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
Arrival at Rangitane until Carl's Death in 1910
While Carl & Maria, with their two youngest: Eddie & Clara, moved late in 1900 to Rāngitane in the Manawatu to occupy newly purchased and Maori-lease land, the rest of the family stayed behind at Featherston working at Donalds’ Dairy (farm) sharemilking to help pay off the farm or, in the case of the younger children, to continue their schooling.
The farm was adjacent to the Ngāwhakaraua Māori settlement. The Ngāwhakaraua bend, slightly downstream the river from where the Alve’s settled, was an important centre for early travellers to Palmerston North in the period 1840-1873. The river was navigable from Foxton to this point. History records that in 1840 Jack Duff, a trader, left his whaleboat here and continued upstream by canoe. Charles Kettle, the early surveyor, camped near here in 1842 (or 1846 as below) during his journey up river. In 1866 a jetty was built here to connect with the end of the last straight stretch of the road from Palmerston North to Ngāwhakaraua. In the early 1870's the small steam launch, "Pioneer" unloaded many of the stores and people destined for the fledgling settlement that became known as Palmerston North.
The Durie's record some of the Māori history (mid to late 1800's) of this area in, "The Rangimarie Narrative" - a submission to the Waitangi Tribunal (pp.76-81) in December 2019. In this document the transition from Māori to Pakeha land ownership and the associated (de)privation is tellingly recorded and lamented. In the process the Alve's benefitted from their arrival from the Wairarapa in 1900 as they gained ownership and lease of land that once was the possession of Māori, principally Rāngitane.
The farm was adjacent to the Ngāwhakaraua Māori settlement. The Ngāwhakaraua bend, slightly downstream the river from where the Alve’s settled, was an important centre for early travellers to Palmerston North in the period 1840-1873. The river was navigable from Foxton to this point. History records that in 1840 Jack Duff, a trader, left his whaleboat here and continued upstream by canoe. Charles Kettle, the early surveyor, camped near here in 1842 (or 1846 as below) during his journey up river. In 1866 a jetty was built here to connect with the end of the last straight stretch of the road from Palmerston North to Ngāwhakaraua. In the early 1870's the small steam launch, "Pioneer" unloaded many of the stores and people destined for the fledgling settlement that became known as Palmerston North.
The Durie's record some of the Māori history (mid to late 1800's) of this area in, "The Rangimarie Narrative" - a submission to the Waitangi Tribunal (pp.76-81) in December 2019. In this document the transition from Māori to Pakeha land ownership and the associated (de)privation is tellingly recorded and lamented. In the process the Alve's benefitted from their arrival from the Wairarapa in 1900 as they gained ownership and lease of land that once was the possession of Māori, principally Rāngitane.
PART D: NGA WHENUA PĀPĀTUPU O TE RANGIOTU RĀUA KO TE AWEAWE
217. We begin this section with an overview of the changing scene for Ngāti Raukawa and Rangitāne and will then address the same in more detail. The peace held fast as the land in the Oroua valley and south along the Manawatū river was jointly held by Ngāti Raukawa and Rangitāne. However, neither Ngāti Raukawa nor Rangitāne was able to hold the land against the Government. Within 40 years of the Treaty of Waitangi, none of the land was held under the authority of the rangatira. All that can be said is that some members of Ngāti Raukawa and Rangitāne, but not others, retained fractionated shares in disbursed allotments that were mostly small.
218. The occupational pattern also changed as the hapū left their traditional, riverside pa and papakainga to relocate alongside the roads and railways that were the mainstay of the settler economy. Individual survival depended less and less on the customary economy of reciprocal gift giving which served also to maintain relationships between hapū. The tribal economy could not be maintained as no resources remained in tribal ownership. With the loss of the land and the destruction of the natural environment, the pristine forests, swamps, and rivers, there were also significant losses in Māori spiritual capacity and wellness...
...221. Intrusions with a view to European settlement began in the 1840’s. The waka navigability of the river from the mouth to Apiti (Manawatū Gorge) was established for the settlers with the journeys of Jack Duff in 1840 and Charles Kettle in 1846, although the navigation was increasingly difficult as one moved upstream in the Ahuaturanga block, to a point where the waka had to be poled. Also in the 1840’s, a small settlement was established at Te Awahou (Foxton), Thomas Cook had established a store at Paiaka, on the opposite bank, the Kebbell brothers had established a timber mill at Haumearoa, Captain Robinson had a cattle run further down the river, the Symons were farming at Oturoa and a town to be called Te Maire was mapped out for the New Zealand Company where Shannon now stands. Te Maire did not materialise on the ground although a church was erected there by the rangatira, Taikopōrua, Stephen Hartley settled there and Thomas Bevan established a rope walk there, for the conversion of flax fibre to rope, in 1848.
222. Along the river Māori were raising pigs and growing potatoes, wheat, maize, kumara and flax for sale locally and for Wellington, transported by schooner from Te Awahou.
223. The principal Rangitāne settlements at this time were at Hotuiti (between Foxton and Shannon), Tokomaru (near the convergence of the Tokomaru and Manawatū rivers), Te Pararema (adjacent to Tokomaru), Paparewa (Shannon), Raewera, Puketotara, Tuwhakatupua, Rewarewa and Tiaki Tahuna. These were mainly fortified pā with associated papakainga. The further settlements of Ngawhakaraua, Rangitāne, and Opiki may have developed later, in about the 1860s, as also did Rangiotu.
224. Māori also established churches in the district. Puketotara, which was the largest Rangitāne settlement, boasted to have built the first church in European style, ahead of the famed church of Rangiatea at Ōtaki which was erected at the direction of Te Rauparaha. Puketotara papakainga had since shifted to Rangiotu and all that remains of the old church, which was destroyed in a fire, is the bell which is still held at Te Rangimarie marae. [Wiremu Te Awe Awe in the sound recording on this page notes that the church from Puketotara was relocated to Ngawhakaraua. It was there it was destroyed by fire and the bell mentioned here relocated to Te Rangimarie where it is with the Te Awe Awe descendants.] Ngāti Raukawa established a major church at Moutoa, part of which was later re-erected downstream at the Ngāti Whakatere marae of Poutu, and which still survives.
225. The relocation of Māori settlements began with the sale of the Ahuaturanga block and the transport of settlers by steamer to the closest point to that block that was safe for steamer navigation, on a bend beside the papakainga Ngāwhakaraua. Māori from downriver relocated to there and a large papakainga was established with a substantial wharerunanga and wharepuni, able to accommodate travellers. The steamer which brought in the settlers was the Pioneer. A dry weather road was developed to take settlers from Ngāwhakaraua to Karere, and later, further on to papaioea waerenga or clearing which became Palmerston North. The dry-weather road became called for the steamer, and in a euphemism for the road, it was named Pioneer Highway. Later a wooden railway with a horse drawn carriage was established.
226. Further relocations followed. A similar settlement called Rangitāne was established further down from the bend in Pioneer Highway, on a track to the Oroua river that would later become part of the road to Foxton. Tiaki Tahuna was relocated further along Pioneer Highway from its original site on the Manawatū river where it was named for an adjoining sandbank. There it became known to the settlers as Jackeytown. In the same way the bend in the river at Ngāwhakaraua became known to them as ‘Half-Crown bend’.
The site where the Alve family built their initial shelter, a slab whare, which progressively became a six bedroom homestead, was a little upstream from the Ngāwhakaraua jetty. By 1870 there was a dry weather track connecting Foxton with Palmerston North and in 1871 a wooden railed tramway with carriages drawn by horses was being constructed from the new settlement of Palmerston as far as Ngāwhakaraua. This was extended and finally reached Foxton in 1873. Subsequently the jetty was little used and fell into disrepair. By 1876 the line was completely ballasted; iron had replaced the wooden rails and steam engines replaced the horses. The Rāngitane station on this line was a stone's throw northwest from the Ngāwhakaraua jetty and the Alve house, and was close to the boundary of the initial Alve farm.
The Māori settlement at Ngāwhakaraua was occupied by a number of the Rāngitane (and possibly Ngāti Raukawa) people. They had moved upstream from the Puketotara Pa to Oroua Bridge (built 1867) and on to Ngāwhakaraua where the principal buildings were a meeting house and a very fine church. This settlement adjacent the Alve farm was occupied when the family arrived in 1900 and continued into the 1920's when its residents moved to the Rangiotu settlement adjacent the Oroua R. and bridge where the "Te Rangimarie" meeting house on the marae is cherished by the Te Awe Awe family.
Eddie Alve reported that there were in the vicinity of 200-300 Maori living in the village when the family arrived, There were two meeting houses, and a real elaborate church where the organist was occasionally Miss Simpson and where white people would attend. Chief of the Rangitane people in the 1960's, Mr Wiremu Te Awe Awe (Billy Larkins) noted that,
Eddie Alve reported that there were in the vicinity of 200-300 Maori living in the village when the family arrived, There were two meeting houses, and a real elaborate church where the organist was occasionally Miss Simpson and where white people would attend. Chief of the Rangitane people in the 1960's, Mr Wiremu Te Awe Awe (Billy Larkins) noted that,
I can recall old settlers there who were very closely associated with the Maoris in the persons of the old Mr & Mrs Alve and their family.... As far as I know they were good neighbours, very neighbourly, they got on very well together.
Writing in, "Suspended Access - Opiki Toll Bridge 1918-1969" (p.10) Molly Akers, (pub. 2003) reflects on the arrival of the Alve's at Rangitane,
Late in 1900 the Carl Alve family arrived here from Featherston and bought a 111 acre block from Bruce Beale of Palmerston North. Living for a while in a slab whare, they began clearing the bush and growing potatoes. They gradually built up a dairy herd to 104 cows, all hand milked by up to six milkers until machines were introduced in the 1929/30 season.
In a taped interview Merv Eglinton recorded during the 1960’s, Eddie Alve commented about the journey to and conditions at Rangitane,
We came up by train. We had a change at Palmerston and got on to the Foxton branch and got off at Rangitane. In those days there was no road here, we had to go through the maori pa. There was quite a big maori pa here at the time and for about twelve months the only place we had to live in was a slab whare. The mosquitos were terrible. It was just one constant buzz all night long and you had a terrible job to get any sleep at all....To go to school the only way was to go along the railway line - the road was just a mud pool, a mud track through the middle of the bush.
According to Henry Alve in the same interview,
The original block of 111 acres which was standing bush was bought from the late Mr Bruce Beale a solicitor and barrister of Palmerston North in the spring of 1900. The price was seven pound ten shillings per acre....The family began farming on the original block in November 1902 with a herd of 30 Jersey-Shorthorn heifers....and about six other heifers....and the cow that Mrs Alve had milked earlier....The first milking shed was a four bail lean-to building....This shed did for about four years when Mr Ernie Nash was engaged to build another 12 bail shed with loft and hay barn adjoining.
Henry further reported that this enlarged shed was used in time to milk up to 104 cows by hand - six milkers were used, including Lena and Elizabeth. Charlie and Henry moved to Rangitane during 1902, but there is no documented record of when exactly Alfred and the older girls came, if they didn’t come with Charlie and Henry. The following is extracted from “A History of Rangiotu”, factual amendments in [ ],
In [April 1902] after the exams were over, Henry joined his parents. One acre of potatoes were planted at the top end of the farm near the river. Most of these were sold to help the family income.... The Simpson family were their neighbours, and during the 1902 [June 14th] ‘old man’ flood, provisions ran low, so Charlie Alve and Bob Simpson went by canoe to Oroua Bridge to get supplies. Luckily for the family, they had no stock except for one cow on the farm. The children sailed about in half a barrel.
The farm was near the “Half Crown Bend” in the Palmerston-Himitangi road; nowadays the junction of Alve Road with S.H.56. There are various theories about the origin of this name each of which, whether true or not, throws some light on the history of the area. Buick in his “Old Manawatu” (1903) comments in a footnote,
The precise origin of this term, which is now applied to a bend in the road near the Oroua Bridge, is involved in some doubt, many people believing that it is simply a short and easy way of pronouncing the native name Ngawhakarau, just as “Jackeytown” has been substituted for Tiakitahuna. I am, however, informed on very good authority, that it arose when the road was being made, from the fact that a black cook, who ran a sort of eating house for the men employed on the work, charged half a crown for every meal.
Other explanations for the name mentioned by Molly Akers in her history of Opiki,”From Fibre to Food” are:
1. That the land in the vicinity of the present junction of Alve and Opiki Roads was believed to have been sold for half a crown an acre (before the Alve’s arrived) - a low value because of continual flooding.
2. Half a crown was the return fare charged charabanc (bus) travellers from here to Palmerston North.
A Birth, a Two Weddings, a Funeral and Floods
One of the largest ever recorded floods on the Manawatu R. happened mid-1902. The newly acquired Alve land would have been affected by this although little or no stock had been acquired at this time. Farming efforts will have been directed to clearing the land of bush and trees. Perhaps cut timber will have been swept away in the floodwaters.
Rupert Adolph, the last of Carl and Maria’s children, was born on the 29th September, 1902 at Rangitane, in the room that later became the office in the homestead. About the same time that Ernie Nash built the cowshed (about 1906), he built four more rooms and a passage and a veranda on to the original lean-to. Prior to this an outbuilding was erected by two maori builders. This building comprised a store room and a bedroom, later used for a wash house. An out-building was put up by Carl Alve and used for a honey house, workshop and temporary bedroom. Late in 1904 Mr Louis Seifert built the “Rangitane” flax mill on the Palmerston side of the river. This mill was adjacent the Alve boundary near the first cowshed. The mill was connected with the “River” mill on the other side of the river by a wire rope “Flying Fox” arrangement long before the swing bridge was built. Henry and Eddie graphically describe how in 1905 one of the mill workers was swept to his death while trying to rescue a stranded Mr Seifert from the marooned cage suspended from the wire rope during a fresh in the river. One of Mr Seifert’s would-be rescuers, Mr J.A. Campbell, was swept away when their boat capsized. His body was found near Foxton two months later. Just a short while before Tom and Lena’s wedding, Anna Alve died (10th March) at home of goitre. She is buried in the Catholic section of the Palmerston North cemetery in the same plot as her parents, brother Charles and his wife “Dolly”. Lena Alve was the first cook at the Rangitane mill and Carl supplied milk to the cookhouse. For some years there was no road from the mill to the Palmerston-Foxton highway, and Mr Tom Purdom carted the bales of fibre to the Rangiotu Railway Station through Maori land adjoining the Alve’s farm. The same Tom and Lena were married in St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Palmerston North on the 5th April, 1906. Lena and Tom began married life living in the house at the top of the farm occupied later by Charlie and Dolly - it was probably built earlier for staff at the flax mill on Nevilles Point. Their first daughter, Gwen Davie, reports that her parents were living there when she was born in 1907. They later moved to farm near the junction of the Oroua and Manawatu rivers. On the 18th July in the same year (1906) another huge flood (100,000 cusecs) inundated the farm. The Manawatu river was reported higher than ever before! No dry land could be seen from Glen Oroua to Jackeytown. The effects on the family are not known, but it can be assumed they were worse than in 1902 because the land was clearer and the farming operation more developed. It is interesting that there are no anecdotal reports of this flood given by early family members. |
In August 1908 Theresia married Herbert Simmons in All Saints, Anglican Church, Palmerston North. Theresia and Bert went to live at Mangawhata on land his father (a butcher) had bought in 1902 for the two brothers - Bert and Charlie. One of Bert’s claims to fame was that he was responsible for issuing a challenge from the Huia Rugby Club (based on Rangiotu) to the newly formed Manawatu representative team. The Huia team was captained by Billy Larkins and had some notable players at the time. The game, played in Palmerston North, was won by Huia 8-6!
Another visitor to the Alve household before 1910 was Bill Busch - oldest child of Mary. After her marriage, Mary had continued to live in the Wairarapa after the family moved to Rangitane. Bill did some of his schooling at Rangiotu, while staying with his grandparents. He finished standard six there in 1914 and returned home. Bill writes that he,
Another visitor to the Alve household before 1910 was Bill Busch - oldest child of Mary. After her marriage, Mary had continued to live in the Wairarapa after the family moved to Rangitane. Bill did some of his schooling at Rangiotu, while staying with his grandparents. He finished standard six there in 1914 and returned home. Bill writes that he,
.... was there when Anna (1906) and Carl (1910) died .... My mother, always known as Mary, never told us much of their early life .... I well remember the old people Carl and Theresia Alve. Carl was a typical German and had very little respect for women and bossed all the family, but did nothing himself.
It might be noted that Carl had chronic myocarditis (heart trouble) from about 1905 onwards and would have been physically very limited. This may also have accounted for his violent temperament observed by his grandchildren.
Colin Alve reports that his father observed Carl was a short, stocky man with a very quick temper. Colin retells the story of him fencing with Henry one day. When he told Henry to do something, Henry was heard to mutter under his breath before he was hit in the backside with Carl’s thrown hammer. On the contrary, Maria was very placid. She would often have to lay awake at night listening to her husband’s “ravings”. Lena is said to have preserved her mother’s temperament. Carl mentioned little about his relations or Germany.
Carl died in Palmerston North hospital on the 21st September 1910. He died as a result of a ruptured aneurism of the left ventricle, i.e. heart attack. His funeral was held in the Palmerston North Catholic Church and he was buried in the Catholic section of the Palmerston North cemetery, adjacent Anna, on 24th September. He was survived by his wife Maria Theresia; five daughters - Mary, Theresia, Lena, Beth and Clara; and five sons - Charlie, Alfred, Henry, Eddie and Dolf. At the time of his death, as noted, Mary, Theresia and Lena had married. There were at that time eight grandchildren - Mary had Bill, Fred, Jack, Tis and Rose; Theresia had Harold; and Lena had Gwen and Daphne.
Carl’s passing marked the end of an era. He, with Maria, had emigrated newlywed from northern Europe to the antipodes in most trying circumstances. His life was a testimony of courage, adventure, determination and, as the above story tells; exceedingly hard work. All who are their descendants can look back and with proud gratitude recall that they have as forbears people who contributed significantly to the early development of their young nation - New Zealand.
The Manawatu Evening Standard” printed the following obituary to Carl Alve in its edition of 23 September, 1910,
Carl died in Palmerston North hospital on the 21st September 1910. He died as a result of a ruptured aneurism of the left ventricle, i.e. heart attack. His funeral was held in the Palmerston North Catholic Church and he was buried in the Catholic section of the Palmerston North cemetery, adjacent Anna, on 24th September. He was survived by his wife Maria Theresia; five daughters - Mary, Theresia, Lena, Beth and Clara; and five sons - Charlie, Alfred, Henry, Eddie and Dolf. At the time of his death, as noted, Mary, Theresia and Lena had married. There were at that time eight grandchildren - Mary had Bill, Fred, Jack, Tis and Rose; Theresia had Harold; and Lena had Gwen and Daphne.
Carl’s passing marked the end of an era. He, with Maria, had emigrated newlywed from northern Europe to the antipodes in most trying circumstances. His life was a testimony of courage, adventure, determination and, as the above story tells; exceedingly hard work. All who are their descendants can look back and with proud gratitude recall that they have as forbears people who contributed significantly to the early development of their young nation - New Zealand.
The Manawatu Evening Standard” printed the following obituary to Carl Alve in its edition of 23 September, 1910,
The late Mr Carl William Alve whose death at Rangitane was announced in yesterday’s issue of the Standard, was born in the Rhine province of Germany in 1849, and came to N.Z. in the ship Gutenburg in 1875. After residing in the Featherston district four or five years he took up land at Eketahuna and endured the hardships incidental to the early period of settling that district. After 16 yrs. farming, principally dairying in the Forty Mile Bush, he went back to Featherston, but did not stay there long as he acquired the land at Rangitane, near Palmerston North; where he has resided ever since. Mr Alve made friends wherever he settled, and was highly respected by all who knew him. Deceased leaves a wife and family of ten children, most of whom are grown up, three of the daughters being married and there are a number of grandchildren. The funeral takes place tomorrow. |