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View Family Tree - Alexanderina Rush

Palmerston North Cemetery Records. Search for:

• Alexanderina McDowall
• William McDowall
• Septemia McDowall

McDowalls buried in Terrace End, Palmerston North are:

• Robert McDowall
• Andrew McDowall
• Henrietta McDowall (nee Abbott)
• Clementina Edith McDowall
• Norman Metcalfe
• Stanislaus McDowall
• William Ainsley McDowall
• Mary Ruth McDowall (nee Wells)
• Vincent Joseph McDowall
• Ruby Ethel McDowall (nee Dudson)
• Joyce Martha McDowall

McDowalls buried in Kelvin Grove, Palmerston North are:

• Alfred Abbott McDowall
• Mary Eliza McDowall (nee Mexted)
• Douglas Pancracious McDowall
• Minnie Grimshaw McDowall (nee Fyfe)
• Augustine Robert McDowall
• Lulu McDowall (nee Braddock)
• Douglas William John McDowall
• Florence May McDowall (nee Reid)
• Eileen Mary Teresa McDowall (nee Ness)
• Eric James Metcalfe

Alexanderina Rush, 1852-1932

This page documents Alexanderina Rush, the third child of Cecilia's third marriage to John George Rush.

Alexanderina, John and Cecilia's third child, was born in the Hutt Valley in 1852.

The following story is an extract taken from the McDowall Family History book by Dale Hartle and Steve McDowall, published in 2005, named "From the Thistle to the Fern".

Alexanderina Rush married William McDowall Junior on 24 July 1870 in the Catholic Church, Lower Hutt. He was aged 23, and Alexanderina was 18 years old. William lived at Waiwhetu, and Alexanderina at Taita. The priest was Fr Eugene Peituis and the witnesses were her father John G Rush, Farmer, and siblings Pelagia Rush and Alphonsus Rush. In fact, because Alexanderina was under 21 years of age, the permission of her father was required. (Reference Marriage Notice).

In a letter to his son Andrew, dated 12 August 1870, William McDowall Senior says: "On the 22nd of last month William asked me if I was coming to be at his wedding on the 24th, I told I would not as we could not both be from home at once. He was married to Alexanderina Rush who was eighteen on her wedding day, at the catholic church Hutt and they both came home here on the 25th when I saw her for the first time, she appears to be a good girl and endeavours to make herself agreeable and useful." He also talked about the settling of the land in the Manawatu.

William's father first met his new daughter-in-law the next day, as he did not attend the wedding, preferring to remain on the farm. He said in a letter to his son Andrew that Alexanderina "appears to be a good girl and endeavours to make herself agreeable and useful."

The photo above of William and Alexanderina is actually two individual paintings joined together.

William and Alexanderina's first child, Andrew John, was born exactly nine months after their wedding on 26 April 1871 in Taita. Soon after their marriage they moved to the Manawatu and were amongst the first settlers in Palmerston North, living in Rangitikei Road. They are listed as being present at the first Catholic Mass held in Palmerston North on St Patrick's Day, 1872. They probably would have travelled by sea to Foxton and then transferred to a canoe to paddle up the Manawatu River to the Palmerston North bush settlement.

The Manawatu was just being opened up for settlement in the early 1870s, and Andrew and William saw it as an opportunity to acquire their own farms since there was a land shortage in the Hutt. They applied for land on a deferred payment system as noted in the transcript of the land documents.

Rangitikei Line

It took six years to secure a grant for land in the Manawatu. According to the New Zealand Government Gazette, dated Monday 23 February 1874, under the return of Lands Sold and Deposits Received in the Province of Wellington from 1-31 January 1874, three applications were made in December 1873 for land in the Manawatu under the deferred payments system from:

• John George Rush - 50 acres
• Andrew McDowall - 100 acres
• William McDowall - 50 acres

In 1875/76 they reapplied and were still listed as applicants, but as can be seen from the transcript of the Certificates of Title published in the McDowall book, William McDowall finally secured half of Section 553 (50 acres), and Andrew McDowall received 100 acres of Section 428 on 7 July 1880.

William's property had the mortgage discharged on 11 October 1895.

Early Manawatu

Life for women of early Palmerston North like Alexanderina must have been particularly hard and generally unpleasant. Unfortunately no interviews with women in the 1870s are available, so oral history and published snippets remain the best sources.

In addition to the demands of motherhood, the women's workload included helping establish and maintain farms and food production while their husbands worked in the bush or in town. Their first houses were crude draughty little "houses" with dirt floors, and keeping them warm, clean and hygienic would have been difficult.

Women often were forced to leave young children alone while they did necessary chores which was dangerous in such difficult conditions, and some real horror stories can be found of accidents and deaths in those early years. Medical care was haphazard and not always affordable and many women settlers acted as midwives, nursed the sick and took in orphaned children, if they were not widowed themselves.

There was a considerable distance to travel to shop, to attend doctors or children to school. Often road conditions were very bad and for women the primary means of transport in the early days was by foot, often ankle-deep in mud in winter, carrying children too young to talk.

When they first moved to the Manawatu, Alexanderina had one child, Andrew John, but eight more followed in the next few years.

The full list of nine children is:

• Andrew John, born 1871 in the Hutt
• Stanislaus Ranssly, born 1873 in Palmerston
• Douglas Pancracious, born 1875 in Palmerston
• Clementina Smith, born 1877 in Palmerston
• William Lawrence, born 1879 in Palmerston
• Vincent Joseph, born 1881 in Palmerston
• Septemia Maria, born 1884 in Palmerston
• Augustine Robert, born 1886 in Palmerston
• Veronica Maria, born 1888 in Palmerston

This photo of the McDowall Family, taken in 1901 appears to be at the time of Clementina's wedding, as this would be a suitable occasion for the whole family to be together for a family photograph. Back from left: William, Vincent, Douglas, Stan, Andrew John. Front: Alexanderina, Robert, Veronica, Clementina.

Tragically William McDowall died suddenly on 10 March 1888 at Rangitikei Road, Palmerston North of an "apoplectic fit" (verdict of jury).

The following newspaper item recorded the death and tells what happened:

The New Zealand Mail, March 16th, 1888, pg 23(5) Town and Country Section - Palmerston North, March 10th: "A very sudden death occurred a few miles from here on the Rangitikei Line this morning. Mr W McDouall, one of the first settlers in this district had gone into the Mangaone river to bathe, and was suddenly seized with a fit, expiring in the water."

It would appear from this Coroner's Report that William suffered a stroke shortly after entering the Mangaone Stream, and despite efforts to assist him by Alphonsus Rush and his son Andrew McDowall, and subsequently Doctor MacIntire, he died within an hour. The second document (Form 7) shows that a Coroner's Court was convened the same day at the McDowall homestead to investigate the death, and the verdict was "death after apoplectic fit", as recorded on William's death certificate.

William was 42 years old, and the recorded ages of his 8 children at the time of his death were males: 17, 16, 13, 9, 6, 2 and females: 11 and 4 years. Alexanderina suddenly found herself a widow on a farm with eight children, and expecting her ninth. Soon after William's death, another daughter Veronica was born, and two months later, young Septemia died. No doubt the family rallied around to help her during these tough times.

William made out his will on the 10th of April 1883 in Palmerston, 6 months before his father William Senior died. It was a handwritten document leaving his entire estate to his wife Alexanderina, and appointing Alexanderina and George Snelson (Palmerston's Mayor) as executors.

Alexanderina spent a lot of time at Glengarry with her sons Stan and Vincent after William's death, but she eventually moved to Glengarry to live with her 2 unmarried sons and daughter Veronica. The Rangitikei Line property was leased in 1905 and was sold in 1942.

According to Alexanderina's death certificate, she died at Dannevirke at the age of 80 on 28 September 1932 of arteriosclerosis which she had had for a year, and cholecystitis (gall stones) which she had suffered from for a week. She was survived by 5 sons aged 59, 57, 53, 51, and 46 and two daughters aged 55 and 44 (Andrew John having died in 1921).

Alexanderina's death notice published in the "Manawatu Evening Standard" on Wednesday 28 September 1932 reads:

"McDowall, on September 28, 1932 at Dannevirke, Alexandrina, relict of the late William McDowall, formerly of Rangitikei Line, Palmerston North, aged 80 years, RIP."

Obituary

An Obituary in the "Manawatu Evening Standard" on Thursday 29 September 1932, page 11 for Alexanderina reads:

Mrs W. McDowall: There passed away yesterday morning at the residence of her sons, Messrs McDowall, at Glengarry, Dannevirke, Mrs W. McDowall, wife of the late Mr W. McDowall, of Rangitikei Line, Palmerston North, where they were among the earliest settlers, coming up the river from Foxton in a canoe in 1872. The deceased lady, who was 80 years of age, was born in Hataitai, Wellington, of which city her late husband was also a native. Losing her husband 40 years ago, Mrs McDowall was left with her young family of five sons and two daughters to bring up. For the past 20 years she had been living with her sons at Glengarry. The family left to mourn her passing are Messrs Stanley and Vincent McDowall, and Miss Veronica McDowall, of Glengarry, Messrs Douglas (Marton), William (Pahiatua) and Robert McDowall (Palmerston North) and Mrs F Mickleson (Taihape), while there is a brother of the deceased lady, Mr T Rodgers, aged 93, still residing in Palmerston North.

This last will and testament of Alexanderina McDowall, made on the 16th of June 1927, appointed her son Stanley McDowall as sole Executor. The value of the estate was registered as being less than twelve hundred pounds, with the sole beneficiary being her daughter Veronica.

It would appear from the 21 page probate records that William's estate was not completely signed off when Alexanderina passed away. At that time, the other executor of William's estate, George Snelson had died on 31 October 1901 and Alexanderina had appointed her son Stanislaus McDowall in his place. However when Stan died intestate on 7 October 1937, William's will had still not been signed off, so on the 30th of April 1938, 50 years after he died, with the consent of the surviving family members and executors of Clementina's estate, "William Lawrence McDowall of Konini, Farmer, and Augustine Robert McDowall of Palmerston North, Blacksmith, some of the next of kin of William McDowall deceased" were appointed by the courts to administer and finalise the estate, valued at £3,000. A one-eighth share of the estate was worth £375.

The address and occupation of William and Alexanderina's children in 1938 are listed in the records:

• Andrew John McDowall, late of Ohakune, mill hand (now deceased)
• Stanislaus Ranssly McDowall, late of Glengarry, farmer (now deceased)
• Clementina Mickleson (now deceased), wife of Frederick Mickleson of Tiriraukawa
• Vincent Joseph McDowall, of Glengarry, near Dannevirke, farmer
• Douglas McDowall, of Feilding, farmer
• Veronica McDowall, of Glengarry, Spinster
• William Lawrence McDowall, of Konini, farmer
• Augustine Robert McDowall, of Palmerston North, blacksmith

And the children of Andrew John McDowall:

• Alexandrina Cressy, wife of Aubrey Cressy of Mangapehi, labourer
• Latchmore Thomas McDowall, of Stratford, Railway Employee
• Elma Florence Cole, wife of Leslie Alfred Cole, of Ongarue, Railway Employee
• Eileen Francis Hackett, wife of Reginald Francis Hackett, of Ohakune, Labourer
• Andrew Douglas McDowall, of Ohakune, Labourer
• Vincent Joseph McDowall, of Palmerston North, Military Pensioner
• Stanislaus McDowall, of Ohakune, Labourer
• William Ainsley McDowall, of Dannevirke, Military Pensioner

Both Alexanderina and William are buried in Plot 29, Block 78, Terrace End, opposite John George and Cecilia Rush's grave. Their daughter Septemia died two and a half months after her father on 30 May 1888 from tuberculosis of the intestines, and is buried with her parents in Plot 30.

Their large and well-preserved headstone reads: "William McDowall, died 10 March 1888, aged 41 years, also his daughter Ceptimus, died 30 May 1888, aged 4 years. Also Alexanderina McDowall, who departed this life on Sept 28th, 1932 aged 80 years. Of your charity pray for their souls."

William and Alexanderina McDowall have over 500 descendants, with Clementina having the largest family, followed by Andrew John. Stanislaus, Vincent, Septemia, and Veronica did not have any children. You can view the family tree from the link on the right.

The full story of Alexanderina and William McDowall is documented in the book "From the Thistle to the Ferm" published in 2005 by Steve McDowall and Dale Hartle. It is available in several New Zealand libraries, and an unbound copy of the original text is available from Steve or Dale.

2017 Rush/Rodgers Family Reunion

Members of the McDowall family attended the 2017 reunion held in Palmerston North. Here's their family group photo. Click on the image to see a full screen view.

Contact details

If you have any information or photos to add to this page, or any corrections, please contact Dale Hartle in Levin, New Zealand, by phone +64 021 45 34 24.