Passing of a Pioneer

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 29, 4 February 1937, Page 10

Passing of a Pioneer

MRS. ELIZABETH GEORGE A pioneer resident of the Hutt Valley in the person of Mrs. Elizabeth Georg*-, . died last week, at the ago of 92 years. , She was well known also in the Wairarapa (states an exchange.) ( The late Mrs. George’s parents, Mr. ( and Mrs. Alexander Yule, came out to . Petone in the barque Bengal Merchant, landing in Petone in February, 1840. They lived in Petone for two 1 or three years and then moved up to Taita, where Mrs. George was born. The Hutt Valley in those days was covered with dense bush, and most of j the land was cut up into 20-acre sections, timber-cutting boing practically the only industry. Many houses were built high off the ground because of 1 the prevalence of floods. When Mrs. ' George was 14 or 15 years old about 15 people were drowned in Stokes Valley through the flooding of the Hutt river, i As the result of the big earthquake of ■ 1855 her father’s house was shifted off i its piles and made uninhabitable. i When Mrs. George was 18 years obi , the family removed to the Wairarapa j district to take up farming at East Taratahi. Apart from five years spent ; in Taranaki, Mrs. George lived in the . Wairarapa until she returned to Petone ,

two years ago. Surviving members of her family are Mr. Alex George (Tawaha), Mr. T. George (Alcatarawa), Mr. James George (Martinborough), Mrs. H. Cartv (Petone), Mrs. D. Murray (Lower Hutt), and Mrs. A. Taylor (Palmerston North.)