01.07 Alexander Ayson 1844 - 1922

Alexander Ayson, the fifth son of Peter Ay­son of Corydon, was nine years old when his parents left Glenshee to go to New Zealand.

 

He was reared at Corydon and received his education at the old Warepa School.   In com­mon with most of the sons of the early settlers he assisted his father in the work of develop­ ing the farm, thus gaining a useful knowledge of farming practice as applied in those days.   This enabled him to secure a good share of employment, when he reached manhood, in the district.

 

When the gold rush broke out at Gabriels Gully in 1861, Alexander, with his brothers James, William and Robert, and John and Andrew McNeil left Corydon for the diggings.   They were moderately successful but after months of hard work they failed to find their fortune.   They decided that the best method of obtaining riches from the ground was by farming so they returned to Warepa to pursue the occupation for which they were best fitted.

 

Shortly after he was married, Alexander bought a farm in the Waikaka Valley, a property of 200 acres called Willowbank.   When the railway was built through the Valley the Willowbank Railway Station was erected on the farm that Alexander had sold many years before.   He had his own lignite coal pit on the property and when the gold dredging was in progress in Waikaka a considerable amount of coal was taken out of the pit.

 

When Alexander sold the farm at Waikaka , he decided to go to the North Island for health reasons and was engaged in fruit farming near Hastings until advancing years compelled him to retire.

 

He and his wife then moved to Katikati in the Bay of Plenty where they spent the remainder of their days with their daugh­ter,  Bessie.

 

Alexander married Miss Sarah Ann Essex, who came from Littleton-on-Severn in Glou­cestershire,and they had a family of two, one son and one daughter.

 

Alexander died at Kai­kati when he was 78 years of age and Sarah died at Hamilton at the age of 84.

 

Alexander was a keen angler and spent many happy hours with the rod on the streams near his home.   He also took an interest in the affairs in his district and was a keen worker for the Presbyterian Church.

 

The Children of Alexander and Sarah Ayson.

 

Peter Henry Ayson

Elizabeth Douglas Ayson