Thomas Barson c. 1849 - 1912
Thomas Barson is first recorded in the Rakaia Terrace Station records in September 1875:
William Powell and T Barson Contract Fencers
September 5 chain sod fence @ 6/- [per chain] £1.10. 0
In 1876 the Ledger entry refers to him as a ‘Contractor’ being paid 1/- per hour. Going forward to 1894/5 he, like so many of those early settlers, is recorded doing many jobs – general farm work, fencing, tailing lambs, killing pigs, stooking oats. He is recorded as a shearer from 1876 – 1906, with his name marked on the wall of the shearing shed.
However, much time is also spent gardening and on plantation work, topping trees, cutting down trees, syringing trees (dealing with blight in fruit trees). He does day work, paid for by John Hall, at the churchyard at Hororata where many of his family are buried.
Barson was from Oxfordshire, in England, and is reputed to have worked at Kew Gardens. Though we have no proof of this, there was time prior to his emigrating aged 24 for this to be so. In the 1894 Station Ledger there is a debit entry for ‘8 flower pots, 3/-’ which are presumably for his personal use. He, his wife Emma and their large family lived in a four-roomed house by the main entrance to the station. Subsequently this was referred to as the gardener’s house. In 1910 he is recorded as ‘Gardener’ at 6/- per day and an annual bonus of £10.0.0. The paddock opposite the site of his home is still called ‘Barsons’.
Children of Thomas and Emma Barson also worked at Terrace Station. Margaret was temporary help, temporary cook and assistant housemaid between October 1896 – October 1905. Emily was employed as Cook in 1900 at £35.00 p.a. Frank and George are recorded as felling trees in 1913. Others mentioned are Edwin in 1901 and C Barson in 1908. Rosie, Fred and Willie died as infants and are buried in the St John’s graveyard in Hororata, as is Margaret who died aged 35.
A daughter of Thomas and Emma Barson, Annie Eliza, married Arthur William Edwards in 1902. A wedding present from Sir John Hall was a silver tea set, though only the teapot is known to survive. The teapot has been handed down the generations and in 2013 was brought back to Hororata and given to the Terrace Station Charitable Trust.
It is probable the following un-named photo is of Thomas Barson in the garden. He has an axe ready to cut some willow saplings. His spraying apparatus is in the background.
William Powell and T Barson Contract Fencers
September 5 chain sod fence @ 6/- [per chain] £1.10. 0
In 1876 the Ledger entry refers to him as a ‘Contractor’ being paid 1/- per hour. Going forward to 1894/5 he, like so many of those early settlers, is recorded doing many jobs – general farm work, fencing, tailing lambs, killing pigs, stooking oats. He is recorded as a shearer from 1876 – 1906, with his name marked on the wall of the shearing shed.
However, much time is also spent gardening and on plantation work, topping trees, cutting down trees, syringing trees (dealing with blight in fruit trees). He does day work, paid for by John Hall, at the churchyard at Hororata where many of his family are buried.
Barson was from Oxfordshire, in England, and is reputed to have worked at Kew Gardens. Though we have no proof of this, there was time prior to his emigrating aged 24 for this to be so. In the 1894 Station Ledger there is a debit entry for ‘8 flower pots, 3/-’ which are presumably for his personal use. He, his wife Emma and their large family lived in a four-roomed house by the main entrance to the station. Subsequently this was referred to as the gardener’s house. In 1910 he is recorded as ‘Gardener’ at 6/- per day and an annual bonus of £10.0.0. The paddock opposite the site of his home is still called ‘Barsons’.
Children of Thomas and Emma Barson also worked at Terrace Station. Margaret was temporary help, temporary cook and assistant housemaid between October 1896 – October 1905. Emily was employed as Cook in 1900 at £35.00 p.a. Frank and George are recorded as felling trees in 1913. Others mentioned are Edwin in 1901 and C Barson in 1908. Rosie, Fred and Willie died as infants and are buried in the St John’s graveyard in Hororata, as is Margaret who died aged 35.
A daughter of Thomas and Emma Barson, Annie Eliza, married Arthur William Edwards in 1902. A wedding present from Sir John Hall was a silver tea set, though only the teapot is known to survive. The teapot has been handed down the generations and in 2013 was brought back to Hororata and given to the Terrace Station Charitable Trust.
It is probable the following un-named photo is of Thomas Barson in the garden. He has an axe ready to cut some willow saplings. His spraying apparatus is in the background.