Sarah was the first interment in this plot. She was the daughter of George Clifford and his wife Elizabeth (nee Clarke). She was born in 1875 in Waitara. In 1896 Sarah married James Thomas Yeo. James was born in Exmouth, Devon in 1871.
In 1900, a daughter was born named Ellen [Helen] Armstrong Morrison Yeo. Ellen’s birth was only registered in 1957. James’ will which was dated 2 December 1958 repeatedly refers to Helen/Ellen as his adopted daughter.
In 1904 the family were living in the Wairarapa. Sarah won second place in the Ladies 100-yard race at the annual Kakaraki Athletic Club event. In 1905 the family were living near Hukanui and James was advertising in the NZ Times looking for work:
‘An experienced and competent yards man desires engagement, bush or town mills; not afraid of work’.
Sarah died at Wellington Hospital on 8th November 1909. Her funeral left their home at Hayes Street, Brooklyn at 2:30pm on 10th November for Karori Cemetery. James remarried in 1913 and their daughter Helen married Montague Enting in 1922.
The second interment in this plot is Sarah’s mother, Elizabeth Clifford (nee Clarke). Elizabeth was born in 1840 in Coseley, Staffordshire. Her father David was a ‘sinker’ – this occupation created the vertical element of mine shafts. Elizabeth married George Clifford, a labourer, in 1863. Three children were born before they emigrated as assisted immigrants to Taranaki in 1874. Also on board with them was Elizabeth’s half-brother David Clarke. Two of George’s siblings emigrated in 1875 to New Zealand.
Their daughter Sarah was born in 1875, the same year they lost their first daughter Elizabeth, aged three. Their son, Benjamin, was born in 1877 at Waitara. By 1908 Elizabeth is a widow and living with her son George and his wife in Veale Road, Taranaki. We could not trace what happened to her husband.
Elizabeth died in her sleep at her son George’s residence at Matahiwi in 1928. She was in her 89th year. The funeral took place in Wellington. Longevity ran in the family with her son Benjamin living to the age of 93. His ashes are interred in the Small Chapel at Karori Cemetery with his wife’s in 1970.
Plot: *Public 2/J/177
By Julia Kennedy
