Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert
Jane Ann Cameron born in Kaiwaka in 1866, one of the four children of John and Margery nee McPherson. John and Margery (known as May) were settlers from Scotland, via Nova Scotia and took up farming in Mangawhai.
Jane took the pupil teacher examination in 1885 and was a certificated teacher by 1892. In 1901 she resigned her position as teacher of the Kaiwaka school after a term of three years, previously having had several appointments under the Board of Education. That year she married Farquhar Colin Campbell in the Presbyterian Church in Kaiwaka. 'The bride was tastefully dressed-in cream cashmere, trimmed with brocaded satin, with veil and orange blossoms.' Her sister Flora was chief bridesmaid in cream cashmere and her brother Louis acted as best man.
Farquhar Colin Campbell, born in 1863 in Kaiwaka was the youngest NZ born son of Farquhar McLennan and wife Flora who were married in Nova Scotia. They, and Flora’s father's family arrived in Auckland in 1856, in the brig Gertrude. After a short stay in Auckland the McLennans took up land and built a home at Bream Head, Mangawhai.
Farquhar (known as Frank) and Jane lived in Mangawhai where he worked as a blacksmith. They had four children, the firstborn in Ponsonby, Auckland and the others in Mangawhai:
- Flora May (1902–1985)
- Farquhar Colin John (1904–1993)
- Jessie Winifred (1905–1931)
- Lewis Kenneth Roderick (1905–1925)
Frank was involved in the Mangawhai community. In 1907, he was appointed as a Justice of the Peace, and was the coroner in 1916. By 1912, Jane had returned to teaching, and continued to appear in the Teacher and Civil Service Examinations and Licenses lists , for several years. Two of their children died young. LKR known as Eric, died in 1925 aged 19. And his sister Jessie died in 1931 aged 25. They were buried together in Hakaru Cemetery, Northland. In part, their headstone reads, 'We miss their loving faces. Their loving thoughtful ways.'
Jane received a pension from the Education Board, in 1926 it was an annual allowance of 59 pounds 19 shillings. In 1936, they sold their farm, with newspaper advertisements for, his whole herd 'young Jersey cows, due to calve in August, 2 heifers, and a 2 year-old Jersey bull.'
Farquhar died in 1949 in Mangawhai and was buried in Hakaru Cemetery with his children. His will left all real and personal property to Jane, valued at 1 000 pounds. Jane moved to Pukekohe to her married daughter Flora’s home. She died there in 1955 but was buried in the family plot at Hakaru. Her probate left all her personal and household effects divided equally between her two surviving children, Farquhar and Flora, and land at Mangawhai to her son alone, 1 600 pounds.
Sources
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11626, 13 April 1901, Page 5
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22474, 18 July 1936, Page 6
NZ, Teacher and Civil Service Examinations and Licenses, 1880-1920 (ancestry.com)
Historical BDM