amber27 on Family Tree Circles

The following lyrics belong to a song called "Little Brown Jug" and it is one of the songs that my g.g.g.great-grandfather, James CLIMO would sing, with a playful nudge & wink directed to my g.g.g.great-grandmother, Jane (nee PHILLIPS). This song was recalled by a distant Aunt, Alice Maude CLIMO, their granddaughter:

Me and my wife live all alone
In a little log hut we call our own;
She loves gin and I love rum,
And don't we have a lot of fun!

(Chorus) Ha, ha, ha, you and me,
Little brown jug, don't I love thee!
Ha, ha, ha, you and me,
Little brown jug, don't I love thee!

When I go toiling on the farm
I take the little jug under my arm;
Place it under a shady tree,
Little brown jug,'tis you and me.

(Chorus)

'Tis you that makes me friends and foes,
'Tis you that makes me wear old clothes;
But, seeing you're so near my nose,
tip her up and down she goes.

(Chorus)

If all the folks in Adam's race
Were gathered together in one place,
I'd let them go without a tear
Before I'd part from you, my dear.

(Chorus)

If I'd a cow that gave such milk,
I'd dress her in the finest silk;
Feed her up on oats and hay,
And milk her twenty times a day.

(Chorus)

I bought a cow from Farmer Jones,
And she was nothing but skin and bones;
I fed her up as fine as silk,
She jumped the fence and strained her milk.

(Chorus)

And when I die don't bury me at all,
Just pickle my bones in alcohol;
Put a bottle o' booze at my head and feet
And then I know that I will keep.

(Chorus)

The rose is red, my nose is too,
The violet's blue and so are you;
And yet, I guess, before I stop,
We'd better take another drop.

(Chorus)

Ann PHILLIPS (nee COX or COCKS) was born in Cornwall England in 1805. Ann had married John PHILLIPS in St. Teath, Cornwall on 19 April 1819. Both John and Ann signed their marriage certificate with an X. Mr. James HIGGINS was a witness. John's occupation was given as Labourer and the place of abode as Treworthern. If you were to look at a modern map of this area there is a small collection of houses known as Trewethern, about a mile west of St. Kew village which is probably one and the same location. The marriage witness was probably a family friend of John & Ann.

The children of John PHILLIPS and Ann COX (COCKS) were all born and baptised at St. Kew, Cornwall England. They are listed as follows:

1. Jane PHILLIPS was born 1821 and baptised on 06 May 1825 at St.Kew, Cornwall. She married James CLIMO on 30 October 1840 in Stoke Damerel, Cornwall England. She died in Inglewood, Taranaki, New Zealand on 01 July 1884. (Jane is my g.g.g.great-grandmother).

2. Ann PHILLIPS was born in 1822 and baptised on 24 February 1822. She married John JAMES on 14 January 1841, aboard the William Bryan en route to New Zealand. She died on 02 May 1867 at Inglewood, Taranaki, New Zealand.

3. Mary PHILLIPS - was born in 1824 but she was not batised until 03 January 1831. She married George HUMPHRIES in 1849 and died in 1911.

4. Richard PHILLIPS was baptised on 06 May 1825.


5. Emma PHILLIPS was born in 1826 and baptised on 03 January 1831. She married Edward TUCKER on 26 August 1844 at New Plymouth. She died on 14 December 1908 at Havelock North, New Zealand.

6. John PHILLIPS - was baptised on 27 January 1833.

No one knows why Jane & Richard and Emma & Mary were baptised together - but it may be that John and Ann could have had many reasons for doing so, one being that it was simply less expensive to have the children baptised together. Another reason could have been that John and Ann were not regular church folk or it may have been that they simply forgot or had no inclination to have the children baptised as infants.

It is believed that John died before the family left for New Zealand in 1841 but here again a search of the local parish registers has failed to find a burial entry which can be attributed to him. It is thought that he died in 1839 or 1840.

So Ann was a widow when she set sail on the William Bryan with her children and her new son-in-law, James CLIMO. She re-married to Arthur DAWE on 06 July 1841 in New Plymouth. Arthur had also come to New Zealand on the ship William Bryan. He was 45 years old and his occupation was an agricultural labourer.

Arthur DAWE, in the "31 January 1846 Police Magistrate New Plymouth - A list of Houses, Cottages and Warres in Settlement of New Plymouth with the names of Proprietors and Owners", is named as owning and occupying one cottage. No other occupants are named.

WILLIAM POPE: William, the first child of Elizabeth Catherine and George Whiting POPE was born in Taranaki in 1859 and went on to marry Agnes Cuthbertson MAULE of Christchurch. After working twenty years for Mr. Brownlee at his mill in the Sounds, the couple transferred to Miramar, Wellington, where William stayed with the Brownlee firm for the rest of his working life. William and Agnes raised a family of five sons and two daughters, most of whom inherited a strong sense of family pride. William died in Wellington in 1944 aged 85 years and is buried in Shannon cemetery. William and Agnes? eldest child, Agnes Cuthbertson POPE went on to marry William PICARD of Shannon and in 1907, bore a son, Francis William PICARD. His birth completed the cycle of 5 generations of CLIMO's within the lifetime of his great-great-grandfather, James.

HARRY POPE: See Journal Titled "Henry POPE and Caroline COTTON"

GEORGE POPE: George was born at Picton in 1866 and was the third son of Elizabeth Catherine CLIMO and George Whiting POPE. He became renowned for his physical strength and determination as well as for his true pioneering spirit. On one occasion, the captain of the timber-ship Clematis which traded to Brownlee?s Mill at Blackball, was anxious to sail for Lyttleton in order to attend a funeral at Christchurch so he asked George for a shipload to be ready in one day. This meant transferring 60,000 ft of green rimu timber, aggregating 126 tonne from the wharf to the scow ? a feat George accomplished single-handedly. Also for the modest sum of fifty pounds, George and a friend felled 50 acres of the densest bush in the Rai Valley ? an area renowned for its enormous trees. Always a keen sportsman, especially cricket, George once played at Canvastown in a team which were ?eight Pope?s and Capt. Collins?, the latter being the captain of the side whom George worked with on Brownlee?s timber tram. George was also a miner on the Mahakipawa goldfields and he once carried on his shoulders to the site, two miles up Collins Creek, all the timber needed for a two-roomed house ? done at night after a day?s work on a gold claim. George married Edith TWIDLE, the sister of William TWIDLE, who had married George?s sister, Harriet. George and Edith lived in Canvastown after they married where George acquired the piece of land on which his parents, uncle and grandparents had camped in 1860. Their two children, Edward and Grace were born there before Edith died in 1894 at the age of only 25 years. George re-married to Jane JELLYMAN of Blenheim and they had two daughters, Eileen and Daisy. George died in the Wairau Hospital in Blenheim, on 17 April 1944 at the age of 79 years.

HARRIET POPE: Harriet was Elizabeth Catherine and George POPE?s fourth child, and first-born daughter. She was born at Mahakipawa in 1867. She was at least 10 years old before she acquired a younger sister, though being surrounded by brothers was no drawback to her. She was included in all their pursuits which included boating and fishing and when she was growing up at Kaiuma, Harriet and her brothers thought nothing of rowing up the Havelock to attend a dance or other function and then rowing back again afterwards. They had lots of fun together despite the hard work of those times and soon Harriet found certain attractions in Havelock, for in the course of time she was married to William TWIDLE and went to live on Twidle?s Island, in the lower Pelorus River. There they raised a family of ten children ? six sons and four daughters. As farmers, they worked together as a team and when the boys needed some responsibility, they started a milk-run in Havelock in the early 1900?s. Their eldest son, established a tobacconist and barber business with a billiard saloon in Havelock. When World War I started, sons Cecil,Victor, Mason and Lea enlisted. Sadly two lost their lives: Cecil at the landing of Gallipoli and Victor in France. Mason and Lea both returned home. Meanwhile, Harriet and William, along with the girls and son Eric carried on with the farm, but after the war ended, Harriet and William sold the island and it was then divided into three farms and taken over by William Jones, Edward POPE and Mason TWIDLE. With the erection of new homes and the replacement of older ones, the island became a community in itself, only accessible by row-boat. Harriet and William bought a smaller property at Havelock and turned it into a beautiful farm, backed by rolling hills. After a few years, son Lea left to work on his own further South leaving William and his father to run the farm. Eric took a trip to Britain and brought back a Scottish bride by the name of Kitty. Lea married, but had no children. William died in 1939 and Eric took over the farm where he and Kitty remained until 1966, when they retired to Blenheim. Harriet died ten years later, on 03 August 1949, at the age of 81 years.

FRANK POPE: Frank was born at Mahakipawa on 27 May 1870 and apart from his marriage to Lillian THOMAS and their children, little is known of him as he died on 28 March 1902 at the age of 31 years and is buried in Havelock Cemetery.

ELIZABETH ALICE POPE: Elizabeth Alice was born in 1872 after her parents had moved to Hoods Bay. Apart from her marriage to Charles Christian HARRIS and the birth of their son, Christopher, nothing is known of her life. She died in Wellington on 22 June 1951 at the age of 78 years and is buried in Havelock as Elizabeth Alice POPE.

MARY ELLEN (TOPSY) POPE: Mary Ellen ? known as Topsy to the family ? was born at Blackball, Havelock on 11 April 1881 and was married on 29 June 1909 to Albert John HUNTER, by whom she had a son, Robert the following year. Mary Ellen fell victim to septicaemia that had broken out in the Havelock district and sadly this illness resulted in her premature death on 26 February 1911 at Nelson Hospital.

MARGARET ANN POPE: Margaret Ann POPE was born in Kaiuma, Marlborough in 1882 and was married to William BLAYLOCK in Nelson, where they lived for some years. They had a family of five: Noel William born in 1907; Jack in 1909 who was killed in World War II; Maxwell in 1911; Ngaire Alice in 1914 and lastly Marjorie in 1916. In 1919 the BLAYLOCK family moved into the old POPE nursing home in Havelock, where down the years, relatives from both the North and South Islands and even Australia, were welcomed to what was still known as ?Aunt Jane?s house? and where some of her iron and brass bedsteads still remained. Noel BLAYLOCK did not marry but became a champion cheese maker at the Grove Factory near Picton, where he worked most of his life ? the famous Grove Factory brand being renowned at A & P shows throughout New Zealand. He retired to look after his mother,Margaret at the old home and after her death in 1972 remained there alone, his father William having died in 1928.

JAMES RICHARD POPE: James Richard POPE was the youngest of the family born at Kaiuma, Marlborough, in 1884 and lived and worked in and around Havelock all his life. He had no children but became ?Uncle Jim? of his generation to scores of younger POPES, TWIDLES, BLAYLOCKS and CLIMO's. He is buried in the Havelock Cemetery on 19 December 1959. He was 75 years old when he died.

Henry ? or Harry POPE as he was known to the family ? was the second child of Elizabeth Catherine and George Whiting POPE. He was born at Havelock on 21 June 1862 and he grew up to the sounds of bush-felling and the saw. He worked mostly in the Canvastown area as a young man and it was here that he married 18-year old Caroline COTTON, from Nelson. Harry took his young bride to her first home by bullock wagon!
Caroline used to tell her grandchildren (my grandfather included), how they used boxes and packing cases for furniture, draping them with muslin and lace until her log cabin home became as neat and tidy as a doll?s house, with hospitality and neighbourliness its pride. Then the children began arriving. John William Francis was born at Havelock in 1884, just before Harry took Caroline to the Wairarapa, where he was to clear bush for the railway construction at Woodside. While there, Harry and Caroline?s second child, Mary Ann Elizabeth was born at Greytown in 1886. When the bush contract was finished, the young family moved back to Canvastown, where they remained for many years.
Caroline became a familiar sight as she pushed her wicker pram with her two children, over deeply rutted dirt road 6 miles to the shopping centre of Havelock, before returning home with the pram laden with the week?s supply of provisions, along with the children. Harry worked at Brownlee?s Mill and the family continued to grow. Harriet Jane was born in 1888, Iveline in 1890, Percy Henry Ney in 1892, Sylverta Nance, (my great-grandmother) in 1895, Arthur George in 1897, Walter James in 1899, Maude in 1902 and finally Dulcie in 1909. All the children were born in their Aunt Jane POPE?s nursing home in Havelock, before its closure in 1921.
Henry and Caroline returned to Greytown in 1926 to work at Brownlee?s Mill. Apart from a short period at the mill in Ruru, on the West Coast in 1932-33, Henry and Caroline lived out their last years in Greytown, surrounded by their family, who were now widespread throughout the Wairarapa and Wellington provinces. While adapting themselves to the new life of modern times with the convenience of telephone, electricity, a hot water supply, washing machines and even air travel, this old couple retained a good-humoured but healthy contempt for the ?softness? of modern living and were long remembered for the kindness, generosity and warmth of their home at the little white cottage in the main street of Greytown.

Henry and Caroline lived to celebrate their Diamond wedding anniversary on 06 November 1943. Two and a half years later, Caroline passed away on 10 March 1947 and is buried in the Greytown cemetery. Henry died on 22 October 1951 and is buried beside her.

The following letter, dated at Blenheim on 22 October 1951 was received by the family of the late Harry POPE:

"Dear People,
I am so sorry to hear of your dear father passing on, someone rang up my neighbour just now to tell me of it. The first job of any length I took on when I left our old farm, was to help fall 200 acres of bush for Brownlee & Co. at 17/6 per acre, was with your father, we got 850 super feet of timber to build a Whare [house] to live in while we fell that piece of bush. John Brownlee charged us one shilling a hundred for it and sent it up the line free of charge, nine of us fell the 200 acres in eleven weeks and we made 7 /10 pence a day at it, we worked in 3 gangs of 3. I will name them here. The top gang were George POPE, Arthur Rusk and Godfurry Timmonsen, next Alex Maule, Walter Leamore and Tommy Walker, next Harry POPE, Mic Hodgin and Bert Rutland. That was the first job your father took after Brownlees knocked off the Bullocks and took on horses. Jim POPE, Harry?s uncle went to North Island for a job and Bill TWIDLE got one of the horse teams, Bill Jones and his brother-in-law Hughie Andrews got the other two horse teams and after a year a fourth horse team was worked by Bob Anderson and his two sons, that went on nearly till log haulers did the whole of the log hauling through Ronga and Opouri Valley.
I will write here a bit about your grandmother and your great-grandmother?s finding the first gold on Wakamarina River in 1860 and my forefathers finding a larger lot in 1864 that led to the gold rush; your uncle Bill POPE told me that his grandmother really found the gold on the clothes that her and her daughter were washing. Although Mrs George POPE always got the credit for it, that would be the case of the aged lady handing the credit to the young one, this last point your young people putting this fact on record in future. I have built a monument up Wakamarina with ?
Mrs. George Whiting POPE (nee Elizabeth Catherine CLIMO) found the first gold on this river five miles down stream where she then lived in the year 1860.
The monument is concrete and stands 6 feet high and is just about Mountain Camp Creek where the Rutland party got the gold in the river; it is on the public roadside where it can be seen a quarter of a mile from where the gold was taken out by the prospectors actually was. I hope this will be valued by your family. I will advise you to get it typed and kept by the POPE family. I suppose Arthur POPE of Seddon was the man who rang up my neighbour today and told me of my old mate?s death.
Yours faithfully,
F.H (Bert) Rutland

James, the youngest child of James and Jane CLIMO, was born at Picton on 22 February 1862. He spent all his childhood in the Marlborough Sounds, eventually becoming a bushman and saw-mill worker, like his father and brothers. He went with his family to Ormond where a great affinity with his older brother Sam developed. James continued to live with Sam and and his wife Johanna on their return to Havelock, until he married and had a home of his own. On 27 May 1884 ? only four days before the death of his mother Jane in Inglewood ? James married Elizabeth Aby AROA at the office of the Registrar in Havelock. The young couple then moved to Okaramaio, not far from the fifty acre section on the Picton Road which Elizabeth?s father had drawn in a land ballot. Aroa, on finding his property was a flax swamp sold it within six months but it was later part of the area which supported a flax mill.

James and Elizabeth had one son, James Robert and they lived and worked at Okaramaio until Elizabeth?s death. Father and son continued to live together until James Robert reached adulthood, when they began working together as a team. They worked in both flax and timber mills, James Snr once joining in a bush felling gang with his nephew Harry POPE & Bert RUTLAND as contractors. Father and son were also part of the team at Richard CLIMO?s mill at Okoha, before eventually moving north to the King Country mills at Ohakune and Raurimu. At Raurimu, their roles were reversed ? James Robert became the ?boss? and his father, the engine driver. After the Raurimu mill was sold, James Robert and his second wife, Gladys followed James to Cambridge to farm with him. James was now getting on in age but still helped with mechanical work. Later the family moved to Paeroa and Waihi and by 1936 James had gone to live with his sister Jane in Hamilton ? her husband Frank POPE had died that year.

James died in 1937 in the Waikato Hospital in Hamilton, while Jane was away on holiday, recovering from nursing her husband and brother. James is buried in Hamilton East Cemetery.

Louisa Ellen CLIMO was 15 years old when she left the Sounds for Wellington to work and live with friends of her family. On 31 December 1875 she and John ARCHER were married. John was a railway construction worker from Wellington working on the new Wairarapa railway line, then under construction from Wellington to Masterton. Masterton was where the Archer family settled at first and 7 children were born to Louisa Ellen and John: Annie was born in 1878; Harry in 1881; James in 1884, Alfred in 1887, Louisa Jane in 1890, Charles Roy in 1893 and Minnie in 1895.

The family moved on to Clareville where they permanently settled. They lived in a Railway Department house almost opposite the station. Laughter and fun were the chief memories though Louisa Ellen had to resort to drastic measures to ensure a sufficient supply of firewood and kindling. One evening, when John came home from work, he found her stoking the fire with his hand-whittled dolly pegs. ?Well, I have to use something to cook the dinner with,? she told him. Life was hard but uncomplicated in those days, sons and daughters fitting willingly into the local scene and taking up their chosen careers. Louisa Ellen and John?s sons Harry and Alfred both became butchers while James went on to become a farmer. Sadly their youngest son Charles was killed during World War I.

Meanwhile, Louisa Ellen equipped herself with a certificate in Midwifery and attended the occasional birth in her patients? homes. Even eldest daughter Annie?s first child was born at Louisa Ellen?s nursing home in Carterton. Annie had married at the age of 22 years in 1901 to William Alfred MILLER, a well-established farmer at Kaiparoro, near Eketahuna and the marriage produced 2 daughters. William became a County councillor and showed a great sense of public responsibility when he donated a remnant of the famous eighty mile bush which had once covered that part of the Wairarapa and which was part of his property. It is now known as the W.A. Miller Scenic Reserve.

John ARCHER died in 1910 at the early age of 54 years. Louisa Ellen continued to do nursing for a time at Carterton Private Hospital and occasionally in people?s homes where she was expected to be housekeeper for the family as well as nurse her patients. Finally, she went to Kaiparoro to live with her daughter Annie and her husband and it was here that Louisa Ellen died in 1925 at the age of 66 years. Both she and John are buried in Clareville Cemetery.

Robert CLIMO was born in New Plymouth on 16 July 1857, the ninth child of James and Jane CLIMO. In 1860, when Robert was 3 years old, the family were evacuated to Nelson during the Taranaki wars and it was in Marlborough that Robert spent his childhood. A story tells of Robert, as a youngster, eavesdropping on the adults talking about a dangerous Kahikatea tree that was going to have to be felled. When his parents were away one day, Robert decided to cut the tree himself. Luckily for him and for everyone else, the tree fell in the right direction and caused no damage ? but Robert got himself into big trouble! This incident started his career in timber milling.

As a young man he went with his family to work in a saw-mill in Ormond, where he learnt to drive a bullock team. This proved fortunate for his father. One evening James had been out ?celebrating' and the local constable threatened to give him ?accommodation? for the night. Robert quickly took charge, loaded his father on to the bullock wagon and drove him home. It was also at Ormond that Robert lost three fingers from his left hand in an accident at the mill. Robert?s son Will often told another story about his father setting off for Wellington to take up an option he had on a section. While travelling through the Wairarapa, Robert happened to meet one of his brothers who persuaded him to lend him the money to buy a bullock team and so the trip to Wellington was cancelled. The section Robert failed to buy was the one on which Parliament Buildings now stand.

In 1883, Robert went back to Havelock to marry Eliza GIBBONS. The GIBBONS family had also been evacuated from New Plymouth where Eliza was born in 1859. When she was a child Eliza jumped from a foot-stool and fell on landing, breaking a bone in her hip. As a result, she always walked with a crutch. Robert and Eliza went to live at Halcombe and their first child, Cora Eliza died when only a baby. Their next two children, Dora and Eva were also born in Halcombe where Robert was employed as a bullock driver for the local saw-mill. Robert would be away during the week logging, but would come home for the weekends. On Saturday, he would cut enough firewood to last his family for a week, sometimes working late into the night to cut plenty, as Sunday was a day of rest and no wood was to be cut on the Sabbath. Robert was a lay preacher of the Methodist Church, which he helped establish in the settlement and disliked any disturbances of any kind on a peaceful Sunday!

The family moved on to Rata where William Robert James, Charles Walter and Esmond Roy were born. Robert was employed here as a bullock driver, tram laying and carting sleepers for the Main Trunk railway, until a fire swept through the bush and put an end to the mill there. Robert then leased some land and started dairying. At night, he would work for the dairy factory, carting butter to the railway station where he would manhandle the ice used to keep the butter cool whilst in transit. During the day, between milking, he worked on the roads. He was a very hard worker and he expected anyone working with him to keep pace with him, even his young sons. A strict disciplinarian, his children were brought up to respect their father?s word. Not long after their eldest daughter Dora was married to David HENDERSON, Eliza suffered an attack of appendicitis and as the doctor could not operate that night because of a lack of light, they had to wait until morning. Unfortunately, this proved fatal and Eliza died just before dawn on the morning of 12 September 1904.

Robert worked on the railway for many years until retiring. He wore a beard down to his waist but he later shortened it to a goatee. In Rata he was an honoured identity after 40 years residence, fondly known to one and all as ?Uncle Bob?. After he retired Robert lived for a time with members of his family including his niece Lizzie CLIMO in Hunterville, where he stayed for many years. When he was 90 years old, Robert vividly recalled a childhood memory from Havelock after showing a large turkey dish that had belonged to his late sister, Elizabeth Catherine POPE. The old Cornish game of ?Snapdragon? was played each Christmas Day after dinner was over. Dried fruits were liberally scattered in the dish, brandy poured over them and set alight. Afterwards the children were allowed to eat what they could snap from the ?Dragon?s mouth?. This turkey dish was gifted to the Wanganui Museum together with other Climo family items.

On his 90th birthday, Robert received the following congratulatory telegram: "Heartiest congratulations on your birthday from District Chief Ranger and Executive. Your membership must be a world record.
Greetings from Wellington District A.O.F.? (Ancient Order of Foresters). Such was the text of this telegram received by Robert which revealed that he had been a member of the A.O.F Lodge for 72.5 years and he was awarded the highest medal given to any member of the Lodge. Despite his 90 years, ?Uncle Bob? was in extremely good health and was guest of honour at a birthday party at Emily Climo?s residence, a party which was attended by a large number of family and friends. Emily baked Robert a beautiful cake, complete with 90 candles and a second cake was gifted by Robert?s grandchildren.

Robert Climo died on 01 February 1951, aged 94 years and is buried beside his wife, Eliza in Mt.View Cemetery in Marton.

Jane was born in New Plymouth on 18 February 1855, the eight child of James and Jane CLIMO. In 1860,when Jane was 5 years old, her family were evacuated to Nelson during the Taranaki wars. She attended school in Picton, Kaiuma and Mahakipawa before moving to Hoods Bay in the Pelorus Sound. In 1870 she moved to Wanganui where she stayed for 2 years before returning to the Pelorus area. She married James RADLEY at the age of 18 years not long after her return to Pelorus.
James died three years later, leaving Jane with two young children, Emily Elizabeth and Ann Louise Jane (sadly both girls died in childhood). In 1878 she re-married to Frank Wilson POPE in Havelock. Frank was born in Taranaki in 1851 and the two had known each other well all their lives as Jane?s elder sisters Elizabeth Catherine and Emily had married Frank?s brothers (George and Roger respectively).

Jane was trained and worked as a midwife for 40 years. She kept a maternity home in Havelock for 25 years, during which time hundreds of babies were born under her care. She kept in touch with many of these children - whom she referred to as her ?Havelock Babies? for many years. One of these babies was the younger sister of Sir Ernest Rutherford. Jane was also a staunch member of the Methodist Church and in October 1899 she was invited to lay the foundation stone of the new Methodist Church in Havelock. The only Sunday activity that Jane allowed her children was attending church in the morning and a sedate walk in the afternoon with the minister?s daughter. One Sunday, as they crossed a stream, they became aware that the water was teeming with whitebait. Jane's daughter Jessie wanted to scoop them out with her hands as they were so plentiful but the minister?s daughter was horrified: they couldn?t catch whitebait on a Sunday so they would have to return on Monday. They did return the next day ? but the whitebait didn?t!

Another story known in the family reflects the frugality practised in those early days. Jane?s younger son, Redvers was to go to college as a boarder which was a great event in the family. Jane received a long list of clothing requirements in half dozen lots: socks, singlets, trousers, shirts etc. ?Stuff and nonsense, he?ll take what he needs!? Jane said, throwing the list aside. A short time later, Jane received an account from the school for the remainder of Redver's requirements which she had to purchase for him ?so he would feel on a par with the other lads!? Unfortunately, Redvers suffered from acute bronchitis and asthma all his life and died prematurely in Tauranga at the age of only 47 years, only three years after Jane?s death.

In 1941 Jane, together with her nieces Alice Maude and Ada Adaline, attended the Centennial celebration of the arrival of the William Bryan at New Plymouth. She was one of the few surviving children of the first settlers to be present.

Most of Frank Wilson?s working life had been spent at Brownlee?s Mill in Havelock but in 1925 the family moved to Hamilton to be nearer their two sons and their families. However Frank loved the life of the sawmill and continued to frequent the mills on the coast at Bell Hill and the last being at Ruru until his health declined. Jane persuaded him to come up to Hamilton to the home that she had established in Ulster Street. Even then Frank could not rest until he had found a niche for himself as a ?saw doctor? at the local technical school. Frank died in 1936 at the age of 65 years.

Jane continued to enjoy good health and was able to maintain her independence by doing her own housework, visiting friends and walking to church every Sunday. She was interviewed by the Waikato Times shortly after her 85th birthday as she had become the oldest passenger to travel to Sydney by Tasman Empire Airways in the flying-boat Awarua. She made the trip to celebrate her birthday and she got to celebrate in both Auckland and Sydney that same day. She was no stranger to air travel having made a number of flights within New Zealand, including four trips to the South Island. In her early days she had crossed Cook Strait in at least five different sailing ships and had visited Australia a number of times by steamer. Two of these crossing were made during the Great War under blackout conditions and on one occasion an alarm given for a boat drill but it turned out to be a false alrm. Jane preferred flying and she had remarked that her previous inland trips were not long enough so she decided, when the Tasman air service was established that she would take a flight to Sydney (her daughter Jessie lived in Kiama, NSW).

Jane died on 22 May 1944 at the age of 89 years and she was buried beside her beloved Frank in the Hamilton Cemetery.

Samuel Samson CLIMO was born at New Plymouth on 31 March 1854, the seventh child of James and Jane CLIMO. His early years were spent at the family farm at Tataraimaka but in 1860 the family were evacuated from Taranaki to Marlborough when war broke out. It was here that Sam grew into a young man. He migrated again with the family to Ormond in 1876.

Sam had a great sense of fun and love of mischief, as well as considerable initiative. On one occasion Sam took part in a night-time escapade with the Ormond constable?s cow, which he turned out of its enclosure on to the road. The constable managed to trace both the cow and the culprit and he had Sam up before the magistrate. Sam was sentenced to 2 week?s imprisonment and it was here that Sam?s initiative came to the fore. He 'suddenly' developed a strained back and couldn't dig or use a shovel; he could not chop wood or scrub out his cell so he sewed sacks until the end of his first week?s imprisonment and then was unexpectedly released ? to the obvious relief of all parties!

Another episode involving Sam concerned a man named Mr. Cooper, who had started a coach service between Ormond and Gisborne, at a fare of 2/6. After some years of struggling with bad roads and Poverty Bay mud, Mr. Cooper seized the chance of an exchange when he met Sam CLIMO, who had a dray with a team of draught horses. It took one flood and according to sources Sam did not last long as a coach proprietor. Coming out of town Sam reached a spot a few chains north of the Makaraka store where the coach stuck fast in the mud and the horses were unable to move it, or themselves. Sam got a man to bring a team of bullocks into the paddock ? they let down the fences and hauled out the horses one by one ? but it was impossible to move the coach so it was left in the mud until the end of winter. To add insult to injury poor Sam was taken to court and fined 28/- on a charge of ?obstructing the thoroughfare?. But good friends came to the rescue and paid the fine for him.

Brighter days lay ahead for good-humoured Sam ? a new-comer to Ormond, Miss Johanna GALLAGHER from Tullogh, County Clare in Ireland, arrived to take up domestic duties in the town. She and Sam met, fell in love and in time were married at the Gisborne Registry Office on 06 January 1879 ? shortly before the mill was closed and the CLIMO family scattered. Sam took Johanna back to Havelock and this was where they settled and worked until the end of Sam?s life. Their eight children were born here: Mary Jane in 1879; Samuel in 1881; James Patrick in 1882; Anne Emily in 1884; Alena Elizabeth Clare in 1886; Roger Jesper in 1888; John William Francis in 1890 and Margaret Amelia in 1892. A feeling of homesickness can be detected in the names Johanna chose for some of her children and Sam honoured his step-mother Amelia by naming his youngest daughter after her. Johanna could not read or write so saw to it that her children went to school regularly. Only a proud mother would have kept William?s Pass Certificates from Standard 3 at Manaroa School right through to Standard 5 at Grove School in 1903.

Following the closure of the sawmills in the early 1900?s, Sam tried his luck for a while on the Mahakipawa goldfields but years before he had had the misfortune to get caught in a log-roll and suffered a crushed leg which was amputated below the knee. Undaunted by his injury, Sam had whittled and fitted himself with a ?Peg Leg? which he wore sailor fashion and soon became an source of laughter and wonder as Sam was both agile and versatile with its uses! Both Sam and Johanna loved to dance, especially the square dances that became popular at the turn of the century. One of their grandsons recalled the smooth beauty of a waltz which Johanna danced on her 80th birthday. The couple were declared ?characters? and are remembered with much love and admiration.

Sam and Johanna?s final venture was farming at Moutapu Bay before Sam died in Blenheim on 19 November 1914. Johanna lived to be 93 years old, dying on 25 September 1946. They are buried together in the Havelock Cemetery.

Emily was born on 11 June 1852 in New Plymouth and she was the second daughter of James and Jane CLIMO. She lived with her family at Tataraimaka until the evacuation to Nelson in 1860. By the time of her marriage to Roger POPE in 1867, the CLIMO clan were living Mahakipawa in the Pelorus Sound. Roger POPE was born in England and arrived in New Plymouth as an infant with his parents Richard and Mary Ann, on board the Timandra in 1842. Said to have been trained in the Taranaki Militia prior to the war of 1860, Roger knew the Taranaki landscape well, including all the rivers and streams in the district. Soon he left for Canvastown with his three older brothers to establish a sawmill in the Wakamarina Valley. With Emily's older sister Elizabeth Catherine already married to George POPE, Emily and Roger spent much time together over the years before they married. They had a family of seven ? three daughters and four sons, all of whom were born in the Havelock area where Roger was the engineer at Brownlee?s Blackball Mill. They soon moved north to Rata, bringing with them their daughters Mary Jane(who married John Bright), and Celia (who married Jack Fraser). Though the year of their arrival is not certain, it is thought that Emily and Roger?s daughters came to be with Emily, who was very ill.

In 1897, Emily began her long fight against cancer, but sadly it was a battle bravely lost as she finally succumbed in Wanganui Hospital on 05 April 1902. She is buried in Tutotara Cemetery in Rata. Roger POPE made his home with his daughters and took up work on the railway at Rata in a gang that included his son-in-law, Jack Fraser and his cousin Frederick Johnson CLIMO, his Uncle Richard's eldest son. Roger died in 1930 at the age of 89 years old and is buried in Ohura Cemetery.