AN EARLY WILLINGTONIAN.

Shannon News, 3 January 1923, Page 4

AN EARLY WILLINGTONIAN.

DEATH OF MRS MARGARET CLARK

There passed away at the residenceor <ner son in Levin on Wednesday, in the person of Mrs Margaret Clark, a notable link with the earliest days ol settlement in Wellington. The deceased lady was the oldest and last ol' the original Bevan family, which came to New Zealand in 1841. She had reached the great age of ninety years, and latterly had been in failing health and declining faculties. For practically eighty years she had been a resident .of Wellington, with brief intervals of absence, and for a great part of that time had occupied the family residence in Wellington Terrace.

The late Mrs Clark left Gravesend with her mother and father and their children in the ship Lady Nugent in October, 1840, and arrived in Port Nicholson in March of the following year. The long voyage was a tragic one for the Bevan family, for the mother died at sea, as did also two of tlie children and a cousin, leaving the lather, Mr Thomas Bevan, to enter upon colonial life with four little motherless children. Margaret Clark was the eldest of these, and of the others one was the late Mr Thomas Bevan, of Manakau, whose published reminiscences give a picturesque and graphic narrative of the life of those early days. The father was a ropemaker, who established himself in business at Te Aro, Wellington, in

1842. Trouble with the Maoris in 1844 cut off the supply of flax, so he

transferred his plant to Waikawa, near Otaki, leaving his children to come on after him by schooner. The family embarked in May, 1845, but the small 12-ton vessel encountered such a terrible storm that she put back into port, intending to leave again in the morning and landing the small passengers overnight after a. terrifying experience. In the

morning the young people were nowhere to be found. From their hid-ing-place they watched the vessel safely out of the harbour and then returned to the housed It was then arranged that, under the guidance of a trustworthy Maori named Ropina, the

party should walk overland to Waikawa. In .June, 1845, the four children left Wellington, and by rough j bush tracks and the sea-coast made | their way north, safely reaching their i destination after many days travel through country inhabited by hostile Maoris. Mr Bevan’s account of the journey accomplished by his brothers and sisters is a remarkable one, worthy of longer quotationin a later is- ; sue. The late Mrs Clark was at that j time .scarcely in her teens, and the ! feat she and her brothers and sister j then accomplished was some evidence ! of the mettle and endurance of the } children of those days. The traits she then displayed remained charac- | teristic of her throughout her long | life. Her husband, the late Mr Wil- I

limn' Clark', arrived in Wellington in 1842 by the ship London, and took over the first drapery business in.the infant settlement, carrying it on there for many yers subsequently, and building up a reputation lor integrity and fair dealing that is still recalled with admiration by the early settlers. Mrs Clark .Shared with her husband the goodwill and respect of their contemporaries. She possessed all the fine qualities of the pioneers who so faithfully laid the foundations on which the Dominion of the future Was to her raised. She and her husband were closely associated for many years with the Taranaki Street Methodist Church, and their labours and sacrifices in that connection are held in grateful remembrance in church circles. Mrs Clark .was a woman of strong personality, hospitable and kindly in others’ troubles, and steadfast and courageous in meeting the rebuffs of life in the early days. One great trial was the loss of four children in a terrible epidemic of diphtheria that occurred 45 years ago in Wellington, three of her family dying in. one week, and the fourth a few months later. The surviving members of the family, to whom the deceased lady leaves an honoured name and grateful memory .are: Mr J. M. Clark (Auckland), Mr S. B. Clark (Christchurch), Mr W. M. Clark (Levin), Mrs W. Robarts (California), and Mrs Alex. Scott. (Wellington). The interment was a private one.