OBITUARY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 938, 7 January 1911, Page 3

OBITUARY.

MR THEO. EASTON—AGED 67. It is our painful duty to record I the passing away of another jof Foxton's pioneers in the person | of Mr Theophilus Easton, who j died at his residence, Howan : Street, Foxtou at 4-15 o’clock on j Thursday afternoon. The late Mr i Easton had not enjoyed the best i of health for some time past and ; of late had been under medical | attendance, and on Sunday last his I health took such a decided turu i for the worse that the end was expected at any time. I The late Mr Eastou was a ! native of England, having been i born at Peckham, Surrey County, 'in 1543. He was educated at the Collegiate School in Peckham and lat the City of London School. ; He served his time as a builder in Eugland, and seeing the possibili ties of advancement in the uew countries, migrated to Australia iu the ship Kent, arriving in Melbourne somewhere about 50 years ago. Here he followed his trade for some years and when the gold rushes broke out in New Zealand he came over to try his luck on the diggings. He was engaged gold digging at a number of places in the South Island and when the lever bad abated somewhat he came to Wellington, following his trade, building, iu that city for some time. Whilst in Wellington he was married to the eldest daughter of the late Mr James Coley, and a little later, 40 years ago, came to Foxton. Shortly after his arrival he purchased the property in Howan Street and took up his residence and has resided there ever since. It might be said that the late Mr Eastou built Foxtou, as a very large number ot the older buildings, and a percentage of the new ones, weie built by him. Mr Eastou leaves a widow and a family of nine, four sons and five daughters, to mourn their loss. By Mr Easton’s death, Foxton loses another of her oldest residents, and although we all know that sooner or later we must all go the same way, Mr Eastou was the class of man Foxton could illafford to lose. He had resided here for 40 years, and we have not met a man that had anything but good to say about him. He was thoroughly straightforward and honest in all his dealings and was the kind of man that could go through life without making enemies. The iuneral will take place on Sunday afternoon, leaving his late residence at 1.30 p.m. for All Saints’ Church and thence to the Foxton Cemetery.

The death occurred at Otakeho, Taranaki, on Wednesday, of Mr Heurick Christian West, brother of Mr L- G. West, architect, of Palmerston. Mr West was born in Denmark in 1842, his father being a pastor, the Reverend C. F. West. He formed one of the band of nine young Danes who accompanied Bishop Monrad and his family to New Zealand in 1866. The party went first to Wellington, then to Nelson, and after a stay there came to this district, then under wild bush, and purchased land at the first Government sale of the Mauawatu Block. They had the usual hardships of the pioneer. In IS7O Mr West married Emma, eldest daughter of the late S. C. Hartley, a pioneer settler of the West Coast, who had come here in 1842, and had married Miss Diana Howe, another pioneer, many of whose descendants are still extant and wellknown in this district. Mr and Mrs West had a family of 22 children, of whom 16 survive. These include Mr J. West, farmer, of Fitzherbert, and Mrs Mudford, ot Rougotea. There are also over 30 grandchildren. After farming and carrying out bush work in this district, Mr and Mrs West and family went to Rougotea, and then to Taranaki, where they carried on dairying. Mr L. G. West is now the sole survivor of that generation. His father and mother having been born in 1800 and ISO 3 respectively, they bridge the century, and much of the world’s history.