Jabez and Mary Ann Lord's Descendants

Ira Spencer Lord (15-02-1861 –  06-03-1943)

Ira Lord was the eldest of the ten children.  He was a first day pupil at the newly opened Halkett School on 30-05-1870.  The Bishop of Christchurch confirmed Ira at St. Matthew’s Church, Courtenay on 01-02-1880.  He married Margaret Smyth at Halkett Presbyterian Church on 12-07-1883.  The Rev. W. Burnett solemnized the marriage.  It was advertised in the Press 27 July 1883.

 

The Smyth family travelled to Lyttelton on the ship Crusader arriving 5 January 1873.  Margaret was listed as "Maggie" aged 6.  Click here for the original image from the passenger list.  Click here for further information on the Smyth family.

Ira went bankrupt on 24-04-1900 and was listed as an engine driver.  Click here to read what his debts were.  

Ira lived in various parts of the North Island and had eleven children.

Ira and Margaret celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on 12 July 1933 and it was advertised in the Evening Post on 15 July 1933.

Ira died on 6 March 1943 and his obituary in the Evening Post 13 March 1943 was as follows: 

MR. IRA S. LORD

The recent death of Ira Spencer Lord, at his home in Belvedere Road, Hataitai, removes another pioneer. The late Mr. Lord was born in the Selwyn district in Canterbury over 82 years ago. On finishing his schooling he worked on his father's farm until he married Margaret Smith, of Canterbury, in 1883. He then settled in Hawke's Bay, where he spent forty years as a farmer and horticulturist. He came to Wellington in 1921 and was employed as a wool classer at the Gear Meat Company until 1939, when he retired. His keen interest in gardening never left him and right up to a day or two before his death he worked in his garden, which was a source of interest to passersby. The late, Mr. Lord leaves a widow and four sons: Mr. A. L. Lord (Lower Hutt), Mr. F. J. Lord (Hastings). Mr. J. W. Lord (Lower Hutt), Mr. H. C. Lord (Karori), and five daughters, Mrs. E. J. Napier, Mrs. K. B. Cudby; Mrs: H. J. Smith, Mrs. R. Mockridge, and Mrs. J. Wilson, all of Wellington.  Three of his sons served in the last war, one; Private E. S. Lord, being killed in France in 1918.

Ira Lord

Lucy Emma Lord (08-10-1862 - 03-06-1947)

Lucy Lord was the eldest daughter of Jabez and Mary Ann.  She was born at the Desert Station, Courtenay on 08-10-1862.  On her birth certificate Jabez was named as a shepherd on the station.  She married Solomon Smith Stewart on 06-04-1883 at St. Matthew's, Courtenay at the age of 20.  The Rev. Henry Collins solemnized the marriage.  Solomon was a labourer born in Alford, Lincolnshire, England to Henry S. Stewart (farmer) and Rosamond (Rose) Smith.  The Stewart family came to New Zealand on the Hydaspes in 1878.  Solomon was 16 years old and listed as a ploughman along with his older brother.  His father was listed as a 50 year old farm labourer.  Click here for the orginal image from the passenger list. For more information on this family please click here.  A quick piece on the family is written at the bottom of this webpage.

Lucy and Solomon had six children.

Lucy had a clubfoot and was a very little lady.   Her great niece remembers her as a very kind lady.  She had a coal range with brass fittings that were extremely well polished and shiny.  She had double beds with feather mattresses that you sunk into.  Her house always smelt of baking.  Lucy died on 03-06-1947 and is buried at St Saviour’s, Templeton, Christchurch with her husband Solomon who died on the 26-11-1955.

Lucy Lord

Edwin Lord  (01-04-1865  -  17-07-1944)

Edwin Lord was born in Halkett in 1865 to Jabez and Mary Ann Lord (née Spencer). His Aunt Anderton (Sarah Ellen Anderton (née Spencer)) apparently helped to bring him up.  He was a first day pupil at the newly opened Halkett school on 30-05-1870.  He married Mary Meng, daughter of Karl Philipp Meng and Elise Katharina Ellenberger on 05-04-1893. 

Further information on Edwin Lord is in another blog.  Click here to go to it.

Edwin Lord

John Cogan Lord (16-02-1867  -  27-06-1928)

John Lord helped his father Jabez Lord on his farms in the Courtenay and Kirwee districts.  He always had a strong inclination for commercial life and after many years spent on the farm he had charge of the setting and starting of reapers and binders for Messrs. Morrow, Bassett and Co., of Christchurch, throughout Canterbury.  He competed in seven first-class trials and secured five first prizes for operating these machines.  He then accepted office as head of the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Association, Limited, in 1888.  He then joined E.J. Jackman and Lord, Grocers and Provision merchants in 1902.  Edwin James Jackman and John Lord became partners and had a shop at 142 Cashel Street on the corner of Manchester Street.  They had both worked at the New Zealand Farmers' Co-op. 

John acted as judge of dairy produce on twenty-two occasions for agricultural societies in Canterbury.   John Lord was elected as councillor to the Woolston Borough Council in 1895.  

He married Grace Ellen Evans on 15-02-1893 at Kowai Bush.  Rev. W. Maxwell solemnized the marriage.  Grace's parents were Joseph Charles Evans and Mary Ann Birmingham of Kowai Bush. Click here for more information on the Evans family. John and Grace had no children.

Grace Lord was a milliner.  She had a shop in Lower High Street and worked with Ellen Lord.  She was also a very good tennis player. 

John Lord died in 1928 and is buried in the Bromley cemetery.  Grace Lord died on 07-08-1956 and was buried in Bromley Cemetery aged 88.  She was living at 141 High Street, Christchurch.

John Lord and Grace Lord

Charles Lawrence Lord (08-02-1869  -  05-08-1945)

Charles Lawrence Lord moved to the Wairarapa area of the North Island in 1894, possibly earlier.  He shows up as donating to the Wairarapa Relief Fund on 27 November 1894 in the Manawatu Herald.  In the Press dated 30 May 1902 Mr. C. L. Lord was listed as being in town, having obviously already moved away and was informing friends that he was back for a visit.  Click here.

Charles was a barman when he married Mary Jane Blane on 23-01-1902 at St. John's Church, Christchurch.  He moved back to the North Island.  They had no children of their own but adopted the son of Catherine Blane, Mary Jane’s sister.  This was kept quiet and the boy named John Spencer Lord, with his adopted grandmother’s maiden name as his second name.

Mary Jane Lord was named as a confectioner and Charles Lawrence Lord a painter/decorator living in Hawera in the 1905 Wise’s directory.

In 1920 a Mr C. Lord was advertised as coordinating painting and decorating work in the Poverty Bay area.  So this indicates the family probably moved, possibly to Gisborne.

They died at 44a Queen Street, Onehunga, Auckland in 1945 a month apart from each other.  We have no confirmed photos of Charles Lord.  If anyone has one they can send me to include on this blog, it would be much appreciated.  We have a collection of family photos that are unnamed and some may be of Charles, so if I see a photo of him, especially a young one, I may be able to give you other photos in return.

George Clement Lord (05-10-1870   -  29-01-1948)

The following excerpt is taken from the Alexander Turnbull Library Obituaries.  The obituary was published in the ‘Bay of Plenty Beacon’ on 17-02-1948.

“In the recent death of Mr. George Clement Lord another link has been severed with the early pioneers of the Whakatane district.  Born in 1870 at Christchurch, Mr. Lord at an early age took up wheat farming on the Canterbury Plains.  In 1891 he came to the Whakatane district with a syndicate of Canterbury settlers to take up land on what was then known as the Rangitaiki Swamp.  Mr. Lord, with other settlers first acquired land near where the Rangitaiki Plains Dairy Factory now stands, but owing to the Government of the day not fulfilling its promise of land drainage all were forced to abandon their sections, most of the settlers returning to Canterbury.

Mr. Lord then took up land in the foothills near Awakeri and also took over the management of a block of land owned by the late Mr. Gill.  Settlement was made difficult in those days by the fact that there were no roads.  It took two days to make the return trip between Awakeri and Whakatane to obtain supplies.

Mr. Lord was the first to take a plough to the Rangitaiki district.  Later, when the Opouriao estate was cut up he was successful in drawing a section, which he farmed for 40 years.

In his early days Mr. Lord was a keen cyclist and before leaving Canterbury contested and won both five mile and fifty mile New Zealand road championships.  Trophies inscribed to that effect are in the family’s keeping today.  He was a foundation member of the Whakatane A. and P. Association and a past member of the Taneatua Bowling Club.  He took a keen interest in all sport, including cricket and football, and was a keen angler.

Ten years ago [1938] Mr. Lord retired and took up residence in Rotorua.  He is survived by his wife [Gertrude Maud Baker, who he married in 1899, and who died on 15-08-1950], three sons and two daughters, fifteen grandchildren and three great grandchildren.” 

A separate extract from another book adds more insight into George Clement Lord’s life.

 “George Clement Lord came from the Canterbury Plains, where his parents farmed at Kirwee and were engaged in cropping oats, barley and potatoes and running a few sheep and dry stock.  His wife Gertrude Maude was the daughter of Captain Charles Baker, who traded between Auckland and Hick’s Bay and was drowned on the Opotiki Bar.  George and Mr Gill shifted two rooms of a house at Awakeri by horse and dray across swamps and drains as far as Spurr’s Corner, and from there on crossed up through Poroporo and over the Whakatane River at Black’s Crossing.  This was the Old Mill Farm and from there on there were more hazards and crossings of creeks and swamps before arriving at the farm.  The Lord family were told as children that the land was nothing but swamp, manuka and fern and that their parents cleared quite a large area by moonlight and by lighting fires and working at night.  In this way they grassed enough land to keep horses and a house cow, and cleared a portion to grow crops.  When they first settled there the pa on the property still had the pallisade round it and they believed it was constructed with soil carried in Maori kits from the nearby hill.  When they eventually ploughed the area quite a number of artefacts were uncovered and given to the Auckland Museum.  Originally there were no fences, just boundary pegs but as the years passed fences were built and they milked a herd of 40 cows by hand.  As milking machines were installed along with petrol engines to drive them, the herd increased to nearer 100 cows.  The farm was a very historic place and the Whakatane & District Historical Society placed a memorial plaque on a small Maori pa site quite near the road (Whakatane/Taneatua highway).  The family were: Nena, who married Walter Thom: Ellen (Nellie), who married Joe Adams; Jack, who married Dot Downard; Frank who married Rene Hellier; and Oscar who married Molly Daulton.”

George and Maude Lord

Thomas Priestley Lord (06-05-1872  -  20-10-1936)

Tom Lord was born in Courtenay to Jabez and Mary Ann.  Tom married another daughter of Joseph Charles Evans.  Her name was Alice Jane Evans and they married in St. Marks, Opawa, Christchurch on 16-12-1896.  The Rev. M. Cholmondeley solemnized the marriage.  They had two boys.

Tom's occupation was a fruiterer.  He lived in Woolston. He may have also had a store with his father Jabez at 97 Lower High Street. In a 1909 electoral roll, Thomas Lord had a property in Wilson's Road.  In 1911 he and his wife Alice (a housewife) were living in 131 High St.

Thomas and John Lord are buried with their wives Grace and Alice (née Evans) in the same grave in Bromley Cemetery.

Tom and Alice Lord

Frederick William Lord (28-01-1876  -  03-08-1942)

Fred Lord married Alena Elizabeth Wilson on 14-06-1900 and they had three children. Alena, or Lena as she was more commonly known was born in1877 in Tasmania, the daughter of John Henry Wilson (born Dublin Ireland about 1840) and Jane Wallace.

Fred Lord lived upstairs at Bealey Street (now Ave) and had a shop downstairs.  The area is called Carlton Mill and the old original shops are no longer there.  The shop had a wooden counter and square glass jars full of humbugs, blackballs and licorice allsorts.  Everything was weighed on scales hanging from the roof.  There were loose biscuits in huge tins and bags of rolled oats and barley in sacks with the tops rolled down an a scoop inside, to name a few of the products he sold.  Fred was a very quiet man with a limp and very generous.  He would often give his great niece some chocolate fish.

According to his great niece he also had a house on Bealey Street (now Ave) at one stage and according to the records this was at 112 Bealey Street.  We think that the Lord family portrait was taken at his house as Bealey Street is written on the back.  Click here to see it.

Later he moved to Cranford Street and Jabez Lord lived with them.  In later life they lived on the corner of Main North Road and Proctor Street, Papanui.

Fred, Alena and Edna Lord are buried in the same plot in Linwood Cemetery.

Alena and Fred Lord

Francis Jabez Lord (11-01-1880  -  10-04-1945)

Frank Lord moved to Australia sometime around 1900 or just after.  Before he left for Australia he competed in amateur cycling in the Canterbury area and was a member of the Canterbury Cycling Club.  

Frank married Beatrice Catherine Greenwood at Canterbury, Sydney in 1905.  They had three children who were all born in Sydney, Australia:

Francis died on 10 April 1945 at Petersham, Sydney and his wife died in February 1969 at Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia.

Frank and Ellen Lord

Ellen Mary Lord (02-02-1882  -  25-09-1960)

Ellen Lord (Nell Lord) was the youngest child of Jabez and Mary Ann Lord.  She became a milliner and shared a shop on Lower High Street in Christchurch with Grace Lord (née Evans), John Lord's wife.  The shop was full of beautiful hats according to Nell's great niece.  She used to live upstairs and the big sitting room had a large bay window. Nell was born with a clubfoot as was her sister Lucy Lord.  In photos of Nell she is always wearing beautiful hats and clothes.  She moved to Australia at one stage but then returned to Christchurch.  She never married.

In an electoral roll from 1911 she was living in her own place at 19 Rugby Street, Merivale, Christchurch and she was named a spinster.

Ellen Lord is buried in the same grave as her parents in Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch.