Historical | Germany to 1875 | Emigration 1875-1876 | Wairarapa 1876-1900 | Manawatu 1900-1910 | Family 1910-1942 | Alves 1942-1995 | Post the 1995 Reunion | Bibliography | Postscript
Timeline
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Maria during 1930's 
Eketahuna School 50th Jubilee 1929 Back L-R: Afred, Henry and Charlie Alve Front L-R: Beth Pedersen, Dolly Alve and Theresia Simmons. 
Most of the 2nd Generation descendants of Carl and Maria were born during this period - survivors pictured during 1995 Family Reunion | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maria and the Family
Maria Theresia Alve |
The story of this era is told in detail in the biographical section of this website, as the 1st & 2nd generation stories recount people, events and places. As the family dispersed through marriage and re-location, Maria did much to keep them a close-knit and united group. Living on at the Rangitane homestead, and from 1923 with Dolf nearby, she humbly and lovingly cared for her children and growing circle of grandchildren. At the time of her death there were 32 grandchildren, plus three who had died. Bill Alve who was born in 1955, son of Eddie & Ina, was the only additional grandchild after Maria died. There were also 29 great grandchildren when she died, with many more to come in the years following - 90 are recorded in "Alve Road" as the eventual total of great grandies.
After Dolf married at the end of 1931, Maria spent her last ten years moving and staying with various members of the family. Mary Busch spent time with her at Dolly’s. At the end she was with Clara in Palmerston North. A fondly remembered occasion was Maria’s 80th birthday celebration at Dolf’s in 1936. Many of her grandchildren remembered that as a great day when they honoured their grannie who so loved her children and grandchildren. A published biography of, and obituary to Maria is located at the bottom of this web page. |
WW1 Comes Close 1915
Carl & Maria and their children were of German descent. As far as the author is aware none of the Alve boys: Charlie, Alfred, Henry nor Eddie were called up for war service. Dolf was too young to be considered. Some of the sons/brother in laws were. Peter Pedersen (Elizabeth's husband) was called up and passed fit for service but the war ended soon after.Clara's husband to be Lionel Purdom served overseas as did Charlie Simmons, Thelma's bachelor brother-in-law.
In 1915 Henry's wife to be Theresa Wagner (of German descent) arrived in NZ from Tasmania to visit her mother's brother (uncle) William Hauke in Dunedin. In the North Island she had some connection with the Brownlie family (of All Black fame) in Hastings and the Parkers in the Manawatu who had a Tasmanian connection. At some point during this OE Theresa was grounded as an 'alien' when anti-German sentiment arose. By March 1917 she had met and married Henry Alve and became a Kiwi. Henry had begun farming on his own account the year before.
Rangiotu WW1 Camp
In 1915 Henry's wife to be Theresa Wagner (of German descent) arrived in NZ from Tasmania to visit her mother's brother (uncle) William Hauke in Dunedin. In the North Island she had some connection with the Brownlie family (of All Black fame) in Hastings and the Parkers in the Manawatu who had a Tasmanian connection. At some point during this OE Theresa was grounded as an 'alien' when anti-German sentiment arose. By March 1917 she had met and married Henry Alve and became a Kiwi. Henry had begun farming on his own account the year before.
Rangiotu WW1 Camp
Rangiotu Army Camp
During World War One Manawaroa Te Awe Awe offered the Government the use of part of his farm for a training camp, to replace the camp at Trentham (Wellington) which had been evacuated. Samuel Jickell, Palmerston North Borough Council Civil Engineer, prepared a comprehensive report on the drainage, sanitation and water supply of Trentham Military Camp, and when he laid out the Rangiotu camp near Palmerston North in 1915 he made sure that the poor conditions at Trentham were not repeated. During 1915 men from the 1st & 2nd New Zealand Rifle Brigade and the Earl of Liverpool’s Own Regiment used the land. Initially the camp was situated where the Rangiotu School was but later it moved 1 mile west, opposite Pyke’s Road. The entire camp was moved by hand and occupied approx. 3000 acres and could accommodate 2,000 men. To avoid cutting up the ground, no wheeled vehicles were allowed in the camp.
During World War One Manawaroa Te Awe Awe offered the Government the use of part of his farm for a training camp, to replace the camp at Trentham (Wellington) which had been evacuated. Samuel Jickell, Palmerston North Borough Council Civil Engineer, prepared a comprehensive report on the drainage, sanitation and water supply of Trentham Military Camp, and when he laid out the Rangiotu camp near Palmerston North in 1915 he made sure that the poor conditions at Trentham were not repeated. During 1915 men from the 1st & 2nd New Zealand Rifle Brigade and the Earl of Liverpool’s Own Regiment used the land. Initially the camp was situated where the Rangiotu School was but later it moved 1 mile west, opposite Pyke’s Road. The entire camp was moved by hand and occupied approx. 3000 acres and could accommodate 2,000 men. To avoid cutting up the ground, no wheeled vehicles were allowed in the camp.
Charlie led the Brothers from the Top of the Farm
Life on the farm continued, initially under the direction of Charlie, the oldest of the boys. He and Dolly moved to live in the house at the top of the farm in 1911 after their marriage. He worked the farm, which had been bequeathed to Maria, with Henry and Eddie. Alf worked away for a while, before he was assisted on to land at Bainesse. Dolf continued at school before working with Alf. In about 1921 the land was vested in “Alve Brothers” before transferring to individual ownership in about 1935, after a Public Road had been declared through the land. It seems that the lawyers did profitable business with the Alve’s during these years and subsequently, as land was passed on to other members of the family.
Alex Wallace (Charlie Alve’s brother-in-law) used to visit the Alve’s during his school holidays around 1910-15. He travelled by train from Eketahuna to Palmerston North and by “dog cart” along metal roads to the farm at Rangitane. He reports breakfast with the family consisted of porridge, home-made bread, boiled eggs from the farm fowls (4-5 for the men often), and meat. The family sat either side of a long, white-painted, wooden table. Maria did the cooking over a very large range. Sometimes she gave the family fried eggs, but this involved much more work. The staple diet consisted of potatoes and meat.
Each of the boys had his particular job on the farm, Alex reported. Charlie was the slaughterman - there were pigs at the time. Eddie was the bee keeper. Charlie would pay Alec to cut thistles with a slasher and this was the means of buying a music stand for his cornet music. Until they got their share of the land, Charlie and Catherine milked the cows with all the others. Memories of Henry were how he would drop off to sleep so easily upon sitting down. The boys would play cards for entertainment in the evenings, but very often Henry would fall asleep during the game.
Alex Wallace (Charlie Alve’s brother-in-law) used to visit the Alve’s during his school holidays around 1910-15. He travelled by train from Eketahuna to Palmerston North and by “dog cart” along metal roads to the farm at Rangitane. He reports breakfast with the family consisted of porridge, home-made bread, boiled eggs from the farm fowls (4-5 for the men often), and meat. The family sat either side of a long, white-painted, wooden table. Maria did the cooking over a very large range. Sometimes she gave the family fried eggs, but this involved much more work. The staple diet consisted of potatoes and meat.
Each of the boys had his particular job on the farm, Alex reported. Charlie was the slaughterman - there were pigs at the time. Eddie was the bee keeper. Charlie would pay Alec to cut thistles with a slasher and this was the means of buying a music stand for his cornet music. Until they got their share of the land, Charlie and Catherine milked the cows with all the others. Memories of Henry were how he would drop off to sleep so easily upon sitting down. The boys would play cards for entertainment in the evenings, but very often Henry would fall asleep during the game.
Eddie and Charlie slaughtering pigs c.1915
A Co-operative Venture and Innovation
Until the flax mills closed in 1921, the farm supplied them with milk and meat. Milk was also supplied to the emerging dairy factories, Charlie and Henry becoming directors for a time of the Manawatu Reliance Dairy Factory at Rangiotu, which they supplied. Milking machines began appearing in the late 1920’s, a Moffat-Virtue model from Masterton being installed in Henry’s shed in 1929. A feature of farming during this period was the co-operative nature of the community. Amongst the brothers, but also including their neighbours, especially at haymaking time. They would move from farm to farm when the need arose.
Haymaking c.1935 was all about teamwork - family and neighbours pitching in.
L-R:Jack Weir, Lewis Henderson, John Muirson, Ernie Henderson, Val Alve, Hilton Alve, Harry Alve, Charlie Alve, Henry Alve and Peter Fawcett.
After Charlie’s death in 1937 from a strangulated hernia, Henry farmed his block while Dolly lived on in the house. About this time Henry also established a Friesian Stud he called “Westfalia”, which was named after the German region his parents came from. In the late 1930’s. Eddie moved away from his land, and brother Alf farmed his block for about five years until Eddie returned.
Flooding Continues a Big Issue
This picture of the May 1941 Manawatu River flood captures graphically the big impact and the extent of the inundation of the Alve land during the bigger Manawatu River floods. The farms were in the Manawatu's lower Taonui Basin which was a low lying ponding area when the river flooded, draining via Burke's and Main Drains back into the River downstream as the flood level subsided.
Key:
Acknowledgements:
Manawatu Catchment Board and Regional Water Board Archives
Photo taken by Hugh Russell Farquhar
Key:
- Dolly's house on the riverbank adjacent the preserved native bush
- Henry & Theresa's house (the original Alve homestead) across the farm on the river bank
- Henry's cowshed
- Eddie's houses
- Dolf & Nita's house on the bank of the Main Drain in the midst of the Taonui Basin
- Burke's Drain - the major (human-made) watercourse draining the Taonui Basin
Acknowledgements:
Manawatu Catchment Board and Regional Water Board Archives
Photo taken by Hugh Russell Farquhar
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The 1941 Flood Remembered
Shortly after Dennis Alve’s birth, and life threatening surgery for him, the 1941 flood poured water through [Dolf's & Nita's] farm and home. They were rescued, with Maria Theresia and the children, by boat and taken to safety at Rangiotu. This flood drowned ten cows.... |
Dolf & Nita's house during this or a flood around this time |
End of an Era - Maria's Death
This period ends with the death of Maria Theresia at Clara’s home in Stanley Avenue, P.N. at 3p.m. on 30th April, 1942. A newspaper obituary a few days later reflected on her life.
PASSING OF A PIONEER - MRS MARIA T. ALVE
There passed away on April 30 (1942) at the residence of her daughter, Mrs L. Purdom, Stanley Avenue, a very old and highly esteemed resident of the district in the person of Mrs. Maria Theresia Alve, at the great age of 86 years. Born in Beckum, Essen, in the year 1856, Mrs. Alve with her husband and infant daughter left her native land for New Zealand in the sailing ship Gutenberg, the journey taking 100 days. They finally landed in Wellington, and then went on to Featherston where they lived for a few years. Later when the Forty Mile Bush was opened up, Mr. Alve took a small holding at Eketahuna, which was then a tiny bush settlement. For years there were no metalled roads, and the only means of transport was by bullock wagon. The deceased lady with her husband and family lived there for 15 years, where she was beloved by all who knew her. They then returned to Featherston for six years. Forty-two years ago Mr. Alve bought the property at Rangitane, Palmerston North, which was then all standing bush. Mrs. Alve with her family have lived there ever since. Possessed of a kind and loving disposition, Mrs. Alve will be remembered by many, as she was always ready to help those in need, often walking miles on muddy bush tracks to help a sick neighbour. Mr. Alve predeceased her 32 years ago. Of the large family of 13, eight are left to mourn her passing, Mrs. Busch (Pirinoa, Featherston), Mrs. Simmons (Mangawhata), Mrs. Pedersen (Koputaroa), Messers A. Alve (Rangitane), H. Alve (Rangitane), E. Alve (Palmerston North), R.A. Alve (Rangitane) and Mrs. Lionel Purdom (Palmerston North). There are 32 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren. The funeral left for the Palmerston North cemetery following a service at the Gospel Hall conducted by Mr. Whitehead. The service at the graveside was conducted by Mr. Neale. Many beautiful floral tributes were received with messages of sympathy marking the love and esteem in which the deceased person was held. |
Maria Theresia Alve (nee Moellers) - a study by her grandson Phillip Alve - c.1940/1 |
Floral Tributes to Maria |
THE FAMILY c.1925 Standing L-R: Dolf, Mary, Eddie, Alf, Clara, Henry, Charlie Seated L-R: Elizabeth, Theresia, Maria, Lena |
