Wallingford/Jarlov Family Trees

Levin Chronicle 22 Mar 1951

Late Mrs Prouse's 91 Years: Saga of Pioneer Life

Many years ago a woman rode into Wellington from Whiteman's Valley and made straight for a chemist's shop. "I want a flesh needle," she told the man behind the counter. "But what for?" she was asked. "Well, I have just sewn up a man's hand with a darning needle and I'm not going to do it again."

That was the calibre of Mrs Christina Prouse, who was later to become one of the most loved and best known personalities in the Horowhenua district. She died in Levin on Saturday at the age of 91.

Mrs Prouse left that chemist's shop with a full kit of medical supplies and the provision of a flesh needle was only one of the startling requests she was to make at that shop.

The late Mrs Prouse had an amazing capacity for work and took the responsibility of men in her stride. She had no time for idle chatter when there was work to be done. She could be blunt of speech yet understanding, gentle and ever ready with her renowned wit, and this deep sense of humour she retained until her last hours.

The workers in her husband's mill at Weraroa and neighbours far and wide looked to her instantly in time of trouble or sickness, and when she walked into their homes in response to a call for assistance they were content to sit back and leave everything to "Granny Prouse".

"Just Another Babe"

"Please come at once, Mummy's dying," cried a little boy who arrived barefooted one day at her door. Together they rode back through bush and mud. Hours later she was asked what had transpired. "Oh, I just brought another babe into the world," she replied. A competent midwife she brought many babes into the world and not a few well-known Levin
and district personalities owe their existence today to the skill and efficiency of Mrs Prouse.

Those were the days of bush surgery when staves off a nail barrel served as splints for broken arms and legs and when a train was flagged to a standstill while injured persons were transferred from bush areas to the Wellington Hospital. Mrs Prouse was not a registered nurse. Like others in her day, she accepted as her duty the task of caring for the sick and needy in her district.

She had a fine knowledge of disinfectants and drugs and could name the plant from which the latter originated. Her love of flowers, and particularly native flora, gave impetus to her constant battle to prevent the stretch of native bush around their Weraroa homestead from falling under the axe of her husband's mill hands. Native bush was common in these parts and nothing was thought of feeding Rata and Matai into the furnaces of locomotives.

Many of the larger trees around the homestead fell victim to storms when the cutting our of surrounding timbers left them exposed, but today Levin owes much to Mrs Prouse for the retention of this small oasis of native growth.

"Here's The Toe, Ma'am."

One sidelight of "Granny's" early first aid experiences was one morning when two bushmen arrived at the door supporting an injured comrade. He had sliced a toe off with an axe. Dipping a hand into his pocket he produced a grubby handkerchief which he unwrapped carefully.

"Here's the toe, ma'am," he said in broken English, for he was a foreigner, with a look that fully anticipated the miraculous replacement of the severed member.

Mrs Prouse, formerly Miss Christina McIlvride, was born on February 1, 1860, at Wainuiomata and educated at the school there. Twice a week for seven years she mounted her horse and carried the mail a distance of nine miles to Lower Hutt. She commenced this arduous task at the age of 12 years and maintained the service until she was 19, the year
of her marriage, which took place in her home - the Post Office at Wainuiomata - on May 22, 1879.

Her husband, the late Richard Prouse was sawmilling in Whiteman's Valley and it was there that they set up their home and brought four daughters into the world - Grace (now deceased), Jessie, Gertrude and Mabel. In 1891 they moved to Levin, three children being later born here - Eunice (now deceased), Allan and Phyllis.

The journey to Levin was partly by road - if it could be called such - and partly by rail, the horse and buggy being transferred to the train run by the Manawatu Railway Company. Eventually she arrived at the home she was to occupy to her death. A two-storey wooden structure it was one of the first houses in Weraroa.

Her Prowess was Legendary

As there was no doctor nearer than Foxton, Mrs Prouse took upon herself the task of doctor-nurse and her prowess became legendary. Both she and her husband were foundation members of the Methodist Church. The late Mrs Prouse and Mrs James Prouse laid the foundation stone of the present Methodist Church and she held various offices
during a period of some 55 years until her death. Until a few years ago she was responsible for the floral work in the church.

Her other interests included the St John Ambulance Brigade, Levin Horticultural Society, of which she was a foundation member, and she was a member and patron of the Levin Native Flora Club. She was a matron of the soldiers' hospital in Weraroa in 1915 and during the influenza epidemic of 1918 was second in charge of the temporary hospital at the Levin School.

Mrs Prouse enjoyed her life to the full and looked forward to her birthdays with as much enthusiasm as in her youth. "It may be grand to be 19, but it can be just as grand to be 90," she confided to a "Chronicle" reporter who interviewed her on her attainment of that age last year. She owned one of the few old spinning wheels in the country and loved to spin for various causes.

Many who might have seen her around her property in the early days, or tending her garden, might not have recognised in her the manufacturer of neatly spun garments. Clothes did not mean much to her. The first articles which came to hand would do "Granny" for her daily chores whether it be her husband's coat, hat or trousers. Once years ago, she
was walking down the track to the gate when she was accosted by a young man, who, in rather an embarrassed state of mind, was paying his first call at the house. Seeking directions, and misled by her appearance, he addressed her blithely as "Sonny".

With her death in Levin last week, the Prouse family have lost a fine mother, and the district a remarkable and most worthy pioneer and citizen.

Manawatu Daily Times 29 Mar 1951

Obituary: Late Mrs C. Prouse

Mrs Christina Prouse, of Levin, who passed away recently, was born on February 1, 1860, at Wainuiomata and educated at the school there. Twice a week for seven years she carried the mail on horseback a distance of nine miles to Lower Hutt. She commenced this arduous task at the age of 12 years and maintained the service until she was 19, the year of her marriage, which took place in her home - the Post Office at Wainuioamta - on May 22, 1879.

Her husband the late Richard Prouse, was sawmilling in Whiteman's Valley and it was there that they set up their home and brought four daughters into the world - Grace (now deceased), Jessie, Gertrude and Mabel. In 1891 they moved to Levin, three children later born there - Eunice (now deceased), Allan and Phyllis. The journey to Levin was
partly by road - if it could be called such - and partly by rail, the horse and buggy being transferred to the train run by the Manawatu Railway Company. Eventually she arrived at the home she was to occupy to her death. A two-storey wooden structure it was one of the first houses in Weraroa.

As there was no doctor nearer than Foxton, Mrs Prouse took upon herself the task of doctor-nurse and her prowess became legendary. Both she and her husband were foundation members of the Levin Methodist Church. The late Mrs Prouse and Mrs James Prouse laid the foundation stone of the present Methodist Church and she held various
offices during a period of some 55 years until her death. Until a few years ago she was responsible for the floral work in the church. Her other interests included the St. John Ambulance Brigade, Levin Horticultural Society, of which she was a foundation member, and she was a member and patron of the Levin Native Flora Club. She was matron of the soldiers' hospital in Weraroa in 1915 and during the influenza epidemic of 1918 was second in charge of the temporary hospital at the Levin School. Mrs Prouse enjoyed her life to the full and looked forward to her birthdays with as much enthusiasm as in her youth.

From "The Story of New Zealand" by Judith Bassett, Keith Sinclair and Marcia Stenson, page 102:

In 1872 a twelve-year-old girl called Christina McIlvride was employed to collect the mails for her parents who ran the Wainuiomata Post Office. Wainuiomata was then an isolated settlement. To collect the mail she had to ride fifteen kilometres on horseback over a rough hill road to Lower Hutt. She made the thirty-kilometre round trip twice a week for seven years, until she married and left home.

Tina was a capable nurse, an excellent 'bush' doctor, and a keen gardener. - from "The Prouse Connection"

When she was 12 years old she delivered mail from Wainuiomata, twice a week on horseback, a 30 mile round trip. She features in "Petticoat Pioneers Vol 2" - from Averil Jarlov, related by Beryl Jarlov.

Letter from Phyllis Prouse Taylor to Christobel Nation Tunnington, 31 May 1973:

Phyllis said that Tina had a gold watch and chain, and the chain was open-work of small losenge shaped elements, all on a swivel, she thought.

She said these small ladies watches always had a lid over the glass. She believes this, and other such watches, were given to her daughter Mabel.

Letter from Phyllis Prouse Taylor to Christobel Nation Tunnington, 31 May 1973:

Tina had a small wedgewood jug, quite small - only 1 to 1 1/2 cup size. Phyllis believes it to have been a gift from Selwyn Goldsmith's mother. Phyllis believes that Mabel Goldsmith has had it now for some number of years.

Letter from Phyllis Prouse Taylor to Christobel Nation Tunnington, 17 October 1973:

Phyllis said that Tina was not really good at sewing, though she was a "No. 1 plus" crocheter and knitter. Tina told Phyllis that in the early days she would stay up until midnight hand sewing clothes for the 4 very baby aged little girls.

The good needlework garments she had were likely done by either Grace Randell (nee McIlvride) or Tina's sister Aggie.

Letter from Phyllis Prouse Taylor to Christobel Nation Tunnington, 17 October 1973:

There was a story that Tina had gone around dressed in men's clothes. Phyllis said that this was not the case.

She did wear boots for heavy work in the garden and cowshed, and she had gumboots in the winter. Once she had a pair of leather high boots with wooden soles and metal horseshoe around the wooden sole, a sort of Russian clog. They were very comfortable and dry. Phyllis drew a picture in the letter.

She usually wore a serviceable blouse and skirt - serge or tweed. Phyllis drew a picture in the letter, with 8 or 12 gores. The skirt's back was fuller, and it had a waistband of grey stiff webbing. The blouse would be union cotton and wool mixture, a warm sort of flannal material. Phyllis refers to velvet, silk, satin - and a material called mervellow satin or silk, and referred to as merv silk, a beautiful soft 'quality' material.

Tina's house of 'work' outfit always had an apron, a sugar bag for the garden and cow yard and a print linen apron for the house, these often having a bib attached with a crossover at the back. Phyllis says there are a number of old photos of Tina in these aprons.

She wore 'sensible' shoes and a pair of 'Ward Shoes' as slippers, with a bar over the instep and flat soles and 1/2" heel - very comfortable.

Letter from Phyllis Prouse Taylor to Christobel Nation Tunnington, 17 October 1973:

Phyllis described the cook house that was part of the Weraroa house. It was the centre room in the building at the side of the house - the wash house in front and her father's office at the south end. When Phyllis was a child, Tina always did the summer cooking there, to keep the heat out of the main house. There was a Dover stove in the north corner, with the chimney having an elbow so it went out the wall and into the washroom where it joined to the wash house chimney.

The stove stood on a 3" platform covered in tin and painted black. The kitchen 'gadgets' were arrayed on 3 (Phyllis thinks) shelves. There was a cake mixer (that Phyllis now has), a bread mixer, an apple corer and all the other cooking equipment, including a couple of evaporators that had been imported from Chicago (as had other pieces of the equipment).

Letter from Phyllis Prouse Taylor to Christobel Nation Tunnington, 17 October 1973:

Phyllis remembers that the horse that Tina rode from her parent's house in Wainuiomata (the old Post Office) was named "Donald".

from Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue XVII, 24 May 1879, Page 2

MARRIAGES.

PROUSE - MCILVRIDE. - On the 22nd May, at the residence of the bride's father, Wainui-o-mata by the Rev. James Paterson, Richard Prouse, jun., to Christina, eldest daughter of Mr. John McIlvride.

New Zealand Mail 1 Jun 1904 p27a

Levin.

The silver wedding of Mr and Mrs Richard Prouse was celebrated on the 22nd May. Many were the good wishes expressed towards them by their relatives and friends.

Letter from Phyllis Prouse Taylor to Christobel Nation Tunnington, 31 May 1973:

Phyllis did not immediately remember the first dinner set at the old house in Levin, remembering mostly odds and ends. There was a green meat dish, squirrels and nuts, also the pheasant pattern, a huge meat dish and and plate or two. The plates came from Old George Whitlock, a deserted sailor who lived for a time in the little red cottage that was half-way between the back gate and Makomako Road. She thought the huge meat dish may have come from George, too.

There was a dinner set from about 1906, or at least most of one, with a dull mid-blue poppies. Phyllis said it wasn't good quality and the glazing was cracked. She thought maybe Tina had bought this from her sister Aggie when Aggie went to Australia.

There were a few pieces of better quality china, such as a small meat dish with dark blue trailing flower pattern with fluted edge.

Mostly the china was bought a half dozen at a time - white or white and gold clover leaf or three narrow gold lines.

After that time, she remembers a green, cream and gold dinner set contributed by family members. They had two 12 cup tea sets, bought when her sister Jessie got married, both plain white but one with gold line.

Letter from Phyllis Prouse Taylor to Christobel Nation Tunnington, 9 August 1979:

Phyllis tried to remember the range of photos and paintings on the walls of the front room of the Weraroa House.

There was one of Jack McIlvride's wedding, with Jack and his bride Florrie (Florence), along with Connie and Madge (bridesmaids), Race (Horace) and one other, all related to the Maplesdons. Phyllis said it was a very pretty picture that had been given to a Maplesdon relation that lives in Rotorua - Errol and June had known him, as he worked in the forestry.

There was a big picture (print?) of 2 or 3 gun dogs. Manawatu Gorge painting. Phyllis climbing a fence photo. Father Le Croix. Richard feeding the calves (though that might have been in the dining room).