Old Identities.

Southern Cross, Volume 2, Issue 1, 7 April 1894, Page 9

Old Identities.

DEATH OF A PIONEER. THE LATE MR 0. N. BAGGOTT. [C 03s'TRIBUTEI).] By the death of Charles N. Baggott last week one of the earliest pioneers of Invercargill passed to his rest. When the totara, matai, rimu, etc., were yet growing on the site of the buildings and streets of Invercargill of to-day, Charles Baggott pitched his tent in the unopened bush on a spot that, after survey, proved to be situated between Tay and Esk streets. That now dates nearly thirty-eight years since. On arrival Mr Baggott worked for some time with Mr Surveyor Gillies in the survey of several of the

FIEST BLOCKS IN INVERCARGILL. Soon after the section survey was completed he purchased a lot fronting on Esk street, and there built a cottage, the timber having been sawn by himself and mate. The little cottage is yet standing in Esk street, not far from St. John’s Church, and is probably the oldest building in the town. Here Mr Baggott lived for several years, becoming

AN EXPERT BUSHMAN in shingle and paling-splitting, and most of the buildings erected in the latter fifties were roofed with shingles, the handiwork of Charley Baggott. In the selection of roofing material the choice was not so large then as now — it was either shingles or tussac thatch. There was no corrugated iron in use at that time. When felling trees, sawing or splitting logs in Esk street, Mr Baggott often shot the native pigeon, kaka, weka, etc., while at work, and these birds, together with eels from Puni Creek, were at times in high request in the little community, as they not unfrequently

BAN OUT OF BEEF AND MUTTON. During this time Mr Baggett took a warm interest in the formation of friendly and benefit societies, and was, we believe, the second hT.Gr. of the Shamrock, Rose and Thistle Lodge. In the August of 1859 the genial Edwin Clarke suddenly disappeared from the little settlement —it was said with a considerable sum of money in his pockets —and in the organisation of search parties for “beating” the bush and dragging the Puni Creek, Mr Baggott took a most active part. What BECAME OF BOOR CLARKE is yet as much a mystery as it was at the date of his disappearance. In the early part of 1860 GOLD WAS FOU:ND f not far from the Mataura Falls, and a prospecting party was formed and equipped in Invercargill for the purpose of testing the ground. They spent some time in prospecting on the

Mataura, but met with little success. That party consisted of Messrs James Blacklock, Holmes, Obeyne, Peter Crow, C. N. Baggett, and one or two others, all of whom, I belie A re, have “ crossed the bar.” The supplies for the party were driven over an unmade road and trackless country —Invercarcargill to Mataura—by Thos. Middleton. Calling to mind, the names of that prospecting party —-the first in Southland—takes one back to the early days of Hew Zealand—to Auld Lang Syne—when life beat high and 'hope was 3 r oung. in 1861 Mr Baggott went to Tuapeka diggings—just then discovered —but did not remain very long 1 . In 1862 he bought land and built ■ AN HOTEL AT LONG BOSH, and remained in that business about thirteen or fourteen years. He sold out at Long Bush, and shortly after removed to Invercargill and opened a boarding-house, which he kept nearly up to the time of his death. He was of a hearty and cheerful disposition, and, in common wdth the pioneers, was VERY HOSPITABLE AND KIND, and always ready to assist, or put something in the way of a poor man. As is all too often the case with the earliest settlers of the colony, Mr Baggott did well for a number of years, but was overtaken by misfortune and depression, or perhajis the “ unexpected,” and lost his accumulation. He leaves a widow, who is in a very poor state of health, and two sons and two daughters, all married and resident in Southland, the land of their father’s adoption.