Edwards Ancestry and Descendancy

Selected Families and Individuals from the Edwards ancestry and their descendants.

Charles Raymond FRY was born on 14 Jun 1883 in Riwaka, New Zealand. He died on 29 Mar 1949 in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand. Charles married Ida Jessie Maria BROUGHAM (FRY) in 1908 in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand.

Ida Jessie Maria BROUGHAM (FRY) [Parents] was born on 01 Oct 1882 in Lower Moutere, Nelson, New Zealand. She died on 07 Nov 1973 in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand. She was buried in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand. Ida married Charles Raymond FRY in 1908 in Motueka, Nelson, New Zealand.

RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLIER DAYS by MRS IDA JESSIE MARIA FRY(BROUGHAM) OF RIWAKA. RIVER ROA
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Mrs Fry is the eldest daughter and child of the late Mr Graham Brougham the youngest son of John and Maria Brougham early Nelson settlers.
Mrs Graham Brougham was Miss Annie( Charlotte) Harford one time of Canterbury.
When first married Mr and Mrs Brougham lived at the little hotel in Lower Moutere (property now owned by Mr Gerald Rangi) Later they moved to a house near the school where later their son Dick lived for many years.(on the flat area beside the road,by the Bluffs, house no longer there. property now owned by the Bunns).
There were eleven children in the family (infant Arthur died at birth) Ida, Claude, Dick,(James Alexander) Emily, Doris Clare, Horace, Bernice, Olive, Gladys and Lorrie.
When Mrs Fry was a school girl her father used to cart gravel for the County Council with a dray and horses, some of which were obtained from the Moutere River below the Jubilee Bridge. Manuka hop poles were also carted and they were obtained from the property in Tasman where Mr Easton now lives At the time only one horse was there and it belonged to people by the name of Brown.
No road ran along the beach ran along the at that time , only a track over the mud flat which could only be used when the tide was out.
Mr. Henry Tarrant was the County Overseer at that time. Mr Brougham's (Graham) mother lived some distance around the beach where her granddaughter Mrs Lorrie Roberts and her husband (Jack) now live.(Mariri)
Mrs Brougham senior (Maria Emily nee Franklin) became a cripple as the result of being attacked by a gander and seldom walked about. She sat in a chair mostly and occupied her time by making patchwork quilts. Her elder children would walk along the beach to visit her when the tide was out as there was no road when the tide was in the water was right up against the hills.
About half way between Mr Graham Brougham's home and his mothers stood some piles on the beach where once a wharf had been. Mr Brougham remembered having seen the ship the"Mavis" anchored there or tied up perhaps. About where the wharf had stood had grown a big black birch tree on which was a swing. Mrs Fry remembers Mr Charlie Boyce giving her a swing on it.
Mrs Fry and her sisters and brothers attended Lower Moutere school. She started at the age of six or seven years until she was fifteen. The then headmaster was Mr George Deck and Mrs Fry's first teacher was his daughter Miss Mildred Deck. Mrs Fry, Emily and Dick( James Alexander)used to help their father by bedding down the horses, cleaning out the stables and cutting chaff for them to eat, with a chaff cutter. During the hop picking season Mrs Fry minded the younger children on the road near the garden while her mother picked hops She herself picked hops when the children were older.(Hop gardens were situated on right hand side of road at the turn off past the Jubilee Bridge (and when visiting this area in 1990 hops were still visible climbing up through the undergrowth.)
Mrs Brougham( Annie Charlotte) had a mud oven for cooking. Some of the children had to go up the hill nearby and across a gully to gather long manuka poles which were cut up for heating the oven. When it was white hot firing was taken out and into the oven were placed ten or more loaves of bread, a great big pie, a big cake and a big leg of mutton; all were cooked together and done beautifully.
The water supply was obtained from a brick well about 16 feet deep by means of a bucket attached to a rope, which was lowered into the well and pulled up by hand.; later bucket and rope were operated by a windlass. when the well became dry during the summer the children obtained water by means of two kerosene tins on a long pole. The tins were hung in the middle and each end was carried by a child.
Also during a dry summer, clothes were taken to the river to be washed. Later on a hand pump was installed.
Jacketts Island nearby had no drinking water supply, so old Mr Jackett when the tide permitted would cross the mainland in a canoe hewn out of a log. In the canoe would be a collection of buckets and other utensils to collect drinking water from grandmother Brougham's ( Maria Emily)home.
Mr Jackett was a very nice old man . He grew early potatoes on his island and took them around in his horse and trap to sell to people.
If the Brougham family went to Motueka they either walked or rode in a spring dray. The early holidays were attending sports and the school tea party.
The elder Brougham children would harness one of the horses into the spring dray and go blackberrying in a bush property in Edwards Road owned by Brougham Brothers, and in the paddocks where the hotel formerly stood.(This hotel was owned by John Brougham and was situated on land now owned by Gerald Rangi who described it as in a little hollow on the sea ward side on Central road about 300 metres past Robinson Road and was a stopping place for coaches going to Nelson.) the family would go white baiting in the Moutere river during the season and would sell their surplus fish.
Mrs Fry used to pick raspberries in company with Lorrie Batchelor around at Mr Alfred Edwards place. She and her sisters would also go camping Messrs Jim and Bob Atkins in Makarewa Street for the purpose of picking hops. Mrs Fry used also picked gooseberries for Mr George White along River Road in Riwaka. Mrs Fry when quite young had to milk their cow morning and evening and for no known reason was very frightened of the animal. At 5 o'clock she would tie the cow up at the fence near the road and wait for her Uncle Charlie to come along on his way home (to the old home ) from work. Sometimes he would milk the cow for her but when he did not she would bawl her eyes out.
Mr Brougham (Graham) was a strict but just father. Mrs Brougham( Annie Charlotte) was also strict up to a point - she was never known to lose her temper.
During Mrs Fry's school days, when she was ten or eleven years old her father had a reaping machine drawn by three horses. Her eldest brother John Claude would sit on the middle horse and use the whip on the horses on either side to keep them going. He developed Brights disease after a while and in spite of whatever Dr. Deck could do for him and devoted home nursing , he died at 10 1/2 years.
On the top of the hill next to the house were two very large holes which had been maori lookouts. Some of the family would frequently make it a Sunday after noon walk to visit them. At the was either a lime or brick kiln . A gum tree on the top of the hill nearby was planted by Mr Brougham. During their childhood the Brougham children saw very few people and consequently were shy of strangers. Sometimes Maoris would go to the river quite near the Brougham home , catch eels and cook them on the stones. They would call out to the children to go to them , but they were too frightened.
On Saturdays Mrs Fry had to clean her fathers' boots with mutton fat and the rest of the family with'"Dales Dubbing". If Dubbing was in short supply, soot was mixed with it to make it go further. When cleaned she would set the boots out in array to make them look as many as possible.
The house the family lived in was very old so Mr Brougham decided to have a new one built. He engaged Mr Tom Fuller, a bush carpenter to do the work. He lived past the home of Mrs Brougham senior( Maria Emily) and took a short cut across the hills to reach the Brougham home, but became bushed in the high gorse on the hill. He called for help and Mr Brougham (Graham) had to cut a track to let him out.
A creek ran at the foot of the Maori lookout hill and in it in patches was a lovely white clay which the Brougham family gathered and used to clay their fireplace.
When Mrs Fry left school Mr Easton the then Headmaster wanted her to take over the Lower Moutere Post Office which was then in a corner of the school, but she could not do so as she could not be spared from home. At the age of 18 or 19 Mrs Fry went to work for Mr and Mrs Will Thorpe of Burton, Motueka and was there for three years.
She did most of the cooking including bread making, and cut the lawns. A family of the name of Haslam had a store in Ching's house. Mr and Mrs Haslem had three sons Jim Bert and Arthur and a daughter. They afterwards lived in an old house which stood where Mrs Lew Drogemuller now lives. Mrs Fry married Mr Ray Fry of Riwaka 58 years ago. Mr Fry died on the nth March 1949.
(all bracketed sentences inserted by Dick Brougham to bring the reader up to date in 2003.)