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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Old Colonists

Old Colonists.

Mr. Edward Stafford Coster was born in Somersetshire, England, in 1843, and was educated partly at Bruton and partly at Christ's Hospital, London. In 1859, he arrived in Sydney by the “Duncan Dunbar,” and came on to New Zealand immediately afterwards. On his arrival at Lyttelton, he worked in an office for some months, and then went as a cadet to Fernside station. In page 833 1865 he went to Blackford station, near Mount Hutt, and owned it in conjunction with his brother, the late Mr. John Lewis Coster. Mr. Coster sold out in 1889, and now resides at the “Gums,” Ashburton. He has lived in the Ashburton county since 1865, and was for fourteen years a member of the County Council. As early as 1863 a racing club was formed at Rakaia, but it was merged in 1868 in the Ashburton Racing Club, of which Mr. Coster became a member. He was member and chairman of the South Rakaia Road Board for twenty-one years. Mr. Coster was married, in 1877, to a daughter of the late Hon. Stephen George Henty, whose name is so well known in the annals of the colony of Victoria, and has six daughters and one son.

Mr. William Banks Denshire was born at the Baston Rectory, Lincolnshire, and is a son of the Rev. W. C. Denshire. He was educated at the Marlborough Grammar School, and at Marlborough College. In 1872 he came to New Zealand; but left again for England in 1874. After spending some time in England and America he returned to New Zealand, and took up land at Kaipara. On selling his farm there he went to Nelson, whence he moved to the Ashburton county, where he took up 2000 acres in the Wakanui district, where he had a general farm with a large number of sheep. Mr. Denshire takes a keen interest in sporting generally and has been well known as an owner of thoroughbreds. After farming there for fifteen years he let the property, and came to reside at Ashburton. He was married in Nelson, to a daughter of the late Mr. Joseph Reid Dodson, who was Mayor of Nelson for several years.

Mr. Benjamin Ede, who was the first farmer in the county of Ashburton, was born in Surrey, England, in 1831. He was brought up to farming at Reigate, and was married there in 1853, to Miss Amy Brewer. In 1856 he arrived at Geelong, Victoria, by the ship “Arabian,” and was engaged in brickmaking and farming until 1861, when he left for Canterbury. It was he who made the first bricks used in the construction of the Lyttelton tunnel. In 1862 Mr. Ede went to Mount Peel, where he made 300,000 bricks for the Hon. J. B. A. Acland; after which he went to Orari, where he was engaged in brickmaking for Mr. Tripp. Mr. Ede settled in 1863, at Ashburton, and carried on brickmaking, principally for Captain McLean. In the same year he took up twenty acres of land from the Government, at £2 per acre, and subsequently twenty acres more. This was the first farm worked in the county of Ashburton. At Methven the country was then in a very wild state, and pig shooting, at the Forks, was an exciting and lucrative pastime. After spending three years at his farm, which was close to the site of Digby's bridge, Mr. Ede went to Longbeach, where he took up 440 acres, at £6 per acre, close to where the Willowby public school now stands. There he worked at clearing and draining the land, until 1876, when he sold to Mr. Stoddart, and took up thirty-two acres at Allenton, where he carried on general farming. He also contracted for the carriage of wool and provisions between Christchurch and Longbeach, for a number of years. In 1878 he took up 240 acres of land at Alford Forest, and was contracting and farming there for nineteen years, during which he broke up about 5,000 acres of tussock land. He returned to Ashburton in 1897, and now he and his wife reside on his land, at Allenton, close to Ashburton, where he carries on market gardening. He has four sons and six daughters, eighty grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Mitchell, photo. Mr. and Mrs B. Ede.

Mitchell, photo. Mr. and Mrs B. Ede.

Mr. John Fowler was born in Wiltshire, England, on the 2nd of April, 1830, and came to New Zealand with his father by the ship “Indus,” which landed at Nelson on the 7th of February, 1843. After spending some years on his father's farm he purchased the ketch “Harriet,” and traded between Motueka and Nelson. He afterwards opened one of the first stores in Riwaka, where he remained for twenty years, at the end of which he took up a sheep run at Quail Valley, known as Fairbrook station, where he remained five years. In 1873 Mr. Fowler came to Canterbury and began the business of a general storekeeper, in Ashburton, and retired from business at the end of ten years. Mr. Fowler, who lives in Peter Street, is married and has six daughters and two sons. He was one of the first members of the Motueka Lodge of Oddfellows.

Mitchell, photo. Mr. J. Fowler.

Mitchell, photo. Mr. J. Fowler.

Mr. Isaac Mawson, sometime of Oak Flat, Ashburton, came out from England in the year 1851, and landed at Lyttelton on
First prize and silver medal. Bred by Mawson Bros.

First prize and silver medal.
Bred by Mawson Bros.

the 10th of December. He lived in Christchurch for a few years and then took to farming at Heathcote Valley, where he was for six years. Mr. Mawson then went to the page 834 county of Selwyn and settled near Brookside, where he carried on farming until his untimely death on the 15th of August, 1883, when he was drowned while crossing the rive Selwyn, then in flood. Mr. Mawson had three or four farms, all good land, and broke up some of the roughest country in the Selwyn district. He was always looked upon as one of the best judges of stock, and was very often picked to judge Shorthorn cattle at the different shows. At one time he himself owned some of the best cattle in New Zealand, and he was one of the first settlers to ship wheat from Canterbury to the London markets.

Mr. James Henry Pauling was born in Scotland in 1861, and came to New Zealand with his parents in 1863. His father, the late Mr. William Pauling, was one of the early settlers of Ashburton. Mr. J. H. Pauling served his apprenticeship with Mr Durant, blacksmith, at Leeston, and for about twenty years afterwards he was with Messrs Reid and Gray, of Dunedin, at their Ashburton branch, of which he was appointed manager in 1897. Mr. Pauling was a member of the Star of Ashburton Lodge of Druids for eighteen years, and passed through all the chairs. He joined the Ashburton Working Men's Club in 1892; and in 1897 he was its president. He formerly took a great interest in the Volunteers and the Fire Brigade. Mr. Pauling has been twice married, first, to a daughter of the late Mr. John Bennett, an old resident of Ashburton, and then, in 1895, to Miss McDonald, of Ashburton. He has a family of five, and now (1903) resides at Masterton in the North Island.

Mr. Thomas Sealy was born in 1852, in County Cork, Ireland, where his father was a farmer. He arrived in the Colony when nineteen years of age, by the ship “Robert Henderson,” and first went to North Canterbury, where he resided for a short time, and was afterwards for a while in Christchurch. In 1875, he removed to Ashburton, and in conjunction with his brother established there the well-known seed and nursery business, with which he was associated for some years. He withdrew from the firm in 1888, when he took up farming, which he has since followed. Mr. Sealy was for twelve years a member of the Ashburton Borough Council, and was Mayor during the Jubilee year of 1887. He was for several years a member of the Ashburton school committee, licensing committee, and Tinwald Town Board; he was also one of the members of the Ashburton Hospital Board, and sat as one of the members representing Ashburton on the United District Charitable Aid Board. Mr. Sealy is a prominent Freemason and a member of the Thistle Lodge, Ashburton. He married a daughter of Mr. Alexander Coutts, of Aberdeen, and has one son and four daughters.

Mr. T. Sealy.

Mr. T. Sealy.

Mr. A. H. Shury was for many years manager at Ashburton of the Union Bank of Australasia. He was one of the early settlers in the township, with the progress of which he has all along been closely identified. Latterly he has taken a keen and directing interest in acclimatisation, and is especially noted as an angler, and as an authority on the acclimatisation and treatment of trout.

Mitchell, photo. A Noted Angler. (Mr. A. H. Shury.)

Mitchell, photo. A Noted Angler. (Mr. A. H. Shury.)

Mr. Edwin Thomas is a native of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, South Wales, England. He was born on the 18th of October, 1847, and was brought up and educated at Manobier. In 1867 he came to New Zealand by the ship “Blue Jacket,” and after working at Leeston for two years he bought a threshing machine, and carried on a contracting business in the Leeston and surrounding district. He started a sawmill in the Oxford district in 1875, and ran it for twelve months. On selling out he removed to Wakanui, where he took up a farm and purchased a threshing plant, in conjunction with which he carried on business as a farmer and road contractor, until he bough the Wakanui flour mill from the Assets Realisation Board. Mr. Thomas made improvements in the mill, by putting in an upto-date roller plant, but in 1899 he sold it to Mr. Thomas Rollitt, and retired. Mr. Thomas takes a great interest in trotting and is the owner of the stallion “Bolderwood,” winner of the mile-and-a-half Highclass Handicap at the Metropolitan Trotting Club's grounds in 1902, and also of the two mile New Zealand handicap of 150 sovereigns at the same meeting He was married in Christchurch, in 1873, and has six sons and two daughters.

Mitchell, photo. Mr. E. Thomas.

Mitchell, photo. Mr. E. Thomas.