Genealogy Investigations Ltd
  • Home
  • Family Tracing
  • Deceased estate tracing
  • Family History
    • Basic Family Tree Report
    • Henry's story
  • Interpreting DNA
  • WHO WE ARE
    • The legal stuff
    • GI news stories
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Getting started on your own

Our updates and stories

The 111-year-old-man - Grave story #36

4/7/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
So, Fran and I went on an Easter road trip around the Wairarapa looking for stories. A lot of tramping through cemeteries and lots of fantastic finds. We are set to bring you several stories including ones about Tui Brewery, founding families, and murders and accidental deaths that just boggle the mind.
One of the oldest people we have ever discovered in a cemetery was Te Koro Neho Arona.
Mr Arona was born in 1800, nine years before the first European settlers arrived in Russell in the Bay of Islands, and he lived to the truly impressive age of 111. There is very little information about him, as he was born long before records started in New Zealand.
Although his headstone is much faded it reads that Mr Arona was of Ngāti Kaumoana.
At the age of 16 he was christened by the Reverend Samuel Marsden - the man credited with bringing Christianity to New Zealand.
The changes that happened during Mr Arona's life must have been truly astonishing for him. From the 1830s he may have watched settlers arriving on huge sailing ships, and in the 1840s watched settler towns being established in and around Wellington. To put it in perspective, he would have been about 40 when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, 45 when Hone Heke chopped down the flag staff in Russell, 67 when Maori men were given the right to vote, 70 when the first game of rugby was played in New Zealand, 86 when Mt Tarawera erupted destroying the Pink and White Terraces, 98 when NZ introduced the old age pension (the first county in the world to do so), 99 when New Zealand troops went off to fight in their first overseas conflict - the Second Boer War in South Africa, 101 when Queen Victoria died and 111 when Amundsen reached the South Pole.
He must have seen so much of his world change.
Mr Arona died at Ouwaka, Lansdowne on October 7, 1911.
While Maori had been in the Wairarapa since the 14th century, Masterton was established in 1845 - and Mr Arona is buried in one of the oldest parts of Masterton’s cemetery in Archer St.
We have much more to come.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Fran and Deb's updates

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020

    Categories

    All
    Grave Stories
    Hidden Cemeteries
    Kiwi Icons
    Our Work

    RSS Feed

SERVICES:
Tracing lost family
Deceased estate tracing
Family history research
Interpreting DNA results
CONTACT US:
Email: [email protected]
​
Online contact form
​Phone: 021 473 900
(+6421473900 outside NZ)
​
Site powered by Weebly. Managed by HBHosting
  • Home
  • Family Tracing
  • Deceased estate tracing
  • Family History
    • Basic Family Tree Report
    • Henry's story
  • Interpreting DNA
  • WHO WE ARE
    • The legal stuff
    • GI news stories
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Getting started on your own