John died in 1899, aged 92, at the residence of Mrs Phelps in Webb Street. He had lodged with her for more than 25 years and received every kindness and care from Mrs Phelps.
His parents, John and Elizabeth Yule (or Yuill or Zuill), had eight children, of which four survived to adulthood. John’s elder brother William had emigrated to NSW in 1838. John and his younger brother Moses arrived in Wellington on the ‘Bengal Merchant’ in 1840. Prior to that John worked at a large business house in Glasgow. Later he went to the West Coast settling near Horowhenua Lake and undertook road-making contracts. The ‘Paikakariki Road’ was one of his undertakings.
According to Ancestry Trees, in 1852 his brother Moses sailed from Poverty Bay to Port Cooper on board the ‘Diana’ which foundered at sea and all perished.
John later returned to Wellington and entered into a partnership with George Crawford in mercantile pursuits. On the dissolution of the partnership, John was independent and able to retire. Some time before his death, he divided his money among his relatives and retained just sufficient for his own needs.
John was a member of St John’s Presbyterian church and strict integrity was one of his characteristics. Unfailing regularity of habits was another. John never married and is the only interment in this plot. He was the last surviving of his siblings.
Plot: *Public/H/29
More reading on John Yule from this 1983 edition of the Karori Historical Society magazine ‘Stockade’ which has been digitised at WCC Archives:
By Julia Kennedy
Courtesy of Alexander Turnbull Library ref PA1-q-120-23-2
