Class: steerage
moved from Nelson ro Wanganui to farm later in 1842 YMI
PPA Wanganui Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14146, 22 November 1913, Page 4
DEATH OF MR W. HANDLEY.
ONE OF NEW ZEALAND?S OLDEST SETTLERS. The death occurred at Nukumaru this morning of Mr William Handley, one of the oldest settlers ,on the coast, and one of the original band of those who were influenced by the New Zealand Land Company to leave the Old Country and colonise a new land. The deceased, who was 77 years of age, will be remembered by old settlers as Mine Host of the Nukumaru Hotel, one of the hostelriea of the early coaching days, an hostelry in more senses than one, and kept continuously without a black mark. And .who among the thousands who have passed to and fro during Mr and Mrs Handley?s long residence at Nukumaru will not recall many kindnesses received at the hands of the hospitable family associated with the place. The deceased (born at Manchester on the 7th June, 1835) was the son of the late Mr John and Mrs Martha Handley, who sailed from Liverpool in the good ship Martha Ridgeway on the 6th, December, 1841. with two other, boys and a girl lor Nelson, New Zealand. The sister died on the way, and the family arrived off Wellington on 30th March, and at Nelson on 10th April, 1842. The ship was of 621 tons, and commanded by Captain Henry Webb. The'family stayed in Nelson for about three months, and then capie to Wanganui.' The father of the family was a carpenter by trade, and came from Nelson to build the Putiki fission House for the Rev. Mr. Masop, who was unfortunately drowned in the Turakina River before the house was completed. Mr Mason was succeeded by the Rev. Richard Taylor, who lived many years in the house, and ended his days there. After about three years at Putiki the Handley family moved to the town side of the river, where the father built himself a house just opposite the present Church of England. Here they lived with their few neighbours through the Maori troubles of 1847, their old friends the loyal Pptiki Maoris keeping a watchful eye over them for about seven years, when the father took up a large block of land in the country, which he naiivecl Southern Grove, and to which he moved his family, now increased to eight five sons and three daughters. After about seven years on the farm the Victorian gold diggings broke out, and William, being of a roving disposition, with some kindred spirits betook himself to ? Australia, where he tried his luck for some seven years, when ho returned home no better off than when he went, away. He passed through all the Maori War troubles from 1865 to 1870, was a first-class horseman and a crack shot both with fowling-piece and rifle. John Handley had person sources.
2 He immigrated to ENG to Nelson, NZ on the Martha Ridgeway arriving NZ 7/4/1842, on 6 November 1841.
3 He was a Millwright, carpenter in 1842.
4,3