| Notes |
- William Bill Ward was born in Woodhall Spar, England on 9th July 1911.
When Bill was 3 years old, his father Frederick emigrated with his wife Lillian Scott and their children, Betsey, Bill [William], and Maud in 1914 on the ship "Ionic". Bill Ward told us that his father Frederick had left Kirkstead after an argument with his father William Ward. The "Ionic" landed in Lyttleton. Frederick, Lillian and family were met at the wharf by Frederick's nephew, George Skipworth who had emigrated earlier to NZ. [George's mother was Bill Ward's aunty, Betsey Ward].
Uncle Harold told Frederick about a share milking job at McKennah's farm in Kakaramea, Taranaki. In 1915 Frederick moved up to the North Island to Kakaramea. He began share milking with Kate Grey, Lillian Scott's sister on a farm down Whitehead's Lane.
Bill and his elder sister Betsey Ward were registered as pupils at Kakaramea Primary School in 1916, Betsey was perhaps mistakenly registered as Betty Ward.[Kakaramea School & District 125 Years- Michael Condon 2001; p75].
In 1920, Mary and Maud joined Betsey and Bill [ William], as registered pupils at Kakaramea primary school. There were also an Edith and an Elsie Wards registered that year as well. [ie. another family called "Wards".]
Bill told me that his family moved to Normanby, just north of Hawera. There were no more Ward registrations in 1921 so it's possible that Bill's parents, Frederick & Lillian Ward left Kakaramea in 1921 to go to Normanby.
After Frederick died in Hawera, Lillian came back to Kakaramea to farm, and in 1925, Ethel Ward was registered as a pupil at Kakaramea Primary School. [See 1925 list, p76 of Condon's book.] She would have been 5 years of age as a new entrant. Bill would have been 14 years of age then and could possibly have started working on Samuel Huston's farm. [Jim Huston's father]. Betsey 13; Maud 12 and Mary 11 years of age.
1930-31 were not good years for the Ward family. Bill's sister Ethel died on the 20 June 1930, and his mother Lillian died on the 18 January 1931. Bill would have been 20, Betsey 19, Maud 18 and Mary 17 years of age.
We do not know how long Bill and his sisters Betsey, Maud and Mary stayed in Kakaramea. And we have little specific knowledge as to what happened to each of the children immediately after their mother Lillian died on the 18th January 1931. All except Bill were mere teen teenagers.
We know that Bill moved to Auckland probably soon after his mother Lillian died, about 1932. He bought a rural property at Kumeu and bought stock and equipment to establish a dairy farm. Jack & Edna [nee Walkley] Way stayed at the farm with Bill. Jack was doing "Transport/Carrier" work locally and helping on the farm. It was through this association that Dorothy Walkley met Bill Ward. On the 15 June 1940, Bill and Dorothy married at "St Mathews Anglican Church" in Auckland City.
When the Second World War broke out in 1939, as Bill was working in the primary, agricultural sector, he was exempted from conscription in to the armed forces, but he was drafted into spending time in the Home Front Defence force. He went north to the 90 Mile Beach for a period of time manning some bunkers and dug outs when New Zealand was on high alert because of the perceived threats of a Japanese invasion of Australia and New Zealand. Luckily the invasion never happened.
Sally 1944, Jocelyn 1945 & Gail 1952 were born when Bill and Dorothy were still living at Kumeu.
Sally & Jocelyn attended the local Huapai Primary School from 1949 until 1954 which was about the time that their parents had decided to relocate to Orewa. Gail started her schooling in Orewa.
Whilst in Kumeu, Sally and Jocelyn remember that their father had a Fiat car which he called "Musso" presumably an abbreviation of "Mussolino", as the vehicle was made in Italy. They helped their father with chores on the farm such as hay making, milking and herding the dairy stock from time to time. Bill had a horse called "Snowy" and a dog called "Tip". They also remember Bill changing from dairy farming to horticulture/market gardening. All the stock was sold and necessary horticultural equipment with plants were purchased. Again Sally & Jocelyn remember seeing and later helping Bill with sowing, cultivating, harvesting and packing vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbages, cucumber and watermelon. Sally remembers driving the tractor hauling a potato harvester through the rows of potato crops turning them over for harvesting. This was a relatively innocuous job as the tractor was in low gear and simply needed to be driven straight down the rows and rows of potato plants. Nevertheless the task was arduous, dirty and monotonous. Bill worked very hard from dawn to dusk some days to ensure all the seasonal needs of each vegetable/fruit crop was completed for successful harvesting.
Bill very proudly told friends & family that he was one of the first to experiment and introduce the growing and harvesting of "Chinese gooseberries" or feijoa in West Auckland. He apparently introduced the fruit to the rapidly growing consumer market of Auckland and was rewarded with immediate lucrative returns. A proportionately greater percentage of his crop at Kumeu became Chinese gooseberries which in later years became known as "kiwi fruit".
Sally & Joc also remember aunty Maud [Dorothy's sister] & Roy Radford living with them on the farm for a period of time. Sometimes aunty Marion & Stanley Roberts would visit and stay at the farm.
Every Guy Fawkes Bill built huge bon fires out in the paddock to celebrate and many friends joined the family for the occasion. Sally & Joc's Neighbours and friends at school - Diane & Joan Hicks came with their parents and sometimes other extended family members. Bill, Dot and family went with the Hicks family to Brown's Bay for picnics.
Bill never forgot his links to Kakaramea where he attended school and established strong links to the Huston family where he worked and stayed before his mother died. He often travelled with his family back to Kakaramea to visit the Hustons and Sally & Joc remember these visits well. Jim Huston and family also visited Bill & family when they lived in Kumeu and also when they shifted to Orewa. When visiting Taranaki Bill also exchanged visits with Ernie Bungay.
On the 1st January 1953, Bill & Ernie Bungay went on a South Island Holiday camping tour together. Sally has the diary which documents a very hilarious account of their tour together. There were the usual dramas and challenges which required the ingenious "number 8 wire and shoe lace" mechanical wizardry skills of "Bill Ward" to help them limp along in their weary car to the next available garage! Bill & Ernie called in to New Plymouth to see Zelda's father and Jack Bungay [Ernie Bungay's father] in Inglewood. They called in to the Huston's in Kakaramea crossed over to the South Island and visited Stanley & aunty Win Walkley in Christchurch. When staying there,
Bill & Dot purchased a block of land in Orewa between Moffats Road and the shore line of the estuary in about 1954. Bill had the block subdivided and he chose the section at 12 Moffats Road to have his house built. Bill, Roy [Radford] and Daker built the house and the family moved in about 1956. A batch was also built on the property for Nana [Ethel Lowe], Dorothy's mother which was also accessed from Maori Hutt Road. Sally and Jocelyn transferred to schooling in Orewa, the year the Orewa school was upgraded to become a District High School in 1957.
Bill continued his horticultural business on his new property on sites around and below the house which sloped north facing down to Maori Hutt Road. He eventually sold all the other sections, but continued to crop beans, watermelons, pumpkin and many other crops up to around about 1970.
Jocelyn met Pat Heremaia in 1965 when she was attending North Shore Teachers College. She took him home to meet her parents in Orewa. Pat remembers sometimes helping Bill weeding or hoeing and grubbing weeds in the gardens around the house. In 1967 Pat & Joc married at the Roman Catholic church in Mt Albert. The wedding function was held at Avondale & Pat's parents came up from Pariroa Pa, Kakaramea. Pat's father Hoani Heremaia met Bill again, after a gap of 40 years since attending Kakaramea primary school together. Jim Huston and his wife also came to the wedding from Kakaramea. Hoani, like Bill also did occasional farm work on the Huston farm in the 1920-1930 years.
In 1970, Bill, Dorothy & Sally decided to go to England and Europe for a holiday. As Bill was born in 1911 at Woodhall Spar, Lincolnshire, he was keen to revisit the place of his birth and to make contact again if possible with his relations.
At the same time in 1970, Jocelyn & Pat had left to travel overland from Singapore to London. Joc & Pat arranged to meet Bill, Dot and Sally in London so they could travel together to meet Bill's family.
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1911 - 1990 (79 years)
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