OBITUARY
MISS MARY JENNINGS, AGE 95
FOUNDATION YEARS OF SETTLEMENT RECALLED
The death occurred at her residence in Cambria street on Saturday at the age of 95 years, of Miss Mary Jennings, a well-known and highly respected resident of the city, who was connected with the earliest days of Nelson. Miss Jennings succumbed to a heart attack on Saturday night.
The late Miss Jennings, who was born in England, came out to New Zealand with her parents William and Elizabeth Jennings at the age of 18 months, in the ship Mary Ann, landing at Nelson in 1842. Apart from several years’ teaching at Tua Marina Miss Jennings spent most of her life in Nelson. She taught a little school in a room in the house in Cambria street where she lived until the end. For 23 years Miss Jennings assisted as a teacher in Mr Matthew Campbell’s Sunday School, which was situated where the Suter Art Gallery now stands. On giving up school teaching Miss Jennings kept house for a number of years for different members of the family. The house in Cambria street has been occupied by the Jennings family for over 76 years. Them was a large family and Miss Jennings survived all except Mrs Emma Hunter, a sister, of Nelson, and Mr F. Jennings, of Wellington.
The last years of Miss Jennings’s life were spent quietly, but she remained active until the last, and retained a good memory for events of the early days in the colony.
Miss Jennings was of a friendly nature and was very well liked by a host of friends and acquaintances. She had that independence characteristic of the early pioneers and persisted in doing everything for herself till the last.
Her home and that of her parents was always open to hosts of friends, and in the early days especially was a centre where many felt sure of a warm welcome. Bishop Suter was among the frequent callers. -Nelson Evening Mail, 20/1/1936.
EARLY NELSON
COLLINGWOOD STREET SWAMP
MISS JENNINGS’S RECOLLECTIONS
(By Jane A. Bond) Last week the oldest pioneer in Nelson passed away, namely, Miss Mary Jennings, who had reached the great age of 95 years.
One of the first British children to land in Nelson, Mary Jennings grew into a fine type of woman and had a long and useful career which lasted to a few hours before her death.
Miss Jennings had a strong personality and loved to relate stories of the early days of the little township. As a little girl she was once reprimanded by her mother for going out of her way to see some prisoners in stocks in Trafalgar street. These stocks had been imported from Cockatoo Island (Australia) in the earliest days of the settlement to be used to punish the unwise transgressors of the laws.
About three years before her death Miss Jennings climbed the Botanical Hill to stand once more on the reputed centre of New Zealand and to view the progress made in the city.
Miss Jennings was known as “Aunt Mary” to many who held her in affectionate regard, especially those who had been her pupils in the long years that she was engaged in Sunday school work.
There are residents in Marlborough who remember and honour the memory of Miss Jennings who held a night school in addition to her day school at Tua Marina. The night school was free to the lads working on the farms near and who had no other means of learning reading, writing and “a little arithmetic.”
A story told to the writer of these notes by Miss Jennings many years ago may interest the readers of the “Mail." It is called “The Flying Angel.” In the early days of the settlement, Collingwood street from Manuka street to Hardy street passed through a swamp where the flax grew very high. The land to the eastern side was known to the settlers as the “Little Swamp” to distinguish it front the “Big Swamp" on the other side of the street.
Near the corner of Nile street at the edge of the “Little Swamp” was a small dwelling house in which dwelt a young couple. The first child born died a few days after its birth and was buried near to the creek (now King street). Shortly afterward the weather was very inclement and big floods removed all traces of the little grave. To the grief of the mother, on her recovery, the baby's grave was never found. Some months later the young mother died and some thought that her death was due to her sorrow but others thought that one of the epidemics that swept through the little township was the cause of her death. After a short time a breathless story was told among the residents that someone had seen an angel flying about the swamp and it must be the mother looking for the baby’s grave. Others now saw the vision.
The explanation of the story was that the marsh gases rising from the swampy ground caused the misty visions to be seen by passers by. The story died out when the swamp disappeared, the roads were improved, and the city had drainage.
FATHER GARIN’S SCHOOL
One of the boys who played at the edge of the “Little Swamp” in those early days was the late Archbishop Redwood who was a boarder at lie school. In his later years he told the story how he and some playmates tied flax blades together and stretched them across Collingwood street to trip people at dusk. To their horror the first person tripped was the good Father. He gently chided them and forbade them doing it again.
The story of the “Flying Angel" originated before the days that Father Garin started his schools in Manuka street in the ’fifties. So the boys attending the night school were fearful of passing too near the Little Swamp. These youngsters were at work during the day, helping with boat building, tilling the soil, etc. One can imagine them trudging to their evening school and on dark nights carrying lanterns which were useful also in the dimly lighted school. Their determination made them the men they afterwards became, a fine type of pioneer.
At the Nile street (east) corner of the “Little Swamp” at one time was a fairly large hotel and nearby in Collingwood street was another. The latter was much frequented by miners during the days of the gold rushes. As there were few laws regarding the opening and closing of hotels in those early days the edge of the Little Swamp may have been a somewhat lively place but. there is no one who remembers to tell the story.
ANOTHER GHOST STORY
Miss Jennings used to relate another story of a ghost that was seen frequently crossing the track through the old Collingwood street cemetery which led from Shelbourne street to Collingwood street. This path was used by residents and children going to the Roman Catholic schools and the first Boys’ College in Manuka street. The reason for going over the higher ground was owing to the swampy ground of Collingwood and Nile streets. A watch was set and the “ghost” was found to be Dr. Bush who habitually wore a long, light coat, hurrying over the track to his patients. The late Dr. Bush lies buried near the track he so frequently used and a stone was erected by his fellow townsmen as a mark of respect. -Nelson Evening Mail, 25/1/1936.
Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson.
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