Croot-Pearce Family

The Histories

The Histories of the Stevens—Croot Family Heritage

Newly married and settled into their newly-built house, just over the back fence from the Shacklocks, Charles George Croot and Elizabeth Pearce began their family. Over the next ten years they had seven children.

The eldest, Mary (born 1866) became the future Mrs. Andrew Williamson, Eleanor (Nellie) followed in 1867, then George was born in 1868. Charles Henry, who was born in 1870, married Ann McGill in 1900 and his brother Frederick Charles (1873) married Edith Day. James Pearce (1875) and William (1876) completed the family.

Nothing is known of the family’s circumstances in those years but a sign that they were reasonably comfortable is that Charles mortgaged his land to raise capital to lend to Henry Shacklock so he could start his iron foundry.

Les Croot (son of Charles Henry) recounted that his grandmother Elizabeth had told him more than once: “When Henry Shacklock decided to make ranges, he didn’t even have one in his house; he came round to study and take measurements of ours.”

If this suggests that in 1872 the Croots were better-off than the Shacklocks, this was not a situation destined to endure. In 1875 disaster struck when Charles George was stricken with ‘acute phthisis” which today could be labeled either tuberculosis or severe asthma and resulted in respiratory failure stemming from a dusty working environment ( a flour mill?). On 14 August 1876 Charles George Croot died at home, and ten days later his six-month-old youngest son, William, also died.

Left with six children aged between one and ten, Elizabeth was forced once again to find a means of livelihood. She became a visiting midwife, and over the next 40 years she was a familiar and respected figure in Caversham, South Dunedin and neighbouring districts. Often she had to brave darkness, wind, rain and the terrors of the Southern Cemetery as she hastened up to Mornington to assist in a delivery in the middle of the night. Among the hundreds of babies she delivered, it is almost certain, was one born in neighbouring Park Terrace in1891. The child, baptized

The Croot Family of Grosvenor Place

Clarence Grimmett, was to become the world’s greatest leg-spin bowler.

Elizabeth and her family received friendship and support of various kinds from the Shacklocks, though they never accepted what would have been seen as ‘charity’. Elizabeth augmented her income by doing housework for them, as their house expanded into a massive two-story structure. And for many years Eleanor (Nellie) crossed the boundary fence each week to do the Shacklocks’ mangling, which involved squeezing the water out of the freshly-washed clothes, sheets and blankets in a hand-turned wringer.

The four surviving boys all went to work in the Shacklock foundry, though whether this was to the advantage of all of them was debatable, as two died tragically young from pulmonary infections which are often associated with metal-smelting.

James Pearce Croot died in 1902 at the age of 27, leaving a baby daughter—Alexandrina—later to become Rina Oram of Timaru. And Frederick Charles Croot followed him in 1907, leaving a six-year-old daughter, Elsie Victoria, who later married Les Stevens (son of Edward John Stevens) and moved to Lora Gorge.

The tall stone marking the family grave in the Southern Cemetery states that it was: “erected by (Fred’s) shopmates as a mark of respect and esteem.”

One small detail on the inscription is puzzling: Fred’s father is named as “Charles F. Croot.”

“When Henry Shacklock decided to make ranges, he didn’t even have one in his house; he came round to study and take measurements of ours.”

Reproduced with permission from
“THE CROOT FAMILY ALBUM” by Charles Croot, 1992

The Croots of Grosvenor Place, Dunedin 1895

From left rear: Jim, Mary, George and Nellie
Seated in front: Fred, their mother Elizabeth, and Charlie