As part of our gardening project, we weeded and mulched around the roses in this plot. They are a lovely fluttery, open, pink flower. None of us can recall a time when the headstone in this plot was standing. It appears to have fallen onto one of the roses as a cane is growing between the upright base and the fallen stone. We found a piece of the railing buried in the dirt and stood it up too.
This is the Young plot with two interments:
Andrew Young, died in 1895 aged 62, ‘settler’ and
William Andrew Young who died in 1907, aged 41
Andrew was born in 1833 in Dungannon, Tyrone, Ireland. He emigrated to Melbourne, Australia where he married Elizabeth Nott in 1860. They had eight children. Soon after his arrival in Australia, William entered the service of Cobb & Co and was employed to drive their coaches on the Geelong line, then at Ballarat and other goldfields. IN 1863, Cobb & Co sent William to Otago to drive coaches between Tokomairiro and Dunedin.
Having accumulated some savings, William entered into partnership with W. H. Sheppard, a fellow driver and together they became proprietors of a line of coaches running between Christchurch and Hokitika. In 1868, they started a bi-weekly service between Wellington and Wanganui for which they received a subsidy of £2,000 from the government on condition that they carry the mail. They divided the routes between them as drivers but as trade increased, they were able to employ others to undertake this.
In 1869, they began a line of bi-weekly coaches between Wanganui and New Plymouth. For carrying the mail on this route, they received a £3,000 subsidy for a period of six years. In 1871, Sheppard was killed in a coaching accident and William continued the business alone.
William retired from business for a period but entered it again in 1882 to start a line between Tauranga and Thames. It was not a success and he lost a great deal of money. He did better with his share of the purchase of the Island Bay estate for £36,000 and sold his interest shortly afterwards, making a great deal of money. He also bought land in Palmerston North where there is a street named after him.
At his death the newspaper printed:
‘He was large-hearted, generous to a fault, a true friend to many, and one whose death is a distinct loss to the community’.
William’s wife died in 1915 and was buried in Christchurch.
Their eldest son, William Andrew Young, is the second interment in this plot. He was married to Edith (born Murphy) and they had a son named Eric born in 1892.
Plot: *Ch Eng/A/5
By Julia Kennedy
Photo courtesy of Puke Ariki
