Page 30 - J G Book

1909 – 1912 Sandon Block

In 1910 the eldest daughter, Ethel Mildred Kenyon, married Owen Parry.
Trevor Parry told me (in 2013) that his Dad, Owen Parry, had travelled from Manaia
to Sandon Block to marry Mildred, and bring her back to South Taranaki.

th
James George Kenyon’s youngest son Arthur Oliver Kenyon was born on 26 July
1910. His birth registration certificate indicates that he was born in New Plymouth,
and that the informant was C. J. Rundle, “Father to Agent”. Presumably this was
meant to be “Agent of father” since James George’s name does not appear.
The Rundles were an old New Plymouth family, contemporaries of the Olivers.
It is unclear how or why Ada (age 45) went all the way to New Plymouth to give birth
to her first and only child Arthur.

The 1911 electoral roll confirms that James George and Ada were resident at Sandon
Block, farming, and that John Wilson Kenyon was a farm hand.
Harold, Wilfred and Janie would have been too young to be on the electoral roll.
Wilfred’s daughter, Shirley Niederer, records:

“My father used to say Hunterville was a ‘brute of a place, wet and cold’.
He would have been about 12 years old and I thought he went to school there,
but maybe there was a school closer to the farm at Vinegar Hill.”

A Kiwitea County Council document (sourced by Shirley Niederer some years ago)
confirms the years 1909 – 1912 and also provides the clue to location of the farm

From this information, in 2013, Lance Kenyon and I were able to find the farm at
Sandon Block, not far from Vinegar Hill, the nearest town being Hunterville.

1000 acres of
rugged sheep
country.

Photograph by
Lance Kenyon
2013

26 graemekenyon@hotmail.com 4/11/16