of Hamish’s death by plane accident in Australia in 1998. Losing a grandchild has been a great source of sorrow for the whole family.

Waipukurau golf
Winners of the Nancy McCormick Memorial foursome round played by the Waipukurau Women’s Golf Club this week were Mesdames R. Gaston and I. Anderton. Their card was 102-34½ -67½. Runners-up were Mesdames J. Lawson and L. White with a card of 91-21-70.

During the farming years, Isa was a most productive and supportive partner. Post war times required stringent management of financial resources and material goods were sparse. Isa was an expert at using their garden and animals to feed the family. She was a talented seamstress and creative with the spinning wheel and a pair of needles. The family all have series of hand-made garments to testify!

When the demands of farm and family were less taxing, Isa had time then for learning to play golf and later, honing the skills she had learned in countless family card games around the kitchen table. She became a golfer to watch out for. Starting late at 50 years, Isa soon caught up on lost time and eventually won titles in the master golf categories at the 1996 NZ tournament in Taupo and the 1998 tournament in Auckland. In her 80th year she is still playing! In her 70th year, she walked the Milford Track after developing an interest on some quite difficult terrain in Canada the year before.

Isa and Charlie have travelled extensively, recording their trips in the same organised fashion we know Isa for. Although her family is spread around the world, both parents have kept in touch and visited the grandchildren on many occasions – including two weddings.

It is now time for a quieter life style although golf and garden are still high priorities. Someone else will need to take over the roles Isa has played in the Red Cross Society, and the Dog Trial competitions. Isa has certainly “done her share”. It’s time for books and bridge and sharing family stories.

I thank her for sharing the information in this booklet with us. It is her effort that has produced the photo record and the anecdotes that will be passed to her grandchildren in honour of the 80th year of their grandparents.

Compiled January 2000 by Suzanne Anderton, wife of Ross.

ANDERTON LINEAGE

WILLIAM HEAD
B. 1830 at Devon to William & Harriet (Rowe) at Plymouth Devon.
WM & Mary Ann arrived on the Lord Wilhelm Bentick Aug 1850 in Auckland.

1.   MARYANN DAW(E)
B. 1829 to Walter Daw and Mary Ann at Modbury Devonshire.
Died 25.11.1882 in Auckland.

2.   MARY SAUNDERSON
(nee Platt) married May 1833.

Elizabeth
B. 1860-1935
married George Saunders

Harriet
B. 11.4.1856.
D. 30.1.1939
Married James Henry Palmer

Marianna
B. 24.10.1853

Amy Wilhelmina Bentinck
Born on the ship ‘Bentinck’ 23.7.1850
Married Cptn. Frank Robinson.
Their daughter Francis raised in Australia when her father drowned. Then married Charles Anderton.

CHARLES ANDERTON
B. 1846 D. 11.8.1895 Otane.
Arrived on the Bombay in 1865 Auckland with his brother William.
A cousin of Sir Robert Peel.

HETTIE
Died at 92.
m. Mason.
chn.   Ralph
Jean
Malcolm
Ada.

KATHLEEN
m. Maurice O’Connor
Chln.   Colin
Jack
Raymond.

JESSIE
m. O’Neil
chn.   Joan.

ALICE
?

GEORGE
?

ARTHUR
m. Amelia Williams who died in 1923, lived in Drumpeel Flat.

ELSIE
B. 14.8.1912
married Tom Gilbert
chn.   Noel
Graham
DawnApril.

RICHARD
B ?
Married
Joy Faulkner
9 children

CHARLES
B. 15.2.20
Married
Isabella 12 June 1943
chn:
Ross
Neil
Judith

ROSS CHARLES
B. 5.10.44
married Suzanne Watson
20.8.1966
chln:   Cassandra 1969
Juliet 1972

NEIL ALEXANDER
B. 22.8.48
married   1. Claris
2. Diane.
chln: Nicholas 1984

JUDITH MARY
B. 12.12.1951
married Donald Macdonald
7.5.1956.
chln.   Hamish
1977-1998
Kate 1979.

HECTOR
Born 1923
raised by Albert & Maggie
married Margaret Law[?]
chln.   Gordon
Alan
Jane
Fiona

ALBERT
B. 1881
m. Maggie.
chn.   Basil
Joyce
Sybil
Gordon.

DAVID HENRY
B. 16.8.1887
D. 30.4.1968
m. Evelyn Mudgway
1924
chn.   Thelma
Leonard
Daphne
Maureen
Mervyn.

THE FAMILY HISTORY OF WILLIAM AND SARAH CLARKSON
IMMIGRANTS TO NEW ZEALAND 1840

William and Sarah Clarkson were married in London on February 14th, 1831. William’s occupation was at various times, a merchant seaman (British Navy), farmer, and corn merchant probably connected to the British East India Company. When he married Sarah Nicholson, on February 14th 1831, he was 26 years old and Sarah was 18.

Eight years later, they applied to join Colonel Wakefield’s New Zealand company immigration scheme. They were approved as of good health and good character by James Gordon, and given free passage to New Zealand although they had to pay for the older children: Elizabeth 6, George 4, Ann 3, Thomas 2 and baby Amelia. They left London on November 19th, 1839, in the 540 ton “Bolton”, arriving at Port Nicholson (Wellington) on 20th April, 1840.

They built a house on Lambton Quay next to Barrett’s Hotel. William bought a boat and went into business as a boatman, ferrying people and goods around the harbour. Five more children were born: Susannah, John, Benjamin, Mary Ann and William.

In October 1848, there were 9 days of terrible earthquakes and tidal waves, which may have been a factor in their decision to move south to Lyttelton where the Canterbury Settlement was about to begin.
They, and several other families arrived in Lyttleton [Lyttelton] in 1849, the first official settlers arriving in 1850. Here William again took up his work as a boatman, and as they grew old enough, his sons also crewed on coastal ships, especially the ships which brought goods to Christchurch by crossing the bar into the estuary and sailing up the Heathcote River. (Until the train tunnel was finished in 1864, the only way to bring cargo to Christchurch).

Two more children were born in Lyttleton, but only one survived – Frederick. William also died young, Sarah, the mother died in 1856 at the age of 42, and her husband, William died 2 years later in 1858. They are both buried in Lyttleton.

Elizabeth married a mariner, James Scott; George remained a sailor; John also was a sailor; Thomas became a captain of international ships and later a harbour master of Timaru, (Sarah); Ann and Amelia married and went to live in Australia; Benjamin became a bullock driver in Fairlie; Mary Ann married a sea-man carpenter; and Frederick worked on ships at Timaru.

Ancestors of Isabella Anderton.

150th Anniversary
William and Sarah Clarkson’s Arrival in New Zealand
1840   1990

NEW ZEALAND
AOTEAROA
40

WELLINGTON
20 AP. 90
N.Z

Issued by N.O. Philatelic Club, Series 9. No. 5   No 218