FIVE GENERATIONS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 716, 16 July 1929, Page 9

FIVE GENERATIONS

EIGHTY-TWO YEARS TO TWO MONTHS UNUSUAL CHRISTENING From S2 years to two months —five generations were present on Sunday afternoon at a christening in St. Mark’s Church, Remuera. Maureen Mavis Carter represented the fifth generation. The senior of the family was Mrs. C. Lawrence, who came from London 55 years ago in the sailing ship Rooparell. Little Maureen’s mother, Mrs. P. Carter, her grandmother, Mrs. R. Pearce, and her great-grandmother, Mrs. R. Bowdeji, were the others engaged in the unusual ceremony. All those concerned are residents of Auckland. Mrs. Lawrence can tell an interesting tale of Auckland’s early settlement. The Rooparell’s passengers found quarters at the Albert Barracks in Albert Park. The only vehicle available when she landed with her husband and three children was a dray, but Mrs. Lawrence remembers the bush mail coaches and the excitement of Auckland’s pioneers when the first train struggled through from the Waikato. Today, Mrs. Lawrence has 51 descendants, not one of whom lives outside the suburban area of Auckland. She herself has not been outside Auckland Province since she has been in New Zealand. The Rev. G. C. Cruickshank, who performed the ceremony, was also christened in St. Mark’s Church.