Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 06, Issue 01, 1996

Dispersal in the Third Generation:

Dispersal in the Third Generation:

The next generation were more numerous and tended to seek their livelihoods and opportunities out of Nelson, which was by now, in the New Zealand context, a small, somewhat sleepy, agricultural settlement, with predominantly small holdings on limited land. The horticultural expansion which was the economic salvation of the small farm was yet to come.

More exciting things were happening in the cities and the now more rapidly developing North Island. The elder sons of James. James Jnr and Thomas, and Eliza Morley's eldest, Winham Morley, headed to Murchison and the West Coast, an adjacent developing area, and all three used their Waimea land inheritance as a source of capital by mortgage. Thomas Bell returned to Richmond from Murchison following the death of his first wife, Eliza, in a Wellington tram accident in 1907, and some of his family have remained in the Nelson district.

Another long standing resident was Alziere Jane Grierson, youngest daughter of James, married to Louis Palmer. Their house, The Gables, still stands in Waimea West, a grand reminder of its era. Some of James Jnr's descendants are still on the West Coast. Most of the other descendants of this third and later generations are now widely scattered throughout the country and, like most New Zealanders, are urbanised by occupation, career and residence. A few enjoy the present opportunities for work or retirement in Nelson