Lydia Harris (Hoskins) Burr (1838 - 1930)

Born 31 Mar 1838 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

Ancestors

Wife of Amos Burr — married 29 Oct 1855 in Foxton, Wellington, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 23 Aug 1930 at age 92 in Palmerston North, New Zealand

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Biography

A few months later he married the very reluctant 17 year old Lydia Hoskins. At a time when women were scarce, she was highly indignant at her father off-loading her on a disabled man. They had a difficult marriage, both were strong willed but by the time they went their separate ways in the late 1870s they had produced 13 children, 10 of whom survived.

In the mid 1860s, while Lydia remained in Foxton with the family, Amos worked as Overseer of Roads creating the main roads around Palmerston North including the road through the Manawatu Gorge.In the summer of 1865-6 Lydia rode with Lady Fox and the survey party to see the new town deep in the bush. They were the first white women to see it. Amos built the first hotel there in 1867 but Lydia refused to leave the civilisation of Foxton and start again in such primitive conditions so he had to employ a manager.Lack of custom soon saw it close.

Lydia’s life is worthy of the greatest respect also. She often had to provide alone for her family when Amos was away working or seeking work. She had beenproprietress of the Adelaide Hotel, Foxton, in the 1860s and had advertised her services in the district as a milliner and dressmaker in 1878. Her children recalled her sewing until 2am to raise money. When she was declared bankrupt in 1880 (when Hon. John Bryce was refusing to pay Amos for services rendered in Taranaki) her youngest child was only 3 years old. She was a survivor however, and when she moved to Palmerston North in 1895, she rose to become head of the Dressmaking Department of Leopold Simmons, then that town’s largest drapery shop.

As Amos grew older he became grumpy and disillusioned. Without Social Security he was still working a flax punt at Moutoa in 1900, aged 78. His hooks had always provided a degree of security during tense moments. Once the Court ordered one of them removed for three months after he “hooked” a heckler at an election meeting. Death finally came in 1906, Lydia travelling down from Palmerston North to his funeral in Wellington. They’d had their differences but she respected him and appreciated his difficult life. Lydia had a stroke in 1910 and she herself was physically disabled for the remaining twenty years of her life. Each spent their latter years with their children, passing on valuable information which is now appreciated by later generations throughout the country. While Amos and Lydia Burr and most of their family were to leave Foxton later in life. Lydia is buried in Terrace End Cemetery, Palmerston North. At the time of her death she was living @ 29, Waldegrave Street, Palmerston North.

Sources

• Ancestry Family Trees via Ancestry.com.

1841 England Census.

England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index 1837-1915.

England & Wales Christening Index 1530-1980.

England, Select Births & Christenings 1538-1975.

New Zealand, Electoral Rolls 1853-1981.

New Zealand, Death Index 1848-1964.

New Zealand, Cemetery Records 1800-2007.

Australia & New Zealand, Find a Grave Index 1800's-current.