Tisdall, James T. (senior), Farmer, “Avoca Terrace,” near Middlemarch. Mr. Tisdall was born in the Vale of Avoca, County Wicklow, Ireland, in 1847, and was trained as a gardener on the Earl of Wicklow's estate. He arrived at Port Chalmers page 598 by the ship “Vicksburg,” in 1868, and proceeded to “Elm Grove.” East Taieri, the residence of the late Mr. John Kirkland. Mr. Tisdall was a nephew of Mrs Kirkland's, and he remained with his relatives for two years, gaining his first insight into colonial life. He subsequently engaged in agricultural pursuits elsewhere in the Taieri district. In 1883 he removed to Middlemarch, and took up a portion of his present farm in Strath-Taieri. He has increased his original holding to 300 acres, and he has also acquired another property of 114 acres, nearly adjoining. Mr. Tisdall farms both properties successfully, and has brought them from their native state to a high state of cultivation. He grows a large quantity of barley, which returns from forty-five to sixty bushels per acre, and also devotes much attention to the breeding of Clydesdale horses. The sire “Hatfield” owned by him has been exhibited at the three annual shows at Middlemarch, and has won the first and champion prizes on each occasion. Mr. Tisdall is a vicepresident of the local Agricultural and Pastoral Association. He was married at “Elm Grove,” East Taieri, in 1869, and has, surviving, a family of six sons and two daughters. Mrs Tisdall died in 1890, and their daughter Sarah on the 4th of April, 1902.