OBITUARY
PIONEER WOMAN
LATE MRS. E. LUTTRELL
70 YEARS IN GISBORNE
POST-MASSACRE UNREST REFUGE IN COURTHOUSE
By the death of Mrs. Elizabeth Luttrell who passed away yesterday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Cyril Buscke, Manutuke, the Poverty Bay district lost one of the few survivors of the Massacre period.
Mrs. Luttrell, who had attained the age of 87 years, was one of those who, immediately following the massacre, took up residence in Gisborne and lived under the shadow of Te Kooti's possible return. Her memories of that period were clear and detailed, almost to the moment of her passing, and in recent months she had often harked back to the incidents of the past.
The late Mr. William Davis, Wellington, was the father of Mrs. Luttrell, and some time after his death at sea his widow remarried, her second husband being Mr. A. L. W. Bousfield, Government surveyor, who made the first survey at Napier and Taradale. He was a well-known breeder of good horses, and while residing in Hawke's Bay Mrs. Luttrell became an accomplished rider.
Fears of Te Kooti
When the family moved to TurangaA in the late months of 1863, the settlement was still stricken by the events of the Te Kooti massacre, and business and settlement were almost at a standstill. The fear that the rebels would repeat their raid kept the little community on the qui vive, and then for some time afterwards all the women and children were accommodated nightly at the courthouse, which stood on the site of Adair Bros. premisesB. The men took turns at keeping guard, and many an exciting episode occurred as a result of the nervousness that prevailed.
Later, when Te Kooti was known to have left the immediate neighbourhood, settlers began to resume farming operations, and the margins of European settlement were gradually pushed further into the country. Riding parties and picnics were the most popular forms of entertainment, and there was always a spice of danger to add to the relish of these outings, until finally the Hauhau menace was removed.
A Lived in Slab Whare
The Bousfield family settled in the neighbourhood of Waituhi, across the river from Ormond, and lived there for 12 years, most of the time in a slab whare lined and roofed with raupo in the native fashion.
This was remembered by Mrs. Luttrell all her life as one of the most comfortable habitations, for it was warm in winter and cool in summer. It was surrendered when Mr. Bousfield took up residence in Gisborne again, and resumed his practice as a surveyor in company with the late Colonel Winter.
The latter was responsible for laying out the town of Gisborne, and Mrs. Luttrell and friends of her age were participants in the ceremonies associated with the commencement of that task. They also celebrated the opening of the Matawhero bridge, on the main south road, and Mrs. Luttrell was one of the first to cross the completed structure.
Sunshine and Shadow
In her long lifetime, Mrs. Luttrell, who was married in 1878 to the late Mr. E. V. Luttrell, saw much of sunshine and shadow. Her husband died suddenly in 1911, and most of the treasured relics of her early association with Gisborne and Napier were lost through the two fires and the several floodings that affected her successive homes in the district. Nevertheless, she retained to the last an optimistic outlook upon life, and enjoyed keenly the sense of being one of the oldest surviving residents of Poverty Bay, and a link with a period remembered by only a handful of other people.
The surviving members of her family are Mrs. J. Mclntosh, Gisborne, and Mrs. C. Buscke, Manutuke; Mr. A. Luttrell, Waimana, Bay of Plenty, Mr. W. Luttrell, Te Karaka, and Mr. E; Luttrell, Wellington. There are 18 grandchildren and six great-grand-children.
The funeral will leave Mrs. Buscke's residence at Manutuke early this afternoon for the Makaraka cemetery.
Source: Poverty Bay Herald, 1 July 1939, Page 16.
A Turanga is now called Gisborne.
B Adair Bros. store was on the northeast corner of Gladstone Road and Grey Street.
Chris Korte's New Zealand Genealogy Project
1852 - 1939 (87 years)
Has 2 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.
[1, 2] 
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