Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert
Mary Walker was born 1833 in Brechin, Angus, Scotland, one of seven children of James Walker, an agricultural labourer, and Martha formerly Belford.
She married in 1859 in Old Machar, Aberdeen, Scotland to Patrick Forbes Russel.
Patrick, was nearly twenty years older. He was one of seven children of a mason, John and Margaret (nee Chisholm) of Banff, Scotland.
They had one son born in Scotland and probably immigrated to Auckland around 1860. Seven further children were born:
- James Walker (1857–1946)
- Patrick Forbes (1861–1946)
- Martha Belford (1862–1886)
- Mary Cobbe (1865–1922)
- Charles Walker (1867–1898)
- Elizabeth Thomson (1868–1928)
- Norman Chisholm (1870–1905)
- Margaret Marion (1872–?)
Early settlers called the area south of Warkworth, Little Scotland and they mostly arrived in the 1860s to take up Crown grants, build homesteads and experience the hardships of breaking in the land and making it fruitful. Patrick Forbes Russell from Banffshire in Scotland was one of the first to take up a Crown grant in the area. He selected 80ha where the majestic redwoods now grow. With his son he was an early roadmaker, tendering for contracts.
Three of their children died in young adulthood. Martha died in 1886, at her parents’ residence, Fernglen, Warkworth, after a short illness, aged 24. Charles died unmarried in 1898. He was probably ill as he made a will leaving his land and possessions to his unmarried sister Margaret. He died eight months later. Norman died in 1905 aged 35. All three were buried in the Warkworth Cemetery.
Patrick and Mary lived the rest of their lives farming in Mahurangi. Mary died in 1900 aged 66 years. It was reported, 'Mrs. Russel, wife of Mr P F Russel, of the locality locally known as ‘Little Scotland’, … laid to rest in the Presbyterian cemetery .. and the coffin was literally covered with wreaths and flowers. The departed was one of the oldest settlers of the district, having arrived here during the early sixties with her husband and young family, and passed heroically through the vicissitudes and hardships appertaining to the life of a bush settler, when roads were things unknown in the district, and surveyors' lines were the only guides for settlers who were hardy enough to endure the long and incessant struggle necessary to enable life to be continued...'
Patrick died in 1903 at his residence, ‘Fern Glen’ Warkworth, aged 87 years. He was buried in the Presbyterian section of the Warkworth Cemetery with his wife and children.
Mary is the mother-in-law of 378 Christina RUSSELL
Sources
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7833, 30 December 1886, Page 12
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11482, 20 September 1900, Page 5
https://www.localmatters.co.nz/opinion/history-welcome-to-little-scotland/
Scotland’s People
NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com)