Biography contributed by Wendy Napier-Walker
Ann Hubbard was born Ann(e) Woodhouse on 29 April 1839 at Foxley, Norfolk, England to Charles and Ann Woodhouse. Charles was a Farmer.
On 4 November 1860 after Banns Ann married George Hubbard on 4 November 1860 at Foulsham, Norfolk, England. They had six children; Mary A, Clara, Harriet, Charles, Thomas, Eliza born in England.
On 28 March 1874 the family left England on the ship Peeress, arriving in Timaru on 22 July 1874. They landed at Timaru in surf-boats.
The family settled in Timaru and later moved to Waimate. A further six children; William, Alice, James, Ellen and two others were born in New Zealand. George Hubbard took up a farm on the outskirts of Waimate, living there until his death in 1919.
George Hubbard died on 29 March 1919 age 78 years. He is buried in the Waimate Cemetery.
At the time of New Zealand’s Centennial, Ann Hubbard was Waimate’s oldest resident. She received the Centennial Kiwi badge and was presented with a set of verses covering the history of Waimate district and dedicated to her as follows:
Dear Mrs Hubbard, on the morn
when you in England far were born
Waimate lay, its verdant sod
By foot of white man yet untrod.
The hills looked down upon the sea
O’er land of great fertility
Whose beauty wild of flax and fern
White man had yet no thought to learn.
When Shortland and the Bishop came
(He who to Selwyn gave its name)
The first white man to here arrive,
You were a little girl of five.
And ten more years made you fifteen
When the first settler was seen
Urging his striving bullock team
Across Waimate’s bush edged stream.
When Mrs Studholme, happy bride,
From Christchurch made that horseback ride
And thought the journey greatest fun,
You were sedately twenty-one.
When Huruhuru, Chieftain, died
Who welcomed Studholme to abide
IN friendship that proved long and true,
You were, in England, twenty-two.
The years roll on, your husband hears
Of this fair land, and spite of fears
Takes ship to come, and you arrive,
With children six, when thirty-five.
Waimate was a sawmill town
when Cobb and Co. here set you down,
You heard the cracking bullock whips,
The bellbird’s sweeter note eclipse.
Alas, ere you were forty came
that devastating wind-borne flame
Which burned the sawmills and the bush
In fierce annihilating rush.
You saw it all, the grief and tears,
You saw the reconstructing years,
And three score years from then you see
New Zealand end her century.
Hail, Dear Ann Hubbard, we acclaim
Your title of enduring fame,
At this Centennial we cheer
You, who have lived through every year
Ann Hubbard died on 12 May 1941 in Waimate in her 103rd year. She is buried in Waimate Cemetery in Plot 000148.
Sources
FamilySearch Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists 1839-1973
Greenwood William, 'Te Waimatemate – History of Waimate County and Borough' Pg 326-327, The Timaru Herald Company Limited, Timaru, c1985
Waimate Daily Advertiser 31 March 1919
Waimate District Council Cemetery Records Online
Ashburton Guardian 29 April 1939, Pg 7 “100th Birthday, Mrs Ann Hubbard, Waimate”
Ashburton Guardian 13 May 1941, Pg 7 Mrs Ann Hubbard Obituary