William Old

  General Notes:

Wises Post Office Directory of NZ towns - Uruti W. Old & family, l iving there in 1905, 1911, & 1917

William Old and Eleanor Houston went to Uruti when they married in 1901. The first farm was a small farmlet, which only milked 11 cows, right up where you came down off Mt Messenger, on the side of the hill. Cecil was born during the 3 or 4 years they were there. They then bought the farm in the Upper Uruti. This farm milked about 30 or 32 cows. They also bought another piece of land over in the Moki, which had no house on it. There was just a cattle track into this land, quite a big piece where they also had a lot of sheep. Mr Thompson bought it of William when he moved to the Waikato. Mr Thompson was mustering sheep in the Moki when his horse fell on him and he was killed. Mrs Clara Thompson kept on running the farm and then married William's brother John (Jack) Old.

William nursed the people during the flu epidemic at the Cottage Hospital. It was a two roomed house. William had had whooping cough two years before and had been a very sick man, but it seemed as though it had left him with an immunity to the flu because he never caught it.

  Medical Notes:

abt 1917 whooping cough

  Noted events in his life were:

• He has conflicting death information of Morrinsville, Waikato, New Zealand and 13 May 1960.

• He was elected as Committee member of the Muskers School, Uruti Valley when it opened in 1908.

• He resided at Uriti, New Zealand between 1901 and 1917.

William married Eleanor Clara Houston on 2 Oct 1901 in Hairini, Te Awamutu, New Zealand. (Eleanor Clara Houston was born on 23 Feb 1879 in Parsontown, Kings, Ireland, died on 3 Dec 1954 in Te Awamutu, Waikato, New Zealand and was buried in Te Awamutu, Waikato, New Zealand.)