Jane Climo

James was born in Egloshayle on 22 January 1822. On 30 October he married Jane Phillips. In November 1840, he and Jane, accompanied by her recently widowed mother, Ann and Jane's younger siblings boarded the William Bryan & set sail for a new home in New Zealand.

They landed ashore in New Plymouth, New Zealand, on 01 April 1841. After the first few weeks of settling in, which included building a small dwelling and a vegetable garden,James found that finding work was hard to find but he was willing to give anything a try. He found work as a surveyor's chainman, walking miles through untracked Taranaki bush. He worked as a part of a surveyor's gang of up to a dozen men. They would slash their way through the undergrowth, built footbridges over streams & creek in gullies, made tracks for pack horses and forced their way to the top of the highest hills, to clear timber and set up trig stations.

He gained knowledge & experience essential for survival. He learnt the arts of the Maori, learnt their language fluently and learnt their customs; foods and remedies. He learnt how to swim and ford rivers, how to provide food and shelter and fire; he learnt how to trap & shoot birds and ducks, and learnt how to fish. He learnt about the many uses of bush plants & timbers.

Work in New Plymouth became harder to find with the arrival of more settler ships so in 1842, James & Jane took their two children to north to Kawhia where it is said James continued in his work as a surveyor's chainman. No one is sure how long they stayed in Kawhia, but on their return to New Plymouth, the young family was shipwrecked at Kawhia Heads, losing all their possessions, but not their lives. James & Jane carried their two children through miles of dense bush for ten days, fording rivers and living off native foods. They were given hospitality in some Maori villages, but when they arrived at the first Mission station, they were sent on their way without even an offer of a cup of tea. James later claimed that they walked 150 miles.

In 1848, James tried his luck in Auckland, setting off on foot from New Plymouth. Jane and the children followed on board a coastal schooner. [6] James worked at the Manakau Kauri Mills for 3 years. When others became caught up in the California gold rush of 1849, James saw the perfect opportunity to walk back to Taranaki and in 1852 finally achieved his dream of owning his own land. The Climo's set up home in Tataraimaka, 15 miles south-west of New Plymouth, on a 200 acre bush-covered section. A farm at last.

In 1860, there was a call to arms, the building of redoubts, the evacuation of homes and farms and the arrival of a gunboat with British Forces ... and the battles that followed. James & Jane's infant daughter, Ellen sadly died from water on the brain and four days after her burial, James went to war. He was called to fight at the Battle of Waireka, where he was wounded. In April 1860, while James was still recovering from his wounds, Jane and the children were evacuated along with many others to the safety of Nelson. Once James was discharged from hospital, he followed after them, his part in the Taranaki wars being over.

James & Jane settled in the Pelorus in 1860, in the small settlement of Havelock. James went to work for David Wells across the bay. There was no road between Havelock & Blenheim - only a bridle track - so James and a friend went and cut, by means of pit-sawing, the first timber taken from the Kaituna Valley. They cut 20,000 feet of timber for Bashford & Wylie. 1861 saw James dealing with claims for damage from the Taranaki Wars

In 1862, James set off on another of his walking adventures and headed south to Lyttleton, accompanied by his eldest son John. They stopped at Giggerego, between Flaxbourne & the Clarence, where James and John sawed timber for an accommodation house & school. They carried onto Lyttleton, took a ship back to Wellington and soon returned to Picton. The family moved to Pelorus Sound in 1863, living at Kaiuma, where James worked at the Mill of Cornfoot, Robertson & Parker. From then onwards, sawmilling became James' life. They moved in time, to Mahakipawa, then onto Hoods Bay. 10-12 years they worked & lived in the Pelorus. In 1865, James received a Crown grant of 107 acres in Kaiuma Bay which he held for 10 years. He failed to utilize this land; probably from lack of capital & from growing competition from other millers so the land was conveyed by Supreme Court Order to the mill owner W R Brownlee. It was through this injustice that James broke his ties with the Pelorus and moved his family to Ormond, in Poverty Bay - on the East Coast of the North Island.

During the period of 1871 to 1872 James resided in Wanganui and ran a hotel.

When James and his sons arrived to set up their mill, they found Ormond to be a military settlement with two hotels, a Post Office, Police Station, bakery, school, a general store and a doctor. James hoped for success so established his mill with sons John, Richard, Sam and Robert - George and James Jnr joined for a time as well.

The family began to endure trouble - several of James and Jane's young grandchildren passed away & due to the mill houses having earth floors and becoming damp & cold, Jane began to develop chest trouble. In the winters of 1877-78, great floods occurred, blocking the roads to Gisborne. A great fire at Makauri demolished a sawmill, 20 homes and the greater part of the timber supply for the Climo's mill. In 1879, James decided to return back to Taranaki. James found work at a local mill, while Jane, although very ill, took care of their granddaughter, Alice Maude. James became known as 'Dr Climo' by people seeking help and first aid (James became well known as a herbalist). It was a happy, good-humoured home, but in the winter of 1884, Jane took a turn for the worse and died of chronic bronchitis on 01 July 1884.

James had met Amelia Russell (nee Kingcombe), of Inglewood two years prior - she was a widow who had arrived in Taranaki in 1877. She helped James during Jane's illness and after her death in 1884. On 24 June 1885, James and Amelia were married in Halcombe. She became well-respected and much loved by all the younger generations who frequently bestowed the name of Amelia upon their children.

James and Amelia lived out their last years quietly in Havelock.

James was approaching 80 years old and in 1905, finally retired. He and Amelia lived in a little cottage, not far from his daughter, Elizabeth Pope. James died in Havelock on 10 September 1911, at the age of 91 years old. At the time of his death, it was said that James had 250 living descendants. James was buried at Havelock Cemetery, plot 77.

Source: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Climo-7 •Colonist, Volume III, Issue 308, 2 October 1860,Page 2 Shipping. ENTERED OUTWARDS. September 29. Mary,schooner, 40, M'Lean, for the Wairau and Picton. Passengers—Mrs. Climo and 8 children, Mrs. Pope and child •CLIMO James, AJHR 1894 Section H23, Unsubstantiated claims under the Naval & Military Settlers & Volunteers land Acts 1889 1891 1892, Date 1894, Page 2 and 6 •Taranaki Herald, Volume X, Issue 483, 2 November 1861, Page 4 Unclaimed letters. James Climo •Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3373,16 December 1871, Page 2 REPORTS. I DAVID LEWIS, a Commissioner duly appointed by virtue of the Ordinance No. 15, Session XI, of the Legislative Council of the Islands of New Zealand, to hear and decide Claims to Land by persons claiming title thereto from, through, or under the New Zealand Company,report that the Claims of the under-mentioned persons having been duly referred to me for investigation, I do hereby decide that the said persons are respectively entitled to Crown Grants of the land set against their names in the annexed Schedule. David Lewis, New Zealand Company's Land Claimants Office,Commissioner. Wellington, 10th August, 1871. •Crown Grants, Crown Lands Office,Wellington, 20th November 1871. THE undermentioned Deeds of Grant having been duly executed, are now ready for delivery at this Office, under the authority of the Crown Grants Act, 1800." A fee of sixpence is chargeable on each Crown Grant for every month during which it shall remain in this office after the expiration of three months from the date of this notice, In cases where it is impossible for the party entitled to receive the Grant to attend in person, it will be delivered to the bearer of an authority, according to the subjoined form certified by a Magistrate, or by a Solicitor of the Supreme Court. Form of Authority referred to. I hereby authorise A. B. of ….. to receive the Deed of Grant in my favor for (Signature.) Witness (Signature of a Magistrate or of a Solicitor of the Supreme Court.) PROVINCE OF WELLINGTON. No. of Grant; Grantee;Locality; Contents. 3154e James Climo Okutuku 56 0 0 •Marlborough Express, Volume VIII, Issue 549, 1 November 1873, Page 5 NOTICE. ANY Person or Persons CUTTING TIMBER or TRESPASSING on Sections Nos. 43 and 44 (land formerly owned by Mr Jas. Climo), Kaiuma Bay, District of Pelorus, after this date, will be prosecuted. R. Western. Picton, October 15, 1873. •Marlborough Express, Volume X, Issue 749, 29 September 1875, Page 3 In the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Nelson District. Between Richard Western, Plaintiff and James Climo, Defendant. WHEREAS by a Writ of fieri facias, issued in this action and directed to me, I am commanded of the real and personal estate of the above named Defendant to cause to be made the sum of One hundred and seven pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence, together with interest upon the said sum at the rate of Eight pounds for every one hundred pounds by the year, from the ninth day of June, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, together with Two pounds for the said Writ, besides Sheriff's poundage, Officer's fees, and expenses of the said execution Now I hereby give notice that I shall cause to be sold by public auction, by Mr William Syms, at his Sale Room, in the Town of Picton, in the Province of Marlborough, on Saturday, the Thirtieth day of October, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, at the hour of Two o'clock in the afternoon, unless the said debt or sum of One hundred and seven pounds, nineteen shillings and sixpence and interest as aforesaid, together with the said sum of Two pounds, besides Sheriffs poundage, Officer's fees, &c, be sooner paid, all the Estate and interest of the said James Climo, of, in, and to all that parcel of land, containing two roods more or less, situated in the Town of Picton, in the Province of Marlborough, being Sections numbered respectively two hundred and seventy-six (276), and two hundred and seventy-seven (277), on the plan of the said Town Bounded towards the North by Russell Street towards the East by a Crown reserve towards the South partly by the said reserve, and partly by section numbered two hundred and eighty-four (284) on the said plan and towards the West by section numbered one thousand one hundred and thirty-one (1131) on the said plan And I further give notice that the estate of the said James Climo, in the said parcel of land, is an estate of inheritance in fee simple, free from incumbrances And I further give notice that the above-mentioned lands, and all the estate, right, title, and interest of the said James Climo, of, in, and to the same, have been taken in execution by me, at the suit of the said Richard Western And I further give notice that Edward Tennyson Conolly, of Picton aforesaid, is the Solicitor for the said Richard Western. Dated this First day of July, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five. C GRIFFITHS 253 Sheriff of Marlborough. •Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 119, 21 May 1908, Page 8 A PIONEER. MARLBOROUGH FAMILY OF FIVE GENERATIONS Our Havelock correspondent writes: Living in 1908 in our cities and towns the cities with their palatial buildings, supplied with/their telephones, busy with the hum of commercial activity, and with every modern convenience near at hand; their electric cars and their residences in the quiet suburbs or country; their theatres and amusements; their drill-sheds, yacht and rowing clubs; their main trunk and other railway lines; their motors and their launches and bicycles; possibly all these modern conveniences make us forget this question, "Who were the pioneers?" and who did the hard "graft" of clearing the land and making our modern civilisation possible? Keenly our modern business is transacted with its accompaniment of modern liners from all parts of the World; keenly we pursue new markets for our produce; Keenly we scan the prices in all the markets, and ship accordingly; and "lest we forget" how all this originated and became possible, let us take a backward look to the days of '41, and at a typical pioneer. James Climo was the son of a Cornish farmer; and was born at Bodmin on 28th January, 1822, married a Cornish girl in the neighbouring county of Devon in 1840, and he and his bride shortly after set sail for New Zealand in the "William Bryan," which arrived off the coast of New Plymouth on 1st April, 1841, and they settled there for a time, and his first child, Elizabeth Catherine, was born at what is now New Plymouth on 5th November, 1841, and was unquestionably the first European born at New Plymouth. It may be as well to state here that in those days there was no circular saw; the pioneer sawing was pit-sawing, and the first circular saw in Marlborough was erected by Capt. Dalton at Mount Pleasant, and James Climo and his son-in-law, George Pope (who married Elizabeth Catherine) were the first to work for Capt. Dalton. But to return. As time went on James Climo was engaged in many parts of New Zealand following what had become his colonial occupation, pioneering, engaged with survey parties cutting a track through, the pathless bush, pit-sawing, and generally paving the way for clearances of the bush and the advance of civilisation. As already narrated, James Climo was at Mount Pleasant in 1862, when the circular saw first came into use, and since that time he has been "with the saw" in its progress through many dense forests, until some ten years ago, he finally settled at Havelock, being then 78 years of age—he is now 86. At the outbreak of the Maori War, Climo was, like most early settlers in the North Island, engaged in it until severely wounded through the lower part of his right lung at Waireki, and was invalided to Nelson. Lately a photograph has been taken showing James Climo in the centre, surrounded by Elizabeth Catherine, his daughter (Mrs Geo. Pope), her son, William Pope, his daughter Agnes (Mrs Pickard), and the latter's infant son, a boy of twelve months old. James Climo has living five sons and four daughters, and it would be impossible to particularise the extensive ramifications of the family of the "old chief." Suffice it to say that they now number, some 250, and with unlimited possibilities. Mrs George Pope came to Marlborough in 1860, and resided in Havelock almost ever since, and quite recently went to live with one of her married daughters (Mrs Twidle) near Havelock. Mr Geo. Pope died about eight months ago at Nelson. The hardships incidental to his calling do not appear to have detrimentally affected James Climo, as he retains all his faculties almost unimpaired. James Climo was not one of those early pioneers who feathered his own nest. The "moving on" nature of his occupation was against that, and while many far less deserving early colonists are rolling comfortably in the wealth of the "unearned increment," yet until recently he has been a toiler, as most of his descendants are now. He and those like him helped to create the "unearned increment," but he does not share it, which reads rather like the irony of fate, and an old age pension for himself and his present wife does not seem an over-extravagant compensation for one who has been such a mighty factor in the success of what we now take pride in calling a Dominion. Many of his numerous descendants reside in Marlborough, and have richly become entitled to the respect and esteem of the whole community, which they, one and all, enjoy and perhaps he himself to those that know him can hardly be said to regret that more of the cakes and plums have not come in his way, and if in his unassuming way he is satisfied, and he is more than entitled to be, with the role he has played in the drama of life, yet other people know that he was of that stuff which makes mighty nations, and without which they can neither begin, enlarge nor continue. The experiences and the hardships of those days would fill a volume, and many of them are unknown and incredible to the present generation, one of which was a journey from the Waikato to Taranaki on foot, a journey of 150 miles, in which husband and wife forded all the rivers, each with a child on their shoulders, and when they got to the Mission Station were not even regaled with a cup of tea. The experiences of those days are different from those of to-day, aye, and the "stuff" of those days is a vanishing Quantity now. Taranaki Herald, Volume VI, Issue 312, 24 July 1858, Page 2 Our contemporary the News published a letter from Mr Good last Monday wherein the writer expresses his regret that neither of the local journals has reported a case which came off in the Resident Magistrate's Court on the 16th inst. Mr Good admits the difficulty of adjudicating in disputes where natives are concerned, and states that it is not his intention to find fault with the decision of the Court, but concludes that if such difficulties exist with an armed force in the Province, our position with respect to the Natives will be very precarious, should the military be removed. We have taken considerable pains to investigate this case, and though far from approving of many of the decisions arrived at in the Resident Magistrate's Court in Native cases, we are of opinion that in the present instance the decision was a just and proper one, and borne out by the evidence at the investigation. The facts elicited were that in December last a red heifer claimed by the Natives was clandestinely killed by certain Tataraimaka settlers on land belonging to the Maories. The natives could not positively swear to the beast as the parties implicated took care to remove all traces of the skin, but they missed a red heifer from their herd, and found the head and feet of a red beast with the entrails, and a cart track which they traced to Mr Climo's, on whose premises they discovered fresh beef, which he stated had been brought to him by a settler from the other extremity of the block. They subsequently proceeded to the house of another settler, who invited them to enter and search his premises for beef if they suspected him it is true they found none in the house, because it had been previously removed but they found a quantity of beef in a cask concealed out of the house in the fern. When this discovery was made the settler deprecated their anger, acknowledged having assisted to kill the beast, and promised to pay the Natives £6 for it at Climo's next morning this satisfied them and they went their way. The Natives met this settler at Climo's next day, when payment was positively refused, and they very improperly proceeded to help themselves by seizing and taking away with them a gun, plough, bullock chain, and dog, belonging to Mr. Climo. Complaint of this was made to the Assistant Native Secretary to whom Mr. Climo admitted having assisted to remove the beast, and to have had a portion of the meat he further requested that officer to offer the Natives £3 or £4 as payment on the understanding that they returned the property seized. The Secretary saw the Natives, who complained that several of their cattle had been, shot, but that they had only taken the property because after agreeing to pay them £6 for the missing red heifer the settler had broken faith with them. It was explained to them that they must restore Mr Climo's property before they could obtain any redress, which they at once agreed to, and with the exception of the dog (unintentionally forgotten) it was returned to him. The Natives then sued Mr Climo for the value of the beast. It came out in evidence that the one killed was a red heifer 18 months to 2 years old, which one of the parties held by the tail whilst the other shot it We ask if wild cattle are to be so approached and held? It may be mentioned incidentally that some of the parties implicated in this affair, some time since chased a tame beast home to one of Mr Cutfield's paddocks, and were with difficulty restrained from shooting it by the proprietor. In regard to Mr W. King's stray cattle, he has virtually surrendered his right to them to the Natives, and pays them a fixed sum per head for all he shoots. Mr Good states he is not aware of any act of the Legislature making over to the Hauranga natives the wild cattle at Tataraimaka we may supplement this by asking if he is aware of any act vesting the right to unbranded cattle in settlers of that district. They clearly do not derive a right from Mr King the chief owner of the original stock, or by virtue of any stray cattle of their own. Mr Climo has no cause of complaint his property has been restored, and never would have been taken but for the suspicious features attaching to his own conduct in shooting a beast which never belonged to him, or his companions, and concealing the skin to prevent positive identity. The Natives cannot be said to have been rewarded for committing a felony, they restored property improperly seized by them under circumstances of particular aggravation, and having in this way in a manner purged themselves of the offence, they obtained payment for the heifer which they proved to the satisfaction of the Resident Magistrate was the identical one killed by Mr Climo and his companions. We are too well acquainted with Mr Good to feel that he has written otherwise than most conscientiously in this matter and we may add we have remarked upon it in a similar spirit after carefully considering the evidence produced on both sides.