Jim and Gwen Beaver

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Beaver Stables

Jim was born James Stanley Beaver, in 1915, in Onehunga. His father was a carpenter and a keen gardener whilst his mother was a home maker, as most women were in those days. At the time of his birth his family lived with his mothers parents in Princes Street Onehunga, but at some point they moved to Greenlane where Jim attended school. At the age of 15 he left school, the date was 1930, and of course the great depression made it extremely hard to find any form of employment and further education was simply not an option. After a few years of doing very little he decided to leave the city and to seek his fortune up north.

As far as I was led to understand, at that time, he owned a second hand 1905 Harley Davidson motor bike and this was the means by which he was to venture up north. The first stop on his adventure was in a rather remote farming village called Whangaripo which is situated on the east coast about halfway between Warkworth and Wellsford. I guess it would have seemed a long way in those days, with the roads being barely passable, especially the last bit through the then notorious Dome Valley.

In Whangaripo Jim was to find work on a farm as a farm hand, doing whatever was required on the day. It is most likely that this farm would have been a dary farm, probably milking cows by hand as was the practice of that time.

We can date his arrival in Whangaripo to sometime before ???? 19?? because this is the first time his name was mentioned in the local paper.

of course this arangement would include board and lodgings which was of course all he needed.