James (Jimmie) Corrigall - my generation’s great great great granduncle PART ONE

James (Jimmie) Corrigall was christened on the 28th of May, 1838 in Harray, Orkney (Reference 40873; IGI/OPR Index: 1838-018). He was the youngest son of James Corrigall senior and Catherine Sinclair. He was an uncle to my generation’s great, great, grandfather, James Corrigall. He was almost 20 years older than James and to distinguished them I am referring to the older man as Jimmie, and the younger one as James. Fortunately some of the newspaper reports refer to Jimmie as James Corrigall senior, and our direct ancestor, James as James Corrigall junior, even though they were uncle and nephew rather than father and son. However, most articles do not distinguish between the two, so it is a little bit confusing at times. In the portrait taken with Jean and three of the children, taken circa December 1886 or early 1887, Jimmie would have been 49 years old and James 30 years old.

Jimmie immigrated to New Zealand sometime before March 1869, when he was confirmed to be leasing land in the Blacks / Ophir area of Central Otago. To date I have not been able to find any details of his immigration or his life prior to coming to New Zealand. It is likely, however, that he came during the 1860s as part of the Otago gold rush, similar to his brother-in-law, William Hourston Leask.

From all accounts, Jimmie was a single man, who became a wealthy land owner with a significant estate by the time of his death in 1912. He owned property at Tiger Hill, Lauder and Waimate.

Jean and James (standing) Corrigall with baby Janet, Betsy / Bess (standing) and James junior (sitting), and James’s uncle also James (known as Jimmie) seated, circa December, 1886 or early 1887 - notice the homemade chair!

Tiger Hill

Jimmie had been in the Blacks / Ophir area since at least March 1869. This area was known as the Tiger Hill district. In those times, the usual way to occupy land was to obtain a lease. Pastoral leases were initially for a term of 10 years, and a deferred-payment scheme was offered to encourage family farms. The maximum block was 320 acres (130 hectares), the deposit was one-tenth of the price, and the money could be repaid over 10 years so long as the leaseholder lived on the land and made improvements. Under the Land Act of 1882, pastoral leases were extended from 10 to 21 years and the so-called perpetual lease was introduced. Under this scheme land was offered at a maximum rent of 5% of the value per annum. Once again, residence on the land and improvements were required.

In 1871 Jimmie applied to lease section 16 of Block 2 at Tiger Hill, which consisted of 35 acres, 2 roods and 5 perches. In the 1913 map below, section 16, to is to the mid right and is named McBreen, and is located on what is now known as Booth Road.

Partial View of the Crown Grant Index Record Map of Tiger Hill District, September 1913, showing Ophir township

In 1875, Jimmie applied to lease the 36 acres at section 11 of Block 2 at Tiger Hill for agricultural purposes. In the above map, this section has William Leask’s name on it. Interestingly during that same year, 1875, the next door Section 5 of Block 2 was leased by a Mr William Corrigall. I am unclear of Jimmie and William’s relationship, but they were no doubt related and and possibly even brothers.

William Corrigall had previously been in Charleston, a gold mining town, on the West Coast of the South Island in 1871. The next record of William was when he leased Section 5 of Block 2 at Tiger Hill, in 1875 as mentioned above. William then moved to Pigeon Bay, near Akaroa, Banks Peninsula in Canterbury in the 1880s. Possibly this was preceded by journey back home to Orkney, Scotland, however, I have not looked into this. All I can confirm is that it is likely that a reference to Corrigall road in Pigeon Bay during 1888 and a Mr Corrigall tendering for a roading contract in that area during 1888 refers to William. William is next confirmed as being in Pigeon Bay, Akaroa area in 1890, when he was a witness in the magistrate’s court. It is also known that William and Mary Corrigall took over the operation of ‘Burnside’ around 1880, and moved into Burnside House, 239 Middle Road, Pigeon Bay in 1890. Of course I have no proof that these William Corrigalls were all one and the same, and I have found no further information regarding any William Corrigall to date.

Interestingly, in 1888 an area to the back of Blacks / Ophir, at the bottom of Brandy Hill a quartz lode known as ‘Corrigall’s Reef’ was mined by Green’s Reef Company. An eight stamper battery operated and while it no doubt contained gold, whether it was ever payable is unknown. I have not been able to determine why this reef was called Corrigall’s, but apparently it had been prospected in the early days of gold mining in the area; in the 1860s. I would suggest that it is likely to have something to do with Jimmie and / or William.

Jimmie continued to acquire land. In June, 1878, Jimmie applied for agricultural lease of sections 21, 22, 30 and 31of Block 1, Tiger Hill, comprising of ‘198 acres, 3 roods and 9 perches’. These sections can be seen in the 1913 map below, with James Corrigall’s name on section 30. The road to the west of this section is now known as Corrigalls Road.

Partial View of the Crown Grant Index Record Map of Tiger Hill District, September 1913, showing current Omakau township

A deferred payment application was approved in August 1878 for Jimmie to buy section 5 of Block 2 at Tiger Hill. This had previously been leased by William Corrigall. Jimmie applied to occupy sections 21 and 22 of Block 1, Tiger Hill in 1883 under section 59 of the Mines Act. This was initially declined but later reversed after a rehearing of his application led by Mr W.L. Simpson. The license was issued under section 25 of the Reserves Act 1881, ‘subject to the reservation of all mining and water rights, and land required for railway purposes, and the condition that free ingress and egress be allowed to the part of the section used as a quarry, at £5 per annum’.

In 1884 Jimmie applied for a ‘dispasturing licence’ over sections 13, 19, 20 and 61 of Block 1, Tiger Hill. It was reported that a number of settlers in the district petitioned against the application being granted. It is unclear as to why this may have been the case. By January 1885, the Land Board were asked to consider Jimmie’s application to occupy sections 1,2,3,19 and 61 of Block 1, Tiger Hill. The District Land Officer recommended that ‘the same be determined by auction’. I am not sure what the outcome of these applications were, but perhaps this is what drove him to then focus on land at nearby Lauder.

Crown Grant and Record Map of the Lauder District, 1919

Jimmie retained his land in Tiger Hill when he moved to the Lauder district, around ten kilometres away, possibly to fulfil the requirements of the perpetual lease there. Probably it was his nephew James, and my generation’s great great grandfather, who managed the Tiger Hill property. James and his family would have been in New Zealand for over eighteen months by this time.

Lauder

The earliest information I have found regarding Jimmie’s Lauder property is during September of 1885, when he requested that the price for the perpetual lease of section 9, Block 9, Lauder be reduced to 20 shillings per acre, and this was granted. I have been unable to pinpoint exactly where this section is, but Block 9 is to the top left of the Crown Grant and Record Map of the Lauder District map of 1919.

Crown Grant and Record Map of the Lauder District, 1919

The following year, in 1886, Jimmie tendered for the perpetual lease on section 9, Block 4 of Lauder (224 acres, 1 rood and 10 poles) and this was accepted at the upset price of 1 shilling per acre. This property includes, and is to the north of, what is currently known as Lauderburn House at 3375 Becks-Lauder Road, at Lauder, approximately ten kilometres from Blacks / Ophir. Later in 1893, Jimmie applied for and was granted section 20, of block 5 at Lauder on lease in perpetuity. This is a small triangular section at the very top mid centre of the partial view of the Crown Grant and Record Map of the Lauder District of 1919.

Part of the Crown Grant and Record Map of the Lauder District, 1919, showing James Corrigall’s name on section 9 of Block 4, and sections 17, 18 and 26 (in pencil) of Block 5. Also shown is section 20 (small triangular section at the mid top) which Jimmie is known to have leased in 1893.

The Blacks / Ophir and Lauder area of Central Otago was and is not easy farming, with irregular rainfall, and extremes of hot and severe cold (frequently beyond 30 degrees Celsius in summer to many degrees below freezing in winter). By 1876 the whole of Southland was infested with rabbits and North and Central Otago were fast approaching the same state. By 1887 rabbits were swarming and the exploding rabbit populations made farming even more difficult. In 1890 Jimmie, like other farmers in the region, was fined 20s 7s for ‘not using proper means to rid themselves of bunny’.

It seems that Jimmie had a farming partnership at Lauder with a Mr. Henry Robert Martin, as their names are connected through perpetual leases 1,113 ,113A, 5 and 242 and in regards to section 17 of Block 5 at Lauder. This seems to have begun around 1894. Jimmie wrote to the land board in 1896 as reported in the Otago Daily Times and the Dunstan Times in regards to rent owed on these leases. The Otago Witness reported in 1898 that ‘Mr James Corrigall wrote, for himself and behalf of Mr H. R. Martin, regarding the rent of land held by them in block V, Lauder district. The board, having no power to reduce the rents, resolved that if one year’s rent in each case was paid within one month from date, further time would be allowed for the payment of another year’s rent; otherwise the leases would be forfeited.’ In June 1898 the Land Board reported that they would favourably consider transfer of the perpetual lease of section 18 of Block 5 and section 9 of Block 4, Lauder from Henry Robert Martin to James Corrigall if Jimmie paid rent due on his own sections. In August of 1898 it was reported that H. R. Martin had sold his farm to Jimmie, and also that Jimmie had purchased a property from Mr Aitkens.

Jimmie advertised part of his property for sale or lease early in 1902. In February 1902, the Otago Land Board found a number of settlers in arrears of payments on leased land including Jimmie and the Evening Star was reported that Jimmie’s Lauder property was considered forfeited. This was possibly due the fact that Jimmie was hoping to sell or lease his property, and / or due to the increasing ‘bunny problem’. Within days Jimmie had paid his arrears and the forfeiture was rescinded. The following year, in January, the Land Board showed little sympathy to the farmers when it gave them a month to come up with a reason not to forfeit their leases.

Jimmie seemed to solve his issue by applying to transfer the lease on section 26, Block 5 at Lauder in perpetuity to John Leask in May of 1903. Some cash would have been freed up for Jimmie in June of that year, when the Land Board approved his lease transfer. John Leask was Jimmie’s nephew and the eldest son of William Hourston Leask and his sister, Ellen Leask nee Corrigall.

I believe it was Jimmie who was the James Corrigall that applied for exchange water race licence 3049 in 1904. Later that year the exchange license was accepted and issued for 42 years as reported in Dunstan Times and the Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette. During 1905, Jimmie and some other Lauder farmers applied to the Warden’s Court for a water race to draw six heads of water out of Lauder Creek. Lauder Creek can be seen on the very right of the Crown Grant and Record Map of the Lauder District, 1919. The application was granted on the condition that two heads of water be allowed to run down the stream in November of that year. Presumably this water would have been taken for irrigation. In September 1907, an application was made for dry race, which is a water race without storage, through Jimmie’s section 17 of Block 5 by Mrs Lucy Moran. This application implies that Jimmie had water on his section 17. The Crown Grant and Record Map of the Lauder District, 1919, shows a water race reserve running through Jimmie’s sections 26 and 17, however it seems to stop abruptly at each boundary of his property.

In December 1905 through to early 1906, Jimmie applied to purchase the properties that he had perpetual leases on at Lauder. These were section 9 of Block 4 (223 acres, 2 roods, 28 poles) and sections 17 and 18 of Block 5 (1028 acres, 2 roods, 15 poles) all visible in the above map. This was approved in June 1906. James Clouston, Jimmie’s nephew and son of Jean nee Corrigall and Thomas Clouston bought 1000 freehold acres from Jimmie at Lauder as reported in May 1907. I am not certain which section/s of land these were, but I can confirm that this sale coincides with the beginning of Jimmie’s connection to Waimate. The sale may not have been as smooth as first thought though, as in 1908, Jimmie wrote to Vincent County Council complaining that he was being rated for land he didn’t own anymore. The clerk had informed Jimmie that as he had occupied the property at the time that the rates were ‘struck’, he was liable for them.

A report in the Herald of Alexandra in September 1908 confirmed that the ‘old and esteemed’' Jimmie still owned plenty of land in the Ophir - Lauder area. Jimmie would have been 70 years old at the time. A Dunstan Times report in 1909 refers to the Vincent County Council needing to meet with Jimmie regarding a cutting through Muddy Creek at Lauder. Muddy Creek is on the Crown Grant and Record Map of the Lauder District, 1919, running through the Wilson’s properties, south of Jimmie’s sections 17 and 18.

Animals Lost, Sold and Bred

Jimmie seems to have been involved in the breeding of Clydesdale horses during his early times in Blacks / Ophir. In February 1874 it was reported that his valuable draught mare was killed in a thunder and lightening storm that caused destruction throughout the district. Ten years later his name was associated with the Clydesdale stallion ‘Young Lochnivar’ as advertised in the Dunstan Times throughout 1885.

Jimmie began with 150 sheep in 1884, and his flock increased up to as many as 1195 in 1902, according to the Annual Sheep Returns. In 1911, before his death, he was running 550 sheep. The first report of a Corrigall selling stock in the newspapers of the day is in the Otago Daily Times in 1901, when Jimmie sold 62 half bred lambs at Wedderburn for 9s 8d. After this time he regularly sold sheep and sometimes bullocks initially at Wedderburn and then at Burnside, in Dunedin.

Jimmie lost a couple of his animals over the years and resorted to placing several advertisements in the local newspapers. During November 1880, he advertised in the Dunstan Times for his bay draught gelding he had lost, offering a £2 reward on its return. In 1906, Jimmie placed an advertisement in the Dunstan Times, this time for a dog he had lost.

Roads

Roads would have been essential before the development of the railway as a means of trade and communication. Between 1876 and 1922 road boards and later county councils, did most road building and maintenance. Landowners would sometimes create their own roads or if there was a need for a public road, they would need to lobby the Road Board. As well as farming, Jimmie had other business interests and one of these was tendering to the Road Board to upgrade roads, improving them with gravel. In 1878 his tender of £179 was accepted for contract number 36, ‘Ophir Street’, presumably the main street of Blacks / Ophir. He also tendered for roading contracts such as those reported in 1879 and 1885, the latter of which he won for £331 10s. Jimmie probably carted gravel in his dray, probably from the quarry on or near his land section 59 of Block 1, Tiger Hill. It was interesting to note that William Corrigall in Pigeon Bay, Akaroa, was also involved in a similar business.

Jimmie and others living rurally would often write to the county council asking for roads to be formed or improved. Apparently in 1902, there was a bridge proposed near his Lauder property. In 1904 Jimmie and some other Lauder land owners requested that a road be opened up to Lauder station, however, the Road Board considered it to be in an unsuitable location and expensive to construct. They did apparently concede to having an engineer examine the costs of such a road. Today Lauder Station Road comes off St Bathans Loop Road, to the south of Cambrians, and north of Becks.

Jimmie and his Lauder neighbour, Lucy Moran, talked to Vincent County Council in 1904 regarding the road between Lauder railway and Muddy Creek. The roading engineer was instructed to inspect it and to estimate costs of improvements. This road is likely to be one of those now known as Muddy Creek Road, Drybread Road or Brown Road. In 1907 Jimmie wrote to the Land Board regarding opening a road so he could access his property since he had sold part of his land, presumably with road access. The clerk was told to inform him to that the county had made arrangements with Mrs Moran for access through her property. Most likely this road is one of those aforementioned, and my guess it is Brown Road as Lucy Moran’s property was to the south of Jimmie’s section 17 of Block 5 at Lauder.

Rail

Rail would have been essential to trade and communication when it became available. As early as 1877, Jimmie spoke at a meeting regarding the extension of the railway line from Dunedin into Central Otago. During this meeting it is reported that he said ‘there was no better land in the country’. He pointed out that at a farm in nearby Ida Valley ‘in parts last year yielded 80 bushels to the acre, with straw to cover a man’s height’. He said the land was also good in Blacks’ Valley and Glassford’s Flat and he considered Blacks’ district ‘one of the best in the colony’, and ‘if we look after it so it will improve.’ He rued that fact that it was difficult to get land in the area, and that many good men were leaving because of this, citing the 6000 acres at Glassford’s Flat had not become available publicly as expected.

In 1892, Jimmie was appointed to a committee of Otago Central Railway League, that resolved ‘that the construction of the Otago Central railway be vigorously prosecuted’, ‘rapid construction of this railway is only an act of justice to settlers who have been induced to purchase and lease land in this district on the assurance of the railway being built’ and ‘a branch of the Otago Central Railway League to be called the Blacks Branch’. It was another eight years, in June 1900 that the railway construction neared Jimmie’s Lauder property.

In September 1905, the shareholders of the Lauder Sale Yard Company resolved that they would purchase four acres from Jimmie and two of his neighbours, Alexander and Wilson. This would have been a small portion of Jimmie’s section 9 of Block 4, directly to the north of where the railway / railtrail meets meets what is now state highway 85 at Lauder. It is unclear if Jimmie was a share holder, but it seems likely and Jimmie had previously moved that stock yards should be built at both Lauder and Blacks / Ophir at a public meeting in 1904. At the 1905 Lauder Sale Yard Company meeting, shareholders resolved to call for tenders be called to erect yards and to form a company called the ‘Lauder Sale Yards Syndicate’. Lauder became a hive of activity once the railway was constructed (officially opened in November, 1904) and the local station erected. The Lauder Railway Hotel was built soon after, followed by the Lauder Railway School in 1906. The Post and Telegraph Office became part of the railway station, and the sale yards, a stationmaster’s house and dwellings were all built along the line from the station.

Business Interests

Jimmie took an interest in the wider agricultural industry. He deputised a Mr Williams to attend a 1874 meeting at Clyde with the Provisional Director of the Dunstan District Flour Mill Company to say he could guarantee 100 shares to be taken up at Blacks if the proposed mill be built at Chatto Creek. The company agreed to construct the flour mill at Chatto Creek, and Jimmie was appointed as a sub-collector to collect shares from the district along with two other gentlemen.

Jimmie was on the provisional committee for the Blacks District Flour Mill Company, Limited. The 1876 prospectus of this company outlined that there would be 400 shares available at £5 each. It stated that ‘up to the present oats only have been grown, which are a glut in the market’ and went on to say that the area ‘can not attain the prosperity it should do until we have a Flour Mill erected in our midst’.

In 1892, Jimmie joined a committee to reinstate the Blacks flour mill since the previous owner had deceased. He ended up purchasing it in partnership with a John Pitches in September of that year. At some stage Robert Gilkinson must have also bought into the mill. The trio kept the mill for five and a half years and sold it in 1904.

Blacks Flour Mill, date unknown, from Mrs E Stevenson; courtesy of Hocken Library

Jimmie must have ‘rubbed shoulders’ with others in the business world. For example, he was a share holder in the Colonial Bank of New Zealand, an independent trading bank that operated for over 20 years from Dunedin until it was bought by the Bank of New Zealand. And it was Jimmie who occupied the chair at a 1876 farewell to Mr J.A. McKay, the accountant of the New South Wales Bank. The Dunstan Times article of the 6th of October unusually relates Jimmie’s speech:

‘Ladies and gentlemen, we have come here this evening for the purpose of expressing our regret at the departure from amongst us of a gentleman who has gained the esteem of all who know him. We wish also, ladies and gentlemen to show him how deeply we feel the many services he has rendered the district, and how sincerely we wish him happiness and prosperity wherever he may be situated; and that whilst we earnestly hope that he may always find himself in the midst of (illegible) who wish him well, like the present company, and that he will remember those he is about to leave behind him.’

Community

Jimmie was elected to the ‘Blacks Progress Committee’ in 1875. This committee had been credited with establishing a savings bank, improving the road through Blacks township, and being instrumental in opening up 5000 acres of land for settlement at Ida Valley and Glassford’s run, named ‘Spottis Hundred’.

His 1880 dray accident didn’t seem to slow Jimmie down, as by October that year he was elected to committee of the ‘Blacks District Farmers Club’. And the following year, in 1881 he was nominated as candidate for Manuherikia Riding council although later withdrew. He is mentioned in an article about a ‘supper and smoke’ concert at the Blacks / Ophir hotel in 1897. Jimmie also is noted to have moved a vote of thanks and confidence at an electoral meeting in 1898. And, in 1900, a Mr Corrigall, presumably Jimmie is mentioned as responding to a toast at a farewell and again in 1908.

Jimmie must have enjoyed a little bit of friendly competition too, participating in many agricultural shows. He won second prize of 10 shillings for the best sample of a sack of wheat at the ‘Blacks Agricultural Show’ in March, 1883, although it was his brother in law, William Leask, who was supposedly considered the ‘king of wheat’! Many years later, in June 1907, it was again Jimmie who won 1st prize at the Dunedin Winter Show for his Red Tuscan wheat.

It may have been Jimmie or his nephew James, that was involved with Central Otago Agricultural Society. One of them were elected to the committee in 1893 and appointed a steward at the first Central Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Show later that year. On Friday the first of December, 1893 the first Central Otago A. and P. Show was held at William Leask’s sale yards. Either it was Jimmie or James that was placed third with their spring cart horse driven in harness and third prize for cow over 3 years old. One of the two was again elected to the committee the following year in 1894. I suspect that is was Jimmie though in 1904 who spoke strongly on hosting the show in Lauder, offering his land there free of charge. I have not found the outcome of this suggestion to date. Later on, when Jimmie lived in Waimate, he enjoyed participating in horticultural competitions.