Pukekohe Cemetery walk book

‘Curious Characters and Early Settlers’
Guided Cemetery Walk

Pukekohe Cemetery 7 March 2020



‘Curious Characters and Early Settlers’ Guided Walk with Andy Baker,
Chairperson of the Franklin Local Board.

Organised by the Franklin Branch, NZ Society of Genealogy,
in conjunction with the Franklin Historical Society,
and made possible

with the assistance of a grant from Franklin Local Board, Auckland Council.

The event was held on Saturday 7 March 2020 with two well attended guided walks. Some of the
presentations were by descendants of the people featured while others were presented by members
of the Franklin Branch of the NZSG.

The stories presented were:

1. James Roulston – an early publican, racehorse owner and businessman
2. James and Sarah Golding - James opened the town’s first butcher shop
3. Dr Dalziel – a long time doctor of the district with a colourful life
4. The extended Roose family – many family members in this plot
5. John and Sarah Cowan - John’s grave is the second oldest in the cemetery (1872)
6. Eliza Jane Wylie - the third oldest grave (1875)
7. A J Weston – his body was found by Police in 1922
8. John and Sarah Fausett - early setters
9. Thomas and Margaret Moore - Thomas opened the town’s first shop
10. Amy Christofferson formerly Amy Bock - a fraudster and imposter
11. James and Mary Ann Johnston - Mary Ann’s is the oldest grave (1870)
12. William and Mary Hutcheon - William’s early death was attributed to eating a cucumber.

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020 1

Pukekohe Cemetery

Location

Pukekohe Cemetery is located on the corner of Ward and Wellington Streets Pukekohe, 2120,
Auckland and has been in use since 1870.

“In 1870 the Presbyterians made application to the Government for a piece of land to be set apart for
a cemetery for their own denomination. The Anglicans also applied, and both received a promise of
land. A little later the Wesleyans made application under the “Public Cemeteries Act” and obtained a
piece of land. It was some years later that the land promised was surveyed and subdivided into the
sections under directions of the District Survey Office.” -abbreviated from a letter to the Editor, Auckland Star

Vol XVIII, issue 265, 10 Nov 1887.

The churches were responsible for the land, but it became financially difficult for them to maintain,
and so they applied to Council to take over the management of the cemetery in 1913. The cemetery
is currently managed by Auckland Council and the three original divisions form the main sections to
the cemetery. The RSA section was added in 1943. Burial records are held by Auckland Council at
Manukau Memorial Gardens. The Sexton’s shed has a large map of the cemetery and the earliest
burial appears to be that of Mary Anne JOHNSTON who died 28 September 1870.

Presbyterian Section

On entering the cemetery from Wellington Street,
the Presbyterian section is on your right and appears
to be the oldest area, with many larger headstones
and family plots. Some of Pukekohe pioneer families
are buried in this area. The rows are long and not
always straight with some more recent burials at the
end of Rows J and K.

Anglican Section

The Anglican section, separated by a concrete path
from the Presbyterian section covers a smaller area
of twelve rows of older headstones.

On the eastern side of the driveway a newer
section of 4 rows of modern headstones precede a
grassed area where there are over 200 unmarked
plots, believed to include infant and pauper graves.
Council records show the names of these burials.

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Wesleyan Section

From the entrance off Wellington Street and on the
left, opposite the Presbyterian section is the
Wesleyan section. The first 12 rows are older
upright headstones the remainder are all modern
standard headstones.

The newer part of this section covers all
denominations and is still in use today.

Rose Gardens and Ashes Sections

The Rose Gardens form three plots from the entrance off
Wellington Street along the left side of the driveway to the
Sexton’s shed.
Beyond the Sexton’s shed there are several rows of Ashes, the last
plot being those of children.

RSA Section

The Return Services Lawn Cemetery entrance is
off Wellington Street at the north-western end of
the Pukekohe Cemetery. This section was
established in 1943.
On 12 April 1949, Governor-General Sir Bernard
Freyberg V.C. unveiled a brick memorial Chaplet.
This original chaplet which stood in the middle of
the cemetery was demolished in 1998 and a new
chaplet of similar design and placed further back
in the cemetery was unveiled on 11 Nov 1998.

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James 1839-1912 & Mary Ann Roulston c1857-1948

James Roulston, born in Donegal, Ireland in 1839, immigrated to Australia in 1861 where he farmed
in Victoria for a short time before gold fever struck. He mined in Australia and various places in New
Zealand before his marriage to Elizabeth HUNTER in Auckland in 1866.

They had five children and ran a hotel and store near Thames for about eight years before taking over
the Pukekohe Hotel. Elizabeth was only 29 when she died and is buried in Auckland. The five children
from this marriage are all buried with James at Pukekohe.

In 1880 James married Mary Ann REYNOLDS who had come to New Zealand on the Ganges with her
family. James and Mary Ann had five children together and after a few years in the hotel and general
store, they built a beautiful house and settled on 200 acres and named the property ‘Belmont’. Here
they milked cows and bred and raced some very good horses. James sold butter to Auckland grocers
and established a dairy factory in Factory Road/ Victoria St which was opened in 1884.

James was involved with the Franklin A & P Association, sport and athletic clubs, was a liberal
supporter of the Presbyterian Church and a Justice of the Peace. Mary Ann and the family were also
very involved in church affairs.

At his burial in 1912, the Pukekohe Town Band lined the cemetery driveway and played hymns in the
most inclement weather. Mary Ann lived on until 1948.

Many of the Roulston children were prominent citizens of the town and have Roulston Street and
Roulston Park named in their honour.

Children of James and Elizabeth

• William 1866-1948

• James 1869-1948

• Duncan 1870-1953

• Catherine 1873-1950

• David 1875-1941

Children of James and Mary Ann

• Samuel Henry 1881-1967

• Annie Elizabeth 1882-1956

• Bertie John 1884-1955

• Eveline Jane 1887-1967

• Wilfred George 1893-1969

Sources:
Paperspast.co.nz
NZ BDM
Researched by NZSG member Heather Maloney 2020

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020 4

James 1843-1931 & Sarah Golding 1864-1920

James GOLDING arrived at Auckland on 4 January 1865 and found
work for a few years as a wagoner. With goldmining flourishing in
Coromandel, James, along with his friend Mr MILLS, set up a
flourishing business there. It was here that he met and later married
Mrs Maria CHARLES in January 1873. They had four children James,
Samuel, Amy and Thomas; Samuel only living for a few weeks.

In 1876 James and family moved to Pukekohe where he started a
butchery business in a shed owned by his father-in-law Thomas
MOORE, on the corner of Queen and Ward Streets. James later
purchased land on Manukau Road and built a house where the Gull
Petrol outlet is now (2020).

In 1882 Maria passed away and in 1884 James married Sarah Jane
PATTERSON also a widow, who was born in Ireland but had migrated to Australia. In 1890 they sold
the Manukau Road property to Alfred Buckland and Sons Ltd who were stock and produce agents.

James then purchased 137 acres from Lady Hobson’s Estate, on what is now (2020) Golding Road.
James set about clearing the land which was covered in native bush and building a homestead. With
the help of his and Maria’s sons Alf, George and Fred, he continued to develop the land and it became
good grassland. Upon their marriages George and Fred were gifted blocks of land with the rest going
to other family members.

James was a keen supporter of both rugby and cricket and in later life followed horse racing in the
local area. It was documented in the local paper that after the fortnightly stock sales farmers would
frequent the hotel and many discussions would be held over who had the best horse so the publican
would assemble them outside with instructions to ride their mounts up the main street and around
the Seddon Memorial Lamps. The first one back to the starting point could then carry on boasting.

It was not until recent years that I discovered my grandmother Sarah, had
given birth to seventeen children with ten of them passing before the age
of five. There were two sets of twins, one set stillborn the other living only
two weeks. James actually fathered 21 children.

It can also be noted that on their marriage certificate Sarah put her age up
five years to 25, and James put his down five years to 36.

Sarah passed away age 56,
James passed away age 88.

Pukekohe Cemetery
Anglican Section
Row B
Plots 112-114

Brien Golding
Family member and
member of Franklin Historical Society, 2020

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The Conspicuous Dr Dalziel 1845-1942

James DALZIEL (1845 – 1942) was Franklin’s only doctor for many years. Raised in Northumberland,
England, he followed in his father’s footsteps, qualifying as a medical practitioner in 1867.

He married his cousin, Agnes, and fathered four children. But, four years after the birth of the
youngest, an opening as ship’s surgeon lured him onto the Adamant which was bound for New
Zealand. He never returned to the UK. Instead, he married Mary MCCRUM, chief matron on the
Adamant, and began practising in Franklin (1879).

All three daughters from his first marriage emigrated to New Zealand and lived with him at various
times. Anna, the eldest, made headlines when Dr Dalziel was convicted for beating her. Her sin was
in not properly cleaning the mud from the legs of her father’s stallion.

However, it was his conviction for abortion that landed Dalziel in Waiotapu Gaol in 1907. By the time
he emerged from prison his family, including Mary McCrum, had scattered.

The Medical Councils of both New Zealand and the United Kingdom struck him from their medical
registers. Undeterred, he continued practising in Pukekohe with no shortage of patients until, in 1921,
he applied for reinstatement. Despite community backing, his application was unsuccessful.

After residing for over 63 years in Pukekohe, he died at age 97. In his obituary, the Franklin Times
described him as a ‘conspicuous character, recognised as a very competent physician, and known from
one end of New Zealand to the other.’

Pukekohe Cemetery
Wesleyan Section, Row A, Plot 61

Sources:
Births, Deaths & Marriages NZ
Papers Past NZ
NZ Police Gazette, 1878-1945
‘A History of the Medical Council of NZ’, R.Sainsbury
Photo supplied by NZ Police Gazette
Researched by NZSG member Wendy Clark 2020

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John Bawden & Mary Roose

John Bawden ROOSE is the pioneer ancestor of the extended Roose family commemorated in one of
the largest plots in this cemetery, although he is buried elsewhere.

John was a farmer from Cornwall who, with his four surviving children (Richard, Elizabeth, Elijah and
Ann Maria), and his niece Jane Roose, arrived in New Zealand on the Excelsior in March 1859. Barely
a week after landing in Auckland he had bought his 140 acre Pukekohe farm.

Later in the year Richard married cousin Jane and took a land grant in Northland. In 1862 Elizabeth
married and settled in Rodney County. Elijah and Ann Maria remained on the Pukekohe farm and
were joined by Mary BONEY when she became John’s second wife. Mary had arrived on the Ida Zeigler
in 1862.

In July 1863 when Governor Grey ordered the evacuation of Franklin settlers to Drury because of rising
tensions, John and his son Elijah and eight others resolved to stay in their newly built church to tend
their farming community’s livestock. On 14 September they were involved in the day-long battle when
the Kingitanga force attacked the, by then, stockaded church. The force broke off the action and
retired when the men were relieved by three army units.

Elijah, Ann Maria and Mary could not return to their farm until late 1864 and John never did. He was
contract working for the army at Otahuhu where he died of pneumonia and was interred there.

Mary, affectionately known by the family as ‘Granny Grit’ died on 4 June 1890.

Ann Maria married William ROUTLY in
1867 and was widowed in 1887. They had
first met in Plymouth when she was 14 and
he, 28. Their eldest son, John, was born
the following year. John was Mayor of
Pukekohe and designed what is now 115
Queen Street, the St Andrews Anglican
Church and the Pukekohe Fire Station.
Prior to his interment here, his 1941
funeral service was held at the Fire
Station.

In 1870 Elijah married Elizabeth
STEVENSON, the ‘educated young lady of
strong faith’ who had so impressed Mary
Boney on the outward voyage of the Ida
Zeigler. They had seven children who
survived to adulthood (Ellen, Addie, May,
Emily, Annie, Len and Florrie) and we can
be sure that until her 1890 passing each of
them was molded by the ministrations of
Mary Boney, their Granny Grit.

Addie married Tom BROWNLEE in 1903 and they were my grandparents.

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Elizabeth died on 2 October 1919 and Elijah 31 January 1927, the last of the original immigrant Roose
family who remained in Pukekohe.

Torrens Roose, son of Len and Gladys, grandson of Elijah and Elizabeth and great grandson of John
Bawden Roose, died in 2019 and chose to be buried at the Pukekohe East Stockade Church, the site
of that 1864 battle.

This large family plot can be found in the

Pukekohe Cemetery,
Presbyterian Section,
Row C,
Plots 90-108

Tom Brownlee 8
Family member and
member Franklin Historical Society. 2020

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020

John c1835-1872 & Sarah Cowan

John COWAN married Sarah HEWITT in 1860.

With their two children, Mary Jane and Sarah, and with
some of Sarah’s brothers (the Hewitts who settled in
Tuakau) they sailed in 1864 from Cork, Ireland on the ill-
fated ship the Ganges.

Just a month into the voyage little Sarah died, being the
first of many children on the Ganges to perish, and was
buried at sea.

John and Sarah’s third daughter was born on the Ganges
between Australia and NZ on 2 February 1865 and was
also named Sarah.

The land allotted to John Cowan was number 14 on the
Pukekohe Parish map, on the corner of Belgium and
Valley Road where the Reynolds family now farm (2020),
and Rymans Retirement Village has been built.

Mary Jane, their eldest daughter died just over a year later, but John and Sarah had three more
children – Samuel, James and John jnr.

In 1872 John was tragically killed in an accident on his farm. A report in the Daily Southern Cross
states:

‘The deceased had gone to the bush for the purpose of felling timber. He had cut nearly through a tree,
which fell in a direction contrary to what he had reckoned on. He stepped hastily on one side, but a
large branch struck him, and he was knocked with fearful force to the ground.’.

Cowan was discovered dying but sufficiently sensible to tell his unhappy fate to a man named William
HAMILL who immediately gave this information to the police.

The report ends with:

‘Cowan held a farm of 30 acres in extent and leaves a wife and four children without any means of
support. The deceased was a man much respected in the locality he resided in, and we are pleased to
learn that the settlers in the districts are taking the necessary steps towards raising a subscription for
the widow and her family.’

John was only 37 years of age, and his burial is the second recorded burial in the Pukekohe Cemetery.

In the last few years of Sarah’s life, she was virtually blind, and I can remember reading to her at my
grandparents’ place. She lived to be 96 and is buried in the Waiterimu Cemetery.

You will see also noted on the tombstone, ‘John Cowan youngest son of the above’.

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John Cowan junior went to the Boer War and on his return worked for the NZ Railways, ‘down the
line’. He was murdered on 5 December 1903 and his family have never been able to obtain even scant
details of what actually happened.

The other inscription on the tombstone, ‘Naomi Kate second daughter of S C & K Cowan’, was a grand
daughter of John Cowan senior.

Pukekohe Cemetery,
John and Sarah COWAN,
Presbyterian Section,
Row E,
Plot 063.

What is my connection?
John Cowan was my great great
grandfather.
The little girl born on the
Ganges, Sarah, was my great
grandmother.
I was born on her birthday and
she begged my mother not to
call me Sarah.

Sheryl Brownlee
Family member 2020

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020 10

Eliza Wylie 1872-1875

Eliza had a short life, and we know very little of her three years
living at Tuakau Road, Pukekohe but her burial is recorded as the
third oldest in the Pukekohe Cemetery.

She was born on 29 March 1872 and died on 15 April 1875. Her
death certificate records her having died from Croup, a
childhood ailment, with nasty chest infection and a barking
cough.

Eliza was the first child born to Jane WYLIE nee MOORE and Hugh
Wylie.

Eliza’s mother, Jane, sailed on the Ganges with her mother and
father arriving in New Zealand in 1865. She had endured the
tough three month voyage from Queenstown, Ireland to
Auckland and at just 17 years old, she had witnessed her two
sisters and a brother die during the voyage. Jane had seen many
young children die from childhood diseases and sadly her first
child Eliza, died from an ailment that can be easily cured today.

After a short stay at Onehunga to recover after the sea passage they sailed across the Manukau and
came ashore at Slippery Creek Landing, Drury, still known by that name today.

After short stay at Drury the last leg of the journey to their new home in the Queen/Nelson/Ward
Street area of Pukekohe was a trek by bullock train.

Jane’s father Thomas MOORE started the first store in Pukekohe West selling goods to the new
arrivals. We suspect Jane worked in the store and that’s how she met her future husband, the dashing
Hugh WYLIE newly arrived from Ireland.

Hugh Wylie was born in 1834 in Belfast, County Down where his father owned a 60 acre farm. Hugh
was the youngest of four brothers and worked as a clerk. The farm was too small to support the four
brothers and their families so Hugh, who must have had a sense of adventure, decided to immigrate
to New Zealand on the Black Eagle, arriving in Auckland on 19 November 1861.

Before departing from County Down Hugh was given his share of the family inheritance. This allowed
him to buy various plots of land in an area now known as Tuakau Road. By 1867 he owned 78 acres
of virgin bush. He cleared the land with the sweat of his brow and a sharp axe.

We can picture Hugh visiting the Moore’s general store and accompanying Jane to dances, and meals
with the Moore family maybe after church on Sunday.

They were married on 13 June 1871 at Jane’s parents’ house in Pukekohe West by the Reverend
Eccless and assisted by Reverend Thomas Norrie.

Nine months later on 29 March 1872 Eliza was born.

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Life was hard for the early settlers. Their small slab cut wooden houses were difficult to heat and to
keep the damp out. Cooking over open fires with inadequate ventilation created poor air quality
making life a struggle for a three year old child with a chest infection and a bad cough.

Eliza is buried in the Pukekohe Cemetery
Presbyterian Section
Row D
Plot 068

Her date of death on the headstone is the
15 May 1875 but her death certificate
states she died 15 April 1875.

Eliza was my mother’s aunt.
Graham Hosking
Family member 2020

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020 12

A J Weston 1867-1922

Alfred James WESTON, known as Fred by his
family, was born in Auckland in April 1867.
Sometime before 1881 his family moved to
Gisborne. There he married Fanny EVINSON
at the Holy Trinity Church in February 1896,
his occupation at the time was a carter. Over
the next 10 years they had seven children –
three boys and four girls, sadly the youngest
boys, twins, died in infancy.

Fred appeared regularly in the newspapers of
the day. In November 1907, he was fined for
drunkenness; there is a history of heavy
drinking for Fred and his father Alf.

In 1910 mention of Fred in a much better light
appeared in the Poverty Bay Herald.

‘An artistic collection of shell boards, the work
of a local resident, Mr. A J Weston, is to be
seen in Mr GRUNDY and SHENNAN’s shop
window. The shells, a varied and beautiful
collection, have been arranged in the form of
flowers of most picturesque colours. The
shells, some of which are very rare, were
collected off the beaches in Auckland. The
work reflects great credit on Mr.Weston, and must have taken a considerable amount of time and
patience.’

Family members believe that Fred started a concert party around 1907, travelling all over Auckland.
Perhaps he collected these rare shells during this tour.

In November 1912 Fred was found bloody and bruised in a Waikato stable. The newspaper article
states he was found lying in the stables with his head and face covered in blood and bruises. Although
conscious, he was unable to give any account of how his injuries were received. It is thought probable
that he may have gone up into the loft for a sleep and fallen through the trap door.

In August 1916, for a second offence of drunkenness within six months, a man named Alfred James
Weston, who failed to appear, was convicted and fined the amount of his bail, 30s.

Fred is noted by family as last seen in Gisborne to farewell his son Reg off to war in April 1917.

In November 1922 Fred’s body was found under a hedge on Pukekohe East Road, it was thought his
body had been there seven to 10 days and by this time his features were unrecognizable.

There were two documents in his pockets that were used to confirm his identity; a letter from the
Church Secretary of Auckland Baptist Tabernacle stating that the bearer, A J Weston, was badly in
need of work and that he was endeavoring to keep straight and that a job would help him.

There was also a letter from the Registrar of Electors stating that Fred’s name had been entered on
the electoral roll for Auckland East.

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Fred had been seen about a week previously enquiring for work and was in a weak state. The
Coroner’s verdict was that Fred had died from exposure while in a weak state.
Fred’s burial was arranged by the Police and his headstone was erected by family at a later date.
Fred is buried in the:
Pukekohe Cemetery,
Presbyterian Section,
Row J,
Plot 013

Information supplied by Family member, Tim Renouf
And compiled by NZSG member Tania Scharvi 2020
Sources:
Photo courtesy of NZ Police Gazette
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

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John 1844-1903 & Sarah 1847-1910 Fausett

John FAUSETT was born in Ireland in 1844. He was the son of John Fausett, a farmer, and his wife
Anne. Sarah was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, in 1847. Her father was John CRANSTON, also
a farmer. Both survived the Potato Famine (1845 to 1849) in which a million Irish died.

John and Sarah were married in the Registrar’s Office in Enniskillen on Thursday 18 August 1864 – less
than three months before embarking on the Ganges at Queenstown for New
Zealand on 4 November 1864. (The Registrar’s Office documents and the ship’s
manifest lists them as Faussett, but their gravestone, and their children’s
narratives, all use Fausett.)

Imagine, if you will, a 20-year-old husband and his pregnant 17-year-old wife,
heading off to what could not have been a certain future on the other side of the
world, arriving in an area which two years previously had been disputed in the New Zealand Wars. The
courage and determination must have been immense.

The voyage on the Ganges was very stressful – there were 55 deaths predominantly of children, from
bronchitis and whooping cough, and eight more deaths, when passengers were housed at Onehunga
Barracks upon arrival to allow them some recovery. In New Zealand that high death rate prompted
two formal enquiries into the reasons. (See Miller R (2015) Ireland to New Zealand – The 1864-1865 Voyage of the

Ganges)

After an initial period at Onehunga Barracks, John and Sarah moved to Queen’s Redoubt in Pokeno,
and their eldest son Arthur was born there on 18 June 1865 – four months after they landed. They
then moved to Pukekohe, to their grant of 10 acres; Lot 20, approximately bounded today by Manukau
Rd and Glasgow Rd. A few years later they bought out the adjoining 10-acre grant of Sarah’s brother,
Arthur Cranston, (he having also travelled out on the Ganges) Lot 18, approximately bounded today
by Manukau Rd and Harris St. John made regular trips to the goldfields at Thames, and family folklore
says that on his last trip, in 1876, his health markedly deteriorated, and he subsequently had asthma
for the rest of his life. John and Sarah had six more children over the period 1867 to 1875 while living
on their initial allocation of land.

In 1877 the twenty acres were sold to Mr GODKIN, the local publican, for £11 per acre and the family
moved to a farm on the side of Pukekohe Hill; Lots 203, 212, 213, 214, 216, 217, 218, 219, and 220,
Section 2, Pukekohe, roughly bounded today by Waiuku Rd, Attewell Rd and Middleton Rd. This farm
was a 90-acre operation, producing milk, beef, pigs and crops. Four more girls and four more boys
were born over the period 1877 to 1889 while living on the Pukekohe Hill block. John gave 10 acres to
Arthur, before his death. After Sarah’s death in 1910 the remainder of the farm was auctioned, and
according to family lore brought £25 per acre.

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John died on 5 March 1903, and Sarah on 20 February 1910. They
are buried side by side in Pukekohe Cemetery, Anglican Section;
Row C; Plot 063.

The 14 surviving children mostly continued to live in the Franklin
and North Waikato area. The sons had been assisting on the farm
before its sale and developed additional skills. They ran several
businesses. Arthur (the eldest) owned a sawmill, John was a farmer,
William Henry was a builder, Joseph was a blacksmith and later a
farmer, George Edwin had a threshing and chaffing plant which he
took to farms, and later a stone crusher, and David was a creamery
manager and then returned to farming and market gardening.

Their unmarried daughters Mary and Frances who lived respectively
to ages of 87 and 91, are buried either side of John and Sarah. William Henry, Richard, and Elizabeth
and are buried in graves adjoining these. Sarah, David, Joseph and George Edwin are all also buried in
other areas of the Pukekohe Cemetery.

Children of John and Sarah:

1. Arthur, born in Pokeno, 1865- 1947.
2. Mary Ann, born in Pukekohe, 1867- 1954.
3. Frances (Fanny), born in Pukekohe, 1868-1959.
4. Richard, born in Pukekohe, 1870-1902.
5. Sarah, born in Pukekohe, 1871-1946.
6. John, born in Pukekohe, 1873-1949.
7. William Henry, born in Pukekohe, 1875- 1933.
8. Jane, born in Pukekohe, 1877-1946.
9. Phoebe, born in Pukekohe, 1879-1968.
10. James, born in Pukekohe, 1880-1969.
11. Elizabeth, born in Pukekohe, 1882- 1966.
12. David, born in Pukekohe, 1884- 1946.
13. Joseph, born in Pukekohe, 1885- 1959.
14. George Edwin, born in Pukekohe, 1887-1966.
15. Emily, born in Pukekohe, 1889-1966.

The surviving children when this photograph was taken between 1946-1948 are:
Back Row: Arthur, John, James, Joseph, George Edwin.
Front Row: Emily, Phoebe, Mary, Frances, Elizabeth.

A comprehensive genealogy of the descendants of John and Sarah (Fausett Family – Descendants of John and
Sarah Fausett 1865-2005) was prepared for a reunion in 2005, and a copy is in Pukekohe Public Library (929.2
FAU).

John Duncan
Family Member and
member Franklin Historical Society 2020

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020 16

Thomas 1813-1909 & Margaret Moore 1818-1912

Thomas and Margaret MOORE were my
great great grandparents. They were
both born in Ireland; Thomas in County
Monaghan in 1813 and Margaret née
GEDDES in County Down in 1818. They
were married in 1844. In 1864 a free
passage to New Zealand plus a 10 acre
grant of land and a town section were
offered if the new settler stayed three
years on his grant.

Thomas had been farming in Ireland for
20 years and at the age of 51 he and
Margaret decided to uplift their family of
nine children and come to New Zealand.
They had to travel some 200 miles
overland to Queenstown to board the
ship Ganges, which left on 5 November
1864.

It was a long and terrible voyage to New
Zealand and three of their children died
on the ship. On arrival in Auckland they
were housed in the Onehunga Barracks
before they were taken by boat to Drury.

Three months after they arrived, they were moved to Pukekohe. Roads were nonexistent so they
travelled by foot and horseback to their new home in a tent or nikau whare which was on the corner
of Queen, Nelson and Ward streets. The section which was granted to them was on Burrows Road.

Evidently by November 1865 Thomas had a reasonable home erected and was operating the first store
in Pukekohe West as the area was known then. The Presbyterian Church was also holding its services
in his home. In 1870 Thomas was also the Postmaster and his salary was £5.

In 1875 the railway was passing through Pukekohe, so the town centre started to move closer to the
railway station in the King Street area and “West” was dropped from the name of the town in 1877.

The Moores were very much at the centre of activity in Pukekohe in early years. Thomas was a
member of the Pukekohe West Board in 1900 and was also one of the trustees of the Public Cemetery
before the Borough Council was formed in 1912.

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020 17

Thomas and Margaret both lived long lives. They were still living on the original area where they
settled in Pukekohe until their deaths in 1909 and 1912 respectively at the ages of 95 and 94 years.
Little is known of Margaret’s activities, but she was a true partner in all her husband’s undertakings.

A point of interest was
the 10 acre block
owned by Thomas was
sold to Mr Girdhar in
1932 for £600.

Thomas and Margaret
are buried in the
Pukekohe Cemetery,

Presbyterian Section,
Row I,
Plots 102-104.

Probably not far from
where their original
home was.

Maureen Costar
Family member 2020

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020 18

Amy Maud Bock 1859-1943

Welcome to the burial site of Amy Maud CHRISTOFFERSON nee BOCK. Here lies one of New Zealand’s
most notorious female criminals. Born in Australia in 1859, Amy came to New Zealand around 1884
supposedly for the better climate.

Between May of 1885 and April of 1909, Amy had used her special skill of separating the gullible from
their money and possessions via forgery, fraud or deception about 14 times, up and down the country,
accumulating jail sentences of about 14 years. She used a raft of aliases and always pleaded guilty.
She usually gave away her ill-gotten gains and was often released early for good behaviour.

Many of Amy’s crimes would have gone unpunished as the victims were too embarrassed to admit
they had been had by a mere woman of five foot high.

Amy’s greatest swindle came in 1909. She was on the run from
Police, after having conned some people in Dunedin three
months earlier, when she rocked up in nearby Nuggets Point.
Here she assumed her ultimate alias, Percival REDWOOD. A
pipe-smoking sheep farmer, the dapper son of a wealthy
widow and nephew of an archbishop no less. So convincing
was this disguise that Agnes OTTAWAY, daughter of the
landlady who ran the boarding house Amy was hiding out in,
fell in love. Eager to keep the circling Police at bay, Percival let
this situation run its course, all the way to actually getting
married in April, complete with 10 bridesmaids and a lavish
banquet washed down with Reims champagne. Amy had even
convinced her new-found friends to pay for honeymoon
tickets to Melbourne, which for some reason had to be
delayed.

Perhaps the first sign that something was amiss was on the
wedding night when Percival slept apart from Agnes, and to
the astonishment of the groomsman, shared his room and
went to bed fully clothed.

Meanwhile, acting on a tip-off, two detectives had uncovered incriminating clothing in another
boarding house where Percival had been spotted. As a result, three days after the wedding, Detective
HUNT called at the home of the Ottaway’s. When Percival opened the door, pipe in mouth, the
detective simply announced, “The game’s up Amy”.

The tangle of lies swiftly unravelled.

In her defence Amy maintained she had suffered from kleptomania since childhood, a malady she
inherited from her mother who had died in a mental asylum back in Australia and pleaded guilty. She
was sentenced to two years’ hard labour and declared an habitual criminal, the first woman in New
Zealand to be so classified. Agnes was left to file for a divorce.

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Amy was released from prison in February
1912, eventually marrying a Swede, Charles
Edward Christoffersen, in Taranaki in
December 1914. Many thought this would be
her salvation, but in March 1917 Amy was
once again before the courts in New
Plymouth on charges of theft and forgery. She
is estranged from her husband.

Either Amy was able to overcome her criminal
tendencies, or she simply got better at her
crimes, as there is no mention of her in the
papers for the next 14 years.

In October 1931, aged 72, Amy again finds
herself in court, in Hamilton, facing charges of
false pretences. Again, she pleads guilty. Amy
by now is destitute, unable to receive the
pension due to her criminal past, her
drunkard gambling husband having
purportedly returned to Sweden. She appears
to be in poor health. Amy is granted two
years’ probation on the condition she lives at
a Salvation Army home, an order that she
complied with.

Amy passed away 12 years later, on 29 August 1943, at Bombay, and was buried here in the Pukekohe
Cemetery - an event that went unnoticed by the world at large at the time. However, Amy has had an
illustrious posthumous career in New Zealand feminist studies, where her active criminal career and
gender masquerade have aroused scholarly interest.

Presbyterian Section
Row B
Plot 084

Sources:
Paperspast
Wikipedia
Te Ara Encyclopedia of NZ
NZ Geographic

Photos of Amy Bock courtesy of Digitalnz.org and natlib.govt.nz

Researched by NZSG member Sheryn Hull

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Mary Ann 1835-1870 & James Johnston 1828-1926

Welcome to the JOHNSTON family plot, an ordinary everyday pioneering settler family but special
because it contains the oldest recorded burial in the cemetery on the 29 September 1870.

Mary Ann was born in Ireland in 1835, and married James JOHNSTON in 1862.

Mary Ann was heavily pregnant with their second child in 1865 when they boarded the Ganges with
their young son Thomas. The voyage of the Ganges is well documented for its large loss of life and
tragically they were to lose their new-born baby, and then Thomas to whooping cough on the voyage.

James worked in the Onehunga area before taking up his grant of land in Pukekohe. Their land was in
the Helvetia area and getting to it was difficult, requiring James to cut a track through standing bush.
He then built a two roomed whare for himself, Mary Ann and Charles, their first New Zealand born
son. Jane their daughter was born later in Pukekohe.

It was when her third child, a son was born that Mary Ann suffered a haemorrhage and died on the 28
September 1870 and was buried the following day. She was just 35 years old.

James remarried a year later in 1871 to another Ganges settler, a widow, Elizabeth HALIDAY, or Eliza
as she was known. Eliza had two children from her previous marriage and James three. James and
Eliza went on to have five more children together. With their large family of ten children life would
have been hard for both James and Eliza, James was working wherever he could as a casual labourer,
then in the gum-fields and finally splitting logs for sleepers for the expanding railway. In 1890 after
10 years of struggle he was declared bankrupt. His earnings had been averaging ten shillings per week
and it is stated in his declaration that without the help of the older children they would have starved.

He had obtained credit from local storekeepers on the strength of the contracts he made for splitting
sleepers but for the nearly 1600 he had cut payment had been slow. He was owed £24-16s and had
debts amounting to £13-18s. Fortunately, the debts must have been cleared quickly as in June 1891
he was granted an Order of Discharge.

In 1893 Eliza died suddenly aged 57 while out walking, probably as a result of a heart attack. A few
days later she joined Mary Ann in the family plot.

Thomas, the son born to Mary Ann on 28 September 1870 died on 3 October 1902 aged 32 years. His
death certificate states he died in Auckland Hospital as a result of injuries received from a falling tree.
He was originally interred at Waikumete, and some reports say mistakenly; but he was exhumed and
reburied in the family plot with his mother.

It wasn’t until 18 September 1926 that James in his 99th year joined his two wives. His obituary in the
Franklin News on the 17 September tells that he was a native of County Cavan, Ireland and was born
6 April 1828. He was one of the founders of a nondenominational Sunday School of which he was
superintendent for several years. He was also an active member of the Methodist Church.

In his later years he enjoyed walking around Pukekohe to ‘pass the time of day’ and enjoyed driving
the cows to and from the paddock. An old-fashioned clay pipe, which he enjoyed puffing on was a
constant companion.

James died at his home in Nelson St.

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The last burial in the plot on 21 March 1935 was that of Jane, daughter of James and Mary Ann.

This fenced plot and broken headstone is all there is to remind us of a Pioneer family, who suffered
loss and hardship but remained together both in life and death.

Pukekohe Cemetery.
Presbyterian Section
Row I
Plot 069

In loving memory of Mary Ann the beloved wife of 22
James JOHNSTON who died 28th Sept 1870 aged
35 years. Also ELIZA the beloved second wife of
James JOHNSTON who died 25th Nov 1893 aged

57 years. And Thomas JOHNSTON died 3rd
October 1902 aged 32 years

Researched by NZSG member Mary Mercer 2020
Sources:
Paperspast.co.nz
Thomas’s death certificate
Franklin Branch NZSG Cemetery Records

NZSG Franklin Branch 2020

William 1851-1894 & Mary Hutcheon 1863-1957

William and Mary HUTCHEON first came to our attention because his death was linked to cucumbers
and this seemed, well, unusual. He died on the morning of
23 January 1894. The initial report in the NZ Herald the day
after his death quotes Pukekohe’s Constable McGOVERN, ‘It
appears that the deceased had taken some cucumbers on the
previous day, and was shortly afterwards seized with severe
colic, which continued till his death…’.

Doctor CAROLAN who treated William before he lapsed into
a coma was prepared to certify the death, and so the
Constable reported that no inquest was required. Despite
that, William’s death record is not obvious on the register.

A fuller obituary, with no mention of cucumbers but with a
graphic account of cramps in the bowels, coma and
convulsive struggles, appeared in the Herald on 29 January.

William came to NZ in February 1867 on the Countess of
Kintore. He had lived off and on in Pukekohe for more than
two decades where he had taken out a mortgage on 67 acres
(Allot 58, Parish of Pukekohe, County of Eden) then worked
as a labourer and was known as ‘the doctor’. There is no
explanation for this nickname but perhaps it is the
connection to Dr White, his uncle, who practised in
Aberdeen, Scotland where William was born on 1 November 1851.

There was at least one period when William seemed to live beyond his means. He was taken to court
by Frank O’DOWD, St Heliers Bay Hotel proprietor for unpaid accommodation, loans and drinks (plus
occasional cigars and washing) over a period of three months from October 1887. He was summonsed
for 15 weeks’ unpaid accommodation and a list of drinks that filled more than three foolscap pages, a
total outstanding of £65/0s/1d. The ‘effervescing and intoxicating liquors’ were dropped from the
charge because the proprietor could not prove they had been served with meals. The judgement gave
Frank O’Dowd £33/13/3d + costs. This case is beautifully described in the NZ Herald on 3 March 1888.

He obviously didn’t pay because in July he was summonsed for non-payment of £40/16/3d and was
ordered to pay within one month or face two months’ imprisonment.

He was arrested in late November and the bailiff took him to goal. The goaler refused to admit him
owing to his ‘state of excitement’ and so the bailiff had to take him to his own home for the night. He
called Dr WALKER who gave evidence at William’s court appearance on 1 December that ‘Hutcheon
was subject to fits and in a poor state of health’. William was released from custody.

He must then have returned to Pukekohe because we next trace him through newspapers to court
again in October 1889 when he sued John McNEISH of Pokeno for £15 wages at 12/- a week. Mr
BILKEY (for whom he was working at the time of his death in 1894) and Mr J ROULSTON gave evidence
saying he was a ‘first rate character as a workman, well known in Pukekohe for the past 20 years’.

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McNeish’s evidence was supported by Dr DALZIEL. (These latter two witnesses are also introduced on
this 2020 Cemetery Tour.) Judgement was for William of £9/16/6d.

But on 12 December 1889 Frank O’Dowd of the unpaid-accommodation-and-drinks case took a
distress warrant against William to claim the money from the McNeish case…but the NZ Herald
typographer for the December 14 edition messed up and the last line giving the judgement is missing…

Mary lived for a further 63 years, dying at her sister Margaret WALLACE’s home in St Heliers Bay,
Auckland. She was born Mary Douglas ‘Polly’ BARNABY to Ann and Thomas Barnaby in NZ on 7 January
1863.

She married William on 30 July 1892 in Auckland and at his death they already had a young son
(William White). She gave birth to another (Thomas Douglas) the day after her husband died. William
(jnr) died two years later and Thomas died of wounds in WWI.

After her husband’s death Mary moved to Ponsonby, Auckland and was a stationer.

She hit the news in 1900 when a neighbour died as a result of burns from a fire in her home at night.
Mary was one of several neighbours who responded to help and subsequently gave evidence at the
inquest. Their attempts to help the (ultimately) fatally injured Mrs Robinson, her husband and
children was in stark contrast to the lack of response from three doctors who were separately
summoned and refused to come (one turned up later without medical supplies). A fourth had the
police called to take the patient to hospital, 10 minutes away from the Ponsonby Road house after a
wait of 2 ½ hours. Mary was one of several people who were singled out by the Coroner for their
attempts to help. In contrast his comments damning the doctors’ lack of action and poor responses
were picked up by newspapers throughout the country.

William and Mary are buried in the
Pukekohe Cemetery.
Anglican Section
Row B
Plot 103-105

Sources:
paperspast.natlib.govt.nz (court reports and inquest)
Ancestry.com (genealogy records)
Archway (land and probate records)
Researched NZSG member Beth Wahrlich 2020.

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