The Histories

The Histories of the Stevens—Croot Family Heritage

Mr Joseph Porter came out from Scotland first working for the family of Mr. Andrew Cowie, then Mr. John Henderson’s nearby and later moved up to Boggyburn to work for Mr. G. Clinch.

Times were hard and Mr. Clinch couldn’t afford to pay much in wages so in return he gave Mr. Porter 230 acres off his farm. With this start he married a Miss Diack whom he had met while working at Henderson’s. His farm was situated across the road from where Alan Baird lived in 1984 and has since been farmed by his son Bob, Vernan Keown and now Tim Wilkie.

Mr. and Mrs. Porter had four sons and a daughter—Joe, Frank, Bill, Bob and daughter Nell, who was to become Mrs. Reg Goodall.

Besides the farm Mr. Porter had a wagon and team of horses with which he used to do a lot of carting around the district.  He carted timber up the Otapiri Gorge for the Warwick Downs homestead and back loaded with flax tow from some of the flax mills in that area.  The roads were rough and bumpy and the one up the Otapiri Gorge seemed to follow every bend in the river.

The family grew up at Boggyburn … and with the sons growing up, the 230 acres was not enough and Mr. Porter purchased for £16-10-0 an acre, 335 acres (WHEN?) beside the Otapiri Hall that had been farmed in turn by Mr. Shuttleworth, Mr. Muir, Mr. Rumler and Mr. Reeves.

Mr. Porter also took an active part in the running of the school and was on the hall committee.  Before the days of zip heaters he always had a good fire going to heat up the water for making tea for supper.

When Mr. Porter retired to Centre Bush, his son Bob took over the first farm.

Bob Porter married Doris McLeod and had three children; Ian, Ray and Marie.

Excerpt adapted from pp 66-68
from “THE BIRTH OF A DISTRICT”
by J. Nigel Overton,  1984

Joseph Porter (18?? - 19??)

The Porters of Otapiri Gorge, When?

Back from left:    Joe, Bill, Nell, Bob, Frank
Front (seated):    Mrs. Porter (nee Diack) , Mr. J .Porter

Picture taken where?

Conversion Rates

£16-10-0 shillings is the equivalent of about  $33.00 in today’s money.

A pound  (£)  was equal to 2 dollars.

A shilling (s) was equal to 10 cents.

A sixpence (6d) was equal to 5 cents.

The Porters first crossed paths with the Stevens family when Ernest Stevens (grandson of Edward John Stevens) married Noeline Stevens in 1951. Noeline is the eldest daughter of Frank and Myrtle Porter.

A second connection took place in February 1985 when Steven Morait married Raewyn Hawkes—granddaughter to Frank and Myrtle from their youngest daughter Joy.

To find out more about these and other family connections return to Our NZ Heritage and check out the Family Trees..

Connection to the Stevens Family

 Copyright © Lesley Catterall 2006. All rights reserved. This is a free website and no part of it can be reproduced or sold without the prior permission of the editor.