The slightly unusual shape of this headstone caught our eye. The shape is known as Ogee (a double curve) and was used in Gothic and Gothic Revival architecture (so popular with the Victorians).
That made us stop and learn about the Hearfield family that this headstone remembers. The headstone is also well kept and legible.
John Gunston Hearfield who died 10th August 1906
Aged 65 years
also his wife
Sarah Jane Hearfield
died 5th September 1935
Aged 91 years
John was from Hull, Yorkshire and fought in the “Maori Wars”. A newspaper report from June 1891 reminded the House “for recognition of his claim to a grant of land for military services”. He worked for a number of years as a night-soil collector in Gisborne before becoming an Express Driver in Wellington
Sarah was from the Goodin family, her father Leonard having arrived in Wellington on the ship Martha Ridgway in 1845. She spent the greater part of her life in Polhill’s Gully and died in neighbouring Northland just a few weeks after her 90th birthday.
We’d love to hear from any of the descendants who may know more.
Plot: *Ch Eng/W/247
By Julia Kennedy
