Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Old Colonists

page break

Old Colonists.

Mr. Thomas Kay, sometime of Pigeon Bay, was a native of England. For many years he was engaged as a clerk in the Privy Council office, and was afterwards coach driving in North Wales. He arrived in Lyttelton in 1859, and shortly afterwards settled at Pigeon Bay. There he entered into partnership with Mr. Alexander Montgomery, and conducted a farm and a general store. Mr. Montgomery subsequently got into difficulties, the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Kay continued as a farmer until his death in 1878.

Mr. G. W. Marshall, Old Colonist, of Pigeon Bay, was born in North Leith, Scotland, in 1821, and was apprenticed to the shipbuilding trade. He subsequently entered the East India Company's service, in which he remained six years. On the 3rd of March, 1852, he landed at Lyttelton in the ship “Samarang.” Soon after his arrival he purchased a small vessel named the “Caledonia,” with which he traded round the coast of New Zealand. In 1854, he settled at Pigeon Bay, where he commenced shipbuilding, and built the vessels “Canterbury” and “Midlothian.” He started the first sawmill in 1857, and in 1861 he went to Otago, and sailed a vessel up the Waihola Lake for the purpose of carrying stores towards the diggings. Subsequently he entered into a contract with the Otago Provincial Government to remove snags from the Clutha and other rivers, to facilitate their navigation. In 1864, he returned to Pigeon Bay and began dairying, to which he added the business of a wood merchant. He afterwards visited Scotland, and went Home in the ship “Glenmark.” Two years were spent in the Old Country, and Mr. Marshall then returned to New Zealand by the ship “E. P. Bouverie.” During his residence at Pigeon Bay, Mr. Marshall served on the road board fourteen years, and also acted as the board's surveyor and clerk. He died in 1873, much lamented as a most honourable man of business, a man of sterling integrity, and a true friend.

The Late Mr. G. W. Marshall.

The Late Mr. G. W. Marshall.

Miss C. Marshall, sometime of “Seafield,” Pigeon Bay, was a sister of Mr. G. W. Marshall, and, accompanied by her sister, came to the Colony in 1855, by the ship “Grassmere.” Miss Marshall settled with her brother at Pigeon Bay. “Seafield” estate consisted of 800 acres, and was partly devoted to grass seed growing, for which it was admirably adapted; and there was a good flock of long-woolled sheep. Miss Marshall was descended, on her mother's side, from Wylie of Kincardine-on-Forth, and her father was a man of means and of Norman descent. She died about two years ago.

The Late Miss C. Marshall.

The Late Miss C. Marshall.

Mr. James Pitcaithly, Old Colonist, arrived at Lyttelton in 1860, and settled at Pigeon Bay about three years afterwards. He was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1824, and in his early years he served in the Railway page 624 Department at Crabbridge. During twelve of the years he resided at Pigeon Bay he was a member of the road board and the school committee. He was married, in June, 1852, and left a widow and family when he died in 1886. Mrs Pitcaithly died in 1899, aged seventy-five years.

The Late Mr. J. Pitcaithly.

The Late Mr. J. Pitcaithly.

The Late Mrs J. Pitcaithly.

The Late Mrs J. Pitcaithly.

Mr. William Webb came to the Colony in 1846. He was a carpenter by trade, and settled first at Akaroa, where he built a house for Mr. Rhodes; he also built the homestead at Flea Bay, and then removed to Pigeon Bay. He took up the first land at Okain's in 1851, and purchased cattle imported from Tasmania in 1852, but could not get them to Okain's till the track was cut in 1854; and they were running in Island Bay for two years. From these cattle descended many of the herds of the bays. Mr. Webb was too busy to take much part in public affairs, but he served on the road board. He died in 1879, and Mrs Webb also died during the same year.

The Late Mr. W. Webb.

The Late Mr. W. Webb.