Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert
Sarah Moor was born in 1862 in NZ, the eldest of the NZ born children of John Moor and Susanna nee Phillips. The family arrived from Lincolnshire with three children on board the Whirlwind in 1859. John then bought land and farmed at Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf. There, five more children were born including Sarah.
In January 1882 at the Auckland Registry Office, Sarah aged 19 years married 24-year-old William Phillips, with the consent of her father John. William Phillips was born in1855 Theddlethorpe, Lincolnshire, son of Horby and Elizabeth nee Moor.
They had six children born at Mahurangi:
- John William Kenneth (1883–1959)
- Gordon Moor (1885–1968)
- Susan Elizabeth Lillian (1886–1940)
- Sarah Eveline Minnie (1889–1914)
- James Garfield (1896–1973)
- Jessie May (1898–1967)
William was involved in the local area politics. He was on the Dome Valley District School Board and the Upper Mahurangi Road Board in the 1890s. When the 50th Jubilee Celebrations of the Loyal Mahurangi Lodge of Oddfellows in, it recorded that William Phillips was one of the first members 1884.
Around 1900 William and Sarah moved their family and farmed at Taneatua, near Whakatane. Their son Gordon signed up from there, to serve in World War 1 and saw service in the Middle East before he was invalided home. After about 20 years William retired, and he and Sarah moved back to Auckland. In his later years, they lived at the same Dublin Road address as Sarah’s unmarried sisters.
William died in 1940, aged 84 and was buried in the Hillsborough Cemetery. Sarah died aged 82 in 1945 at the residence of her daughter, Jesse May (Mrs. H J Tizard) and relict of the late William Phillips. She was privately interred at Hillsborough with her husband.
Sarah is sister to 380 S(usan) Moor and 380 M(innie) Moor and 380 M J Blair
Sources
PAPERS PAST
Archway probate John
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8783, 25 January 1892, Page 6
PAPERS PAST Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 133, 7 June 1945, Page 1
PAPERS PAST Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 10 October 1934, Page 5