Maggie Lang

Biography contributed by Dr Nicola Francis (great-great-niece)

Margaret ‘Maggie’ McKenzie LANG, was born at Waipū, Northland on 12 November 1867, the fifth of seven children born to Ann McGREGOR (1831-1913) and William Maxwell LANG (1822-1890), farmers of Langs Beach near Waipū. [1]

Maggie grew up in the close, Gaelic-speaking Presbyterian community established in and around Waipū by the Highland Scottish-Nova Scotian migrants. With her sisters, brothers and cousins, she rode horses on her parents’ farm at Langs Beach (then known as the Cove). She maintained a lifelong interest in horses and enjoyed dressage events. [2]

Maggie was 24 years old when she signed the Women’s Suffrage petition at Waipū, and 33 when she married local farmer Harry Massey at Waipū on 27 January 1900. Maggie gave birth to Annie Bestwick Massey (1901-1994), John Maxwell Massey (1902-1962), Charlotte ‘Cissie’ Maggie Bell Massey (1904-1979), Harry Lang Massey (1905-1983) and Winifred McGregor Massey (1908-1995). [3]

In 1911 Maggie and Harry, with their five children, moved from Waipū on the east coast to the Kaipara Harbour on the west coast where they set up home on a farm named ‘Woodhill’ at Wairere near Paparoa. Harry became a stock agent for the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company. According to his obituary in the Northern Advocate on 5 May 1928, Harry was well-known and well-respected in the north. [4]

Maggie loved gardening and enjoyed hosting garden parties and tennis competitions. Her granddaughter Margaret Powell remembers her as a strong caring woman: 'When neighbours had emergencies, she was always the one to help.' [5]

Maggie spent many years as a widow. Harry died suddenly in Auckland in 1928 at the age of 56. [6] Maggie continued living at Wairere until her death aged 84 on 8 November 1952. [7] She died an affluent woman and made generous provision for her adult children. [8]

Sources

[1] Lang, Margaret McKenzie. Birth record printout, ref. 1867/1943. Wellington, New Zealand: Births, Deaths and Marriages office, Department of Internal Affairs.

[2] Maxine Shrimpton, Email correspondence, (18 March 2019).

[3] Waipū Museum Genealogy records.

[4] Northern Advocate, 5 May 1928, Accessed 10 February 2019 at https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19280505.2.103

[5] Margaret Powell, Email correspondence, (17 March 2019).

[6] Northern Advocate, 5 May 1928, Accessed 10 February 2019 at https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NA19280505.2.103

[7] Massey, Margaret McKenzie. Death record printout, ref. 1952/27066. Wellington, New Zealand: Births, Deaths and Marriages office, Department of Internal Affairs.

[8] MASSEY Margaret McKenzie – Wairere – Widow R20246189 10297 A1346 76 / 2338, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Auckland

Images

Harry and Maggie on their wedding day, 1900. (Waipū Museum)

Maggie on her horse at a dressage event. (Waipū Museum)