70 YEARS AT MANGERE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 475, 3 October 1928, Page 5

70 YEARS AT MANGERE

OLD RESIDENT'S 91ST BIRTHDAY

For nearly 70 years a resident of Mangere and a well-known identity in the district, Mrs. J. McLaughlin celebrates her 91st birthday to-day. As a young woman Mrs. McLaughlin left her home in Dublin and came to Mew Zealand with friends in the ship Mermaid, arriving in Auckland in 1559. Two months after her arrival she married Mr. McLaughlin, a member of a well-know-n family of colonists, and they settled on a farm in Mangere, on a portion of which Mrs. McLaughlin lives to-day. Just before her husband’s death about 30 years ago the farm was subdivided and sold, but the cottage and nine acres were left for Mrs. McLaughlin’s use. Mrs. McLaughlin still enjoys good health.

Of a family of eight daughters, four are living. They are Mrs. McGinlay. Epsom; Mrs. M. Wishart, Auckland; Mrs. A. Graham, Sydney; and Mrs. F. J. Pullen, who lives with her mother. A birthday party will be held to-day when Mrs. McLaughlin will entertain several old residents. Mrs. Bell, of Papatoetoe, who is only a year younger than Mrs. McLaughlin, has made a huge birthday cake which will be cut with ceremony to-day. As it would have been a difficult task to put 91 candles on the cake, “91” has been printed on it instead.