Victor Augustus Pierson (1907 - 1991)

Born 19 Apr 1907 in Greymouth, Westland, West Coast, New Zealand

Ancestors

Husband of Alice May (McQuilkin) Pierson — married 7 Sep 1932 in Hokitika, West Coast, New Zealand

Descendants

Died 24 Jul 1991 at age 84 in Ivanhoe Rest Home, Lake Terrace Road, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Clare Pierson [send private message]

Biography

Vic Pierson has Welsh ancestors.

Vic Pierson has English ancestors.

born in New Zealand

Vic Pierson lived in Hokitika, West Coast, New Zealand.

Vic Pierson lived in Whataroa, West Coast, New Zealand.

Vic Pierson lived in Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.

Victor Augustus Pierson was born on 19 Apr 1907 in Greymouth, Westland, West Coast, New Zealand three years after his grandfather Charles Phelitous Pierson had died in Kumara when New Zealand was still a colony of the British Empire. Vic was the son of George Augustus Victor Pierson (1876 - 1963) and Mrs Jane (Holley) Pierson (1884 - 1909). ^[1][2] He was 5 months old when NZ changed to the status of an Independent Dominion by proclamation of Edward VII on 26 September 1907. ^[3] Vic's grandmother, Hannah (Church) Pierson was 55 years old. His parents, Jane Jane Holley and Vic George Victor Pierson lived with their daughter, Edna Elizabeth (Pierson) Pfahlert age 2 years, (1905 - 1968 ) near Nelson Creek where Vic senior worked in a sawmill and on the Pactolus gold dredge, when Vic was born.

Mother's Death Two years later, 18 July 1909, Vic and Edna's mother Jane, aged 25 years, (Jenny, Janet) died of septicaemia after she suffered a miscarriage. Jane's Welsh parents, Mary Ann (born Lewis) and William Holley, were living in or near Kumara at that time. Their father, Vic Pierson being still alive, the two children went to live with him and their paternal grandmother, Hannah (born Church) Pierson, in Main Street, Kumara. The 1914 electoral roll indicates that by then the children's father Vic (38) was living with his mother as were his brothers, James (36) and Artie (32).

Marton According to Jenny Pierson in her book "New York to New Zealand: A Pierson Family History", some time before August 1915, Edna and Vic made an extended visit to Marton, in the North Island, where they stayed with their aunt, Vic's sister Elizabeth (Pierson) Kyle. Both Edna (10) and Vic (8) attended Marton School prior to their being enrolled at Hokitika Primary School in August and September 1915.

Hokitika On their return, Edna (14) and Vic (12) were in Hampden Street, Hokitika living with their paternal Grandmother and their father, Vic senior, who had moved there in 1915. They attended the Hokitika District School. Vic told his children that Hannah used to hit him and that during his early teens he ran away to Kumara Beach - at the mouth of the Taramakau River, where his uncles had two houses which, in about 2004, were carried away out into the Tasman Sea by the Taramakau River. His father may have lived in a hut nearby some of the time also, probably during the whitebait season. Vic achieved his Proficiency while he was enrolled at the Hokitika District High School as was mentioned in the Hokitika Guardian 21 December 1922 in West Coast, New Zealand.^[4] He was 16 when his grandmother, Hannah (72) died of heart failure, July 1923 and was buried in the Hokitika cemetery.^[5] Edna was 18. Vic's father died in Kanieri and was buried with Hannah, his mother, his wife, Janet being buried in the Kumara Cemetery near her Holley parents' grave.

Occupations While Vic was at High School, he worked after school sometimes at Perry's grocer shop in Weld Street and other times at Renton's Hardware shop in Hamilton Street, Hokitika. After he left school, he worked with his father at sawmills for a time before he was asked by his Uncle Arthur (Artie) to go to Marton in the North Island and work for him in his aerated waters and cordial factory. Dad (Vic) said that he was given board, but not paid for his work.

When he went back south, Vic stayed with his sister, Edna (Pfahlert) in Kaniere not far from where Alice McQuilkin lived at Blue Spur / Hau Hau with her father, Jack Daniel (J D) McQuilkin. The first time they met was apparently at a dance in the Kaniere (spelt Kanieri then) Hall. Alice was working at the Rimu Hotel and Vic became a contract bushman with Wallis' sawmill near Taramakau. It is likely that he was living in a mill hut.

Marriage Vic used to ride in cycle races and practiced along the five-mile Billy Goat Flat between Kumara and the Junction. He cycled south (about 18 - 22 km) to see Alice once a week. According to their marriage Certificate both were living in Kanieri (could mean Hau Hau) at the time of their marriage. Victor (25) married Alice May McQuilkin (21) (1911 - 2003) on 7 Sep 1932 in Hokitika, West Coast. Because of the Catholic Church laws about marrying Protestants at that time, they were married 07.09.1932 in the Sacristy of St Mary's Church, Sewell Street, Hokitika rather than in the Church itself, even though Vic converted to Catholicism and the four children were raised as Catholics. ^[6] Their children were:

1. John Victor Pierson (1933 - 2004)
2. Neville Matthew Pierson (1936 - 2012)
3. Marilyn Clare Pierson (1941 - living)
4. Patrick James Pierson (1944 - 2019).

The Great Depression After the wedding Alice went to stay with her sister, Dolly (Mary) in Cobden until she and Vic moved into rooms in Blackmore Street, Greymouth - a large bedroom, a small living room and the use of a kitchen for £1 a week, where Alice could have regular contact with her sister, Dolly whose family kept increasing. When the mill at which Vic worked closed down during the 1930s great depression, there was no unemployment benefit, so it is uncertain how they managed. Next, Vic secured employment at Kokiri laying tramlines for Newmans's sawmill there. In front of the mill, Vic built a small two roomed house with front and back porches, for them to live in.

In March 1933, Alice gave birth to their first son, John. Her labour began in Rewa Hospital in Shakespeare Street, Greymouth, but because of complications she was eventually moved to Greymouth Hospital where John was born by caesarean section and had brain injury resulting from the prolonged labour. A Mr Cornish drove Vic twelve miles to the Hospital and later presented him with a bill for £6, while a police constable took the news of the birth to Dolly in Cobden and doubled her back over the Mawhera (Grey) River bridge to the Hospital on the bar of his bike. Alice was required to remain in Greymouth for three months so stayed, with the baby, with Dolly in Cobden. Although food was not scarce during the depression, money with which to buy it was scarce. Nimmos in Cobden were generous to customers, allowing them to pay for goods when they could.

Vic managed to crush a finger in machinery when he was working alongside the mill owner’s son. Having endured much pain he travelled in and out to Greymouth Hospital for treatment, but the finger was eventually amputated. These were hard time during the Great Depression of the 1930s, but I never heard either complain about how their lives had been. Like his father and Grandfather, Vic worked very hard all his life to support his wife and family and Alice managed finances extremely well. Coal for the coal range could be found along the railway line and some wood could also be gathered. In 1934, the Wallis' who had owned the mill where Vic worked at Kumara Junction, asked him to work at their mill in Whataroa, laying tram tracks. For a while he lived in single men's huts while the married couples' houses were built and Alice stayed with John in Kokiri. She had toothache caused by abscesses for a very long time before her teeth were extracted. When they did move to Whataroa, the gable of their house had no boards, one room had only scrim on the walls and there was only an open fire, no stove. These were pioneering days in deed - no piped water and no electricity. Clear water could be carried in from a box drain outside and clothes were washed in a n outdoor drum. Eventually the builder, who had been ill with quinsy, completed the unfinished work. Vic eventually installed a water tank outside the door and reticulated water into the kitchen though there was no sink. There was an open fire in the sitting room, a black coal range in the kitchen, a big black iron kettle, heavy iron to heat on the stove, a small kettle and large iron saucepan. Light at night was provided by a large kerosene lamp, a small lamp and candles. Despite the cold winters and few amenities, Vic and Alice liked this home amid four other houses and they made lifelong friends there. Vic's father and another man stayed with them for a while as they were waiting for huts to be built for them.

Vic and Alice's second son, Neville, was born in Rewa Hospital, Greymouth, in October 1936. There was a great demand for white pine (kahikatea) for butter boxes at that time so Vic and Bert Cowan bought a small area of bush near Kaniere (possibly some in Whataroa first) and were able to fell the trees and sell them without needing a mill themselves. Hokitika 1940 - 1970 In 1940, when John was 7, and Neville 3, they moved to a rented house on the northeast corner of Sale and Hampden Street, Hokitika (the land is now part of the Westland High School playing field). They bought a house at 17 Jollie Street early in 1941. A midwife came to stay at the house and took care of John, Neville, Alice and the baby for a few days before and after Clare was born at home 13 November 1941.

There were extensive grounds there with a creek meandering through. Floods came up to the driveway, but never under or into the house. On the weekends Vic maintained the very large vegetable gardens, trimmed hedges and trees and mowed the lawns as well as cut up wood as needed. Pat was born at the Hampden Street Maternity Home 01 July 1944. Except for a few beers after work before the 6 o'clock closing, and a few at Christmas, Vic did not drink alcohol. On only one occasion in his life did he get drunk; he slept in the Sleepout at the back of the house and Alice, shocked at the aberration, kept running back and forth looking after him.

Conscription Vic and Bert's business came to an end when conscription for WWII began. They were directed to do work for the Government during that time, one job being to rebuild the bridge over the Big Wanganui River at Hari Hari after it was washed away in a flood. Vic also helped build the former bridge over the Whataroa River. Remnants of it remain upstream from the current bridge.

Pukekura After the war Vic worked at Williamson's mill in Pukekura for some years. I recall, at age 4 years, sitting on Dad's (Vic's) knee in a logging truck on the way to Pukekura one Saturday, where he lived in a mill hut during the week. I vividly recall my first pub raspberry with lemonade! In the bush I stood on a tiny "island" of dry land and watched the men fell a tree using a band saw. I was fascinated by a beautiful little bush robin. When one or other of our pet cats died for some reason Vic would bring home a wild kitten from whatever mill he was working at the time. The last cat lived to go to Christchurch with them and in its 20s walked back to the West Coast (Ahaura) where I found him looking very well at the school about two years later in 1978.

One One In the late 1950s, Vic worked at the Henderson and Pollard One One mill at Hari Hari. The mill was too small for processing the size of trees that were going through it. Vic was injured a number of times because he would spend weekends splitting trees in half lengthwise so that they could be cut into timber in the mill. Terry, Vic's eldest grandson, has framed the reference Vic was given when he left that mill where he had been Manager for some time.

Christchurch Vic and Alice moved in the early 1970s to Christchurch where he rode his ancient electric bicycle from Mairehau to work at McVicar's Timber yard treating timber. Once he was knocked from his bicycle by a car turning a corning when he was going straight through the intersection. The toxic timber treatment chemicals at the mill seriously affected Vic and by the time he was 75 he could no longer manage to do that work or care for his garden and lawns. This made him feel very depressed. They moved from their house at 33 Briggs Road near Mairehau High School, to an ownership flat at 17 Ardrossan Street with an easy care garden and very little lawn. (That entire area was demolished after the major earthquakes in Christchurch 4 September 2010 and February 2011). Vic would take their poodle, Carlos, for walks around the block and along the Avon River. When walking eventually became difficult for him the doctor told him to stop smoking - he did after over 60 years of smoking "roll your own" Park Drive wrapped in Zig Zag papers, cigarettes. We had a gold and brown heavy brocade cloth on the kitchen table in Jollie Street. Dad sat at one end rolling his cigarettes and reading while he smoked. When I sat there doing my homework I sometimes managed to get tobacco, which blended in with the cloth, into my mouth and did not appreciate the taste!

Illness Vic was extremely distressed when Alice (75) was treated for months with radiation for stage 2b advanced endometrial cancer. It was also while they were in Ardrossan Street that Vic had day surgery (for a second time) for prostate cancer. He did not stay overnight in Hospital as the doctor asked him to do. When he was delirious with a high temperature from an infection, his GP said that he had a virus and would not see him. The infection and high temperatures affected his brain causing dementia-like symptoms when he was not on antibiotics. The gentle, previously never aggressive man, became angry at times, scaring Alice and became a resident at Ivanhoe Rest Home for people with dementia in 1989. Every Thursday for two years, Clare took Vic and Alice for picnics in various places they liked to go. Not once during those two years did it rain on a Thursday!

Death The care at Ivanhoe Rest Home, Lake Terrace Road, Christchurch, was not very satisfactory and that Rest Home was closed down not long after Vic died there with John and Pat supporting him July 24, 1991, aged 84. He was buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Bromley, Canterbury, where his wife, Alice May (mcQuilkin) Pierson is also buried. ^[7] Clare was in Quorrobolong, Australia and Neville in Oamaru. Vic was 84 years old and he is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Bromley ^[8]with Alice. ^[9] His eldest son, John, is also buried in Memorial Park cemetery.^[10]

Notes recorded by Alice May Pierson when she was in her 80s:

When I met Vic in 1931, he was working at a mill at Taramakau behind Kumara somewhere. He used to bike (racing cycle) down to (Hokitika / Blue Spur / Rimu) to see me about once a week. He told me that previously he had worked at Perry’s big grocery store after school and also at Renton’s hardware shop. He worked in sawmills with his father for a time, later going up to Marton in the North Island to work in a cordial factory for his Uncle Artie. He stayed at his Uncle’s house with Auntie Liz and family. I don’t know how long he was there, probably a few years. It appears that he didn’t get paid very often. (Dad would say he was not paid at all, just had free board.) One day he went out and sold some drinks to get enough to pay his fare back to Hokitika. Edna was married by then and I think that he lived there (Camp Street, Kaniere) when he was not away working. I am not sure of the year, about 1927, as I did not know him then, but it would be about that time that he went with his father to work in the Taramakau mill. (Remainder in biography for Alice Pierson)

Name: Victor Augustus Pierson. Given Name: Victor Augustus. Surname: Pierson. Married Name: Pierson.

Education: High School. Hokitika District High School.

Nationality: New Zealand.

Occupation: Forestry Worker - bush, mill, mill manager. Laying tram tracks for mills. Kokiri and Whataroa.

Religion: Roman Catholic.

Died 24 JUL 1991. Ivanhoe Rest Home, Lake Terrace Road, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. Age: 84. Cause: Infection.

Buried Memorial Park Cemetery, Bromley, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.

Sources

1. ↑ NZ BDM Birth Reg No. 1907/11773 Pierson Victor Augustus. Parents: Jane and George Augustus Victor
2. ↑ New Zealand Certificate of Date of Birth. N0. 71481 Registrar-General's Office. Certified that, according to the record of the birth of the Registrar- General's Office, VICTOR AUGUSTUS PIERSON was born at Greymouth on the 19th day of April 1907. GIVEN under the seal of the Registrar-General at Wellington, the 1 day of March 1972.
3. ↑ https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/dominion-day
4. ↑ "Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand"
   Hokitika Guardian, 21 December 1922, Page 4
   Papers Past Article (accessed 12 January 2023)
5. ↑ Memorial: "Billion Graves"
   Hokitika (Seaview) Cemetery, 1 Seaview Hill Rd, Seaview West Coast 7882, New Zealand
   BillionGraves memorial (accessed 12 January 2023)
   Memorial page for Hannah (Church) Pierson (16 August 1851-31 July 1923); Transcribed by ClarePierson, Oct 13, 2020; Photographed by ClarePierson, Oct 12, 2020.
6. ↑ New Zealand Copy of Register of Marriage by Officiating Minister. 1932. Marriage in the District of Hokitika. No. 23. Date: Dec 7th 1932 Where married: St Mary's R.C. Church, Hokitika Names of parties: George Augustus Victor Pierson; Alice May McQuilkin Ages: 25; 21. Rank or profession: Sawmill Hand; Spinster. Dondition of parties: Bachelor; Spinster. Residence. Present: Kanieri; Kanieri. Usual: Kanieri; Kanieri. Father's Name and Profession: George Augustus Victor Pierson; Cordial Manufacturer; John Daniel McQuilkin; Miner. Mother's Name and Maiden Name : Jane Pierson; Holley. Ruby Ethel McQuilkin; Atkinson. MARRIED, after the delivery of the Certificate required by the Marriage Act, 1908, by John A. McKay, Officiating Minister. This marriage was solmenized between us, George Augustus Victor Pierson Alice May McQuilkin In the presence of us, Charles Pfahlert: Kanieri: Baker. Mary Elizabeth Williams: Fox Street, Cobden: Domestic. I HEREBY CERTIFY that the above is a true copy of the entry in the Register-book of marriages kept by me at Hokitika. Signature ??? Officiating Minister. Denomination: Catholic.
7. ↑ COPY of: R.G. 50. Births and Deaths Registration Act 1951. MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF CAUSES OF DEATH Name of Deceased: Victor Augustus PIERSON Sex: Male. Age stated to me: 84 years. Date of death as stated to me: 24th day of July 1991. Place of death: Ivanhoe Rest Home. Last seen alive by me: 22nd day of July 1991. 1. Did you see the body after death: Yes 2. Post mortem not intended to be held: Yes Causes of death: I. Disease, injury or complication directly leading to death a) Respiratory failure 8 hours. Antecedent Cuases: due to the consequence of b) Septicemia, 24 hours, due to, or as a consequence of c) Unrinary tract infection, 48 hours. Carcinoma of prostrate 13 years. II. Other signifcant conditions contrbuting to the death, but not related to the disease or condition causing it. Chronic Bronchitis, 2 years. I, Tracy Ann Dixon, certify that I was in medical attendance during the above-named deceased's last illness. and particulars and causes of death shown above are true to the best of my knowledge, and that no relevant information has been omitted. Signature: Tracy A. Dixon. Qualifications: MB, BS, Dip Obst. Residence: 7 Nikau Place, Christchurch
8. ↑ Memorial: Find a Grave (has image)
   Find A Grave: Memorial #146634806 (accessed 12 January 2023)
   Memorial page for Victor Augustus “Vic” Pierson (19 Apr 1907-24 Jul 1991), citing Memorial Park Cemetery, Bromley, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand (plot: Block 15. Plot 106); Maintained by Southern Man (contributor 48043025).
9. ↑ Memorial: "Billion Graves"
   Memorial Park Cemetery, 45 Ruru Road, Christchurch Canterbury 8062, New Zealand
   BillionGraves memorial (accessed 28 January 2023)
   Memorial page for Victor Augustus (Vic) Pierson Pierson (19 April 1907-24 July 1991); Transcribed by ClarePierson, Oct 12, 2020; Photographed by ClarePierson, Oct 9, 2020.
10. ↑ Memorial: "Billion Graves"
    Memorial Park Cemetery, 45 Ruru Road, Christchurch,, Canterbury, New Zealand
    BillionGraves memorial (accessed 28 January 2023)
    Memorial page for John Victor Pierson (29 March 1933-11 June 2004); Transcribed by lindudes, August 7, 2015; Photographed by FionaNZ, June 16, 2014.
    "John Victor Pierson. 29.03.1933 - 11.06.2004. Beloved husband of Glennis Faye. Loved and respected father of Terry, Claire, Michael, Jeannie and Louise. Treasured Grandfather. "A fair dream spirit hovers near thee.".

Also:

• Personal memories of his children recorded by his daughter Clare Pierson-1215