BIOGRAPHY
Leonard Martin Waterreus was a child of Martinus (Martin) Antony Waterreus (1862-1895) and Ellen Maude Reynolds (1867-1928), born in 1889 at Moeraki, Otago. His birth does not appear to have been registered, but his date of birth, provided when his death was registered, was 4 April 1889. His parents were married on 31 Dec 1890 at Hampden, Otago. The family subsequently moved to the North Island following Martin being charged with larcency in 1891. Martin was sent to prison at Masterton in 1894 for abandoning and failing support his family. By September 1895 the family had moved to Taranaki, and on 20 September 1895 Martin was sent to prison for theft from a shop in Stratford. Martin died in New Plymoth Prison on 18 October 1895, leaving a widow and several children, Leonard Martin Waterreus was six years old at the time of his father's death. As noted in the newspaper report below, Leonard was subsequently adopted by the Old family of Lepperton and used the name
Leonard William OLD for the remainder of his life. Some details of his life are given in the newspaper article.
Leonard William Old
1889-1982
I knew Len Old for a good many years. His stand-out feature to me were his enormous hands with their huge knuckle joints, the hands of a hard-working man. Len was born Leonard Martin Waterreus, but was adopted at the age of nine by Harry and Ellen Old of Lepperton, and renamed Leonard William Old. I remember him saying he had run away from an abusive stepfather around 1899. As a teen he became a bushman working out the back of Eltham. By 1910 he was on the beef chain at Thomas Borthwicks freezing works in Waitara. He was taken in by Charlie and Lucy Johnson in Waitara, and worked for Charlie at his new garage and cycle agents in McLean Street in 1913, where he was a Humber motorcycle agent. Len married their daughter, Gertrude Alice Johnson. He also worked on the coal steamers Mahoe, Wetere and Manakau to Mokau. But it was as a pig butcher at the freezing works that he earned good money and the reputation of being a hard worker, capable of dressing 200 pigs a day. In 1927 he bought a caterpillar 10 bulldozer, the first in the Waitara district. I had many a ride on this amazing vehicle with Len.
Len died in 1982 aged 93, and is buried at the Waitara cemetery in Bayly St.
Story by Graeme Duckett who tours cemeteries looking at the people who settled Taranaki.
Source: Taranaki Daily News, 8 Nov 2010, Page 8.
Chris Korte's New Zealand Genealogy Project
1889 - 1982 (92 years)
Has no ancestors but 16 descendants in this family tree.
[1, 2, 3, 4] 
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