Christopher Remnant Jnr
1871-1939
Christopher
(Chris) Remnant was born at Ngatimoti in the Motueka Valley on 1 April 1871.
He was the 6th in a family of 9 and the 3rd son of Christopher
(also known as Chris) Remnant Snr (1834-1905) and Anne (Annie) nee Barrett. His
parents were from Albury, in Surrey, England, and had married at Godalming,
Surrey, on 12 June 1859. Two of Chris
Snr’s brothers, James and George Remnant, had earlier emigrated to New Zealand and he decided to follow
them there. On October 13, 1863 Christopher Snr, his wife and their 2 small
children, departed Gravesend, England, on the ship “Anne Dymes”, travelling as
assisted emigrants. They arrived in Nelson, New Zealand, on 2 March 1864, with
their family increased by a second son born on board the ship and named "George
Dymes" to mark the circumstances of his birth.
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| Christopher Snr & Annie Remnant Chris Jnr's parents. |
His brother George Remnant had already settled at Ngatimoti so in 1868 Christopher Snr moved there too
after buying Section 10 at the Ngatimoti Peninsula, from Roger Dutton. He farmed this firstly in conjunction with his brother George and later with his younger sons. This property was bought from him in 1903 by brothers George & Guthrie Beatson and is still owned by members of the Beatson family today. In 1874 Christopher Snr also bought Ngatimoti Sections 63 & 64 on Waiwhero Road, near the future site of St James Church, from brothers Henry & George Young. He then took over their store
at the top of Church Hill. With it came the position of postmaster/mail carrier for Ngatimoti which was attached to the Youngs’ store and home (site today 864 Waiwhero Road). This role had formerly been held by Henry Young. The home site would
have been very convenient for the Remnant children as the first Ngatimoti
School, established in 1868, was only about 200 metres down the road, built on an
acre which had been cut out of Section 64 and donated for the purpose by George
Young. The old school is gone, but the schoolmaster’s house, built in 1878 right next to the school, still stands on its original site and is at present home to local resident Bob Vincent.
Most of Chris
& Annie Remnant’s nine children left the district as they grew up, but Chris Jnr and his brother James (Jim) Remnant remained. James took over the farm
at the top of Church Hill, which he named “Roseneath”, perhaps for his wife
Rosa nee Savage.
By the beginning of 1898, and quite possibly a year or two earlier, Christopher Jnr had taken over a 350 acre block of wooded land at Pangatotara, (Section 60 & Pt Section 67), bought by his father in 1894, the site of his farm today being 1212 Motueka West Bank Road). Chris Jnr was one of several West Bank farmers who suffered damage during a bushfire in February 1898 - he lost a cottage and feed crops to the flames. Fire and flood were the most common dangers faced by Motueka Valley farmers. He set up there as a local contractor, farming about 50 acres of cleared bush land and milling the rest. Between November 1898 and 1923 he ran what was known as the Pangatotara Sawmill near the Herring Stream.
The mill’s machinery was driven by water power provided by an overshot water wheel 16ft by 5ft wide, using water drawn from the Herring Stream via a tunnel excavated by Chris Remnant. The mill turned out from 1500-2000 ft of timber daily to supply the local market, being mostly kahikatea (white pine) and rimu cut from his own block. He took the processed timber out through the Motueka River by bullock team, then continued the journey to Motueka with a team of horses kept on the east bank. A full description of the property and sawmilling plant can be read in an advertisement placed in the “Nelson Evening Mail” on 30 August 1906, pg. 4, when he was thinking of selling. In the event he ended up staying on at the Pangatotara property for many more years.
On 26 October 1907 he married at his widowed mother’s home in Poole Street, Motueka, to Grace Elizabeth Slatter (1887-1951), youngest daughter of George Arthur Henry Slatter and Rachel nee Graves, who had for a number of years lived at the “Long Reach” property on the West Bank of the Motueka River later farmed by Lex Boyes. The Boyes and Remnant families later became related by marriage when Christopher Remnant Jnr's niece, May (daughter of his older brother William who had moved to the Manawatu), married Lex's father Norman Boyes in 1934.
Chris & Grace Remnant had 6 children - Doreen, Ruby, Leslie George, Hazel, Christopher Bruce and Allan, and to Christopher's frequent petitions to the Waimea County Council for improved roading at the West Bank was added one for a footbridge to be built over the Herring Stream so that his children attending school on the other side could safely cross when it rained and the water level rose to a dangerous level. This request was approved and a bridge put in place. This bridge, known as the "Herring Stream Bridge" is still in use on the West Bank Road today, as is another built a little further along which was named "Remnant's Bridge" for Christopher and his family.
In 1915 Christopher was advertising that he was prepared to deliver loads of processed firewood to Motueka, but by 1923 he was in the process of winding down his sawmilling operation when he offered the remaining 150 acres of standing bush at Pangatorara for sale. And by that time he was finally able to proudly state that a good road ran right to his property! Christopher and Grace Remnant continued to live at Pangatotara until about 1936, when they retired to a home on Whakarewa Street in the Motueka township, where Christopher died on 7 July 1939, aged 68. He lies at the Motueka Cemetery along with his wife Grace, who joined him there in 1951, and their two youngest sons, Bruce and Allen, who both died in early childhood.
By the beginning of 1898, and quite possibly a year or two earlier, Christopher Jnr had taken over a 350 acre block of wooded land at Pangatotara, (Section 60 & Pt Section 67), bought by his father in 1894, the site of his farm today being 1212 Motueka West Bank Road). Chris Jnr was one of several West Bank farmers who suffered damage during a bushfire in February 1898 - he lost a cottage and feed crops to the flames. Fire and flood were the most common dangers faced by Motueka Valley farmers. He set up there as a local contractor, farming about 50 acres of cleared bush land and milling the rest. Between November 1898 and 1923 he ran what was known as the Pangatotara Sawmill near the Herring Stream.
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| Christopher Remnant Jnr & his wife Grace (nee Slatter) |
The mill’s machinery was driven by water power provided by an overshot water wheel 16ft by 5ft wide, using water drawn from the Herring Stream via a tunnel excavated by Chris Remnant. The mill turned out from 1500-2000 ft of timber daily to supply the local market, being mostly kahikatea (white pine) and rimu cut from his own block. He took the processed timber out through the Motueka River by bullock team, then continued the journey to Motueka with a team of horses kept on the east bank. A full description of the property and sawmilling plant can be read in an advertisement placed in the “Nelson Evening Mail” on 30 August 1906, pg. 4, when he was thinking of selling. In the event he ended up staying on at the Pangatotara property for many more years.
On 26 October 1907 he married at his widowed mother’s home in Poole Street, Motueka, to Grace Elizabeth Slatter (1887-1951), youngest daughter of George Arthur Henry Slatter and Rachel nee Graves, who had for a number of years lived at the “Long Reach” property on the West Bank of the Motueka River later farmed by Lex Boyes. The Boyes and Remnant families later became related by marriage when Christopher Remnant Jnr's niece, May (daughter of his older brother William who had moved to the Manawatu), married Lex's father Norman Boyes in 1934.
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Is this Chris Remnant's waterwheel in action? Spotted in his Savage in-laws' photo collection. it has to be regarded as a strong possiblity. A man seen sitting to the right at the top could well be Chris Remnant himself
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In 1915 Christopher was advertising that he was prepared to deliver loads of processed firewood to Motueka, but by 1923 he was in the process of winding down his sawmilling operation when he offered the remaining 150 acres of standing bush at Pangatorara for sale. And by that time he was finally able to proudly state that a good road ran right to his property! Christopher and Grace Remnant continued to live at Pangatotara until about 1936, when they retired to a home on Whakarewa Street in the Motueka township, where Christopher died on 7 July 1939, aged 68. He lies at the Motueka Cemetery along with his wife Grace, who joined him there in 1951, and their two youngest sons, Bruce and Allen, who both died in early childhood.
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For sale: Pangtotara Sawmill , on account Christopher Remnant Jnr NEM 30/08/1906 |
References
Ancestry.com
Beatson, Kath & Whelan, Helen (1993)
"The River Flows : Ngatimoti Through
Flood and Fortune" See: Sawmills, pg 38 & Herring Stream Water-Wheel, pp 140-141
Note:this book has been recently reissued (2019) & is available through the Motueka Historical Assn. (Motueka Museum).
Whelan, Helen (undated) "Dictionary of Ngatimoti Biography" (unpub. ms.)
Remnant & Slatter families
Courtesy Mr E. Stevens
Anne McFadgen (2014) blog post.
"Mud Houses, Schools & Sundry Remnants",
a history of 864 Waiwhero Road, Ngatimoti, its environs and previous occupants.
Anne McFadgen (2014) blog post
Rifleman Darcy Henry Slatter
contains history relating to George Arthur Henry Slatter of Ngatimoti (Grace's father) and his family.
Marriage: Remnant-Slatter
"Colonist" 22 November 1907, pg 2
Notice of the marriage between Chris Remnant Jnr & Grace Elizabeth Slatter.
Pangatotara Sawmill
Proprietor Christopher Remnant Jnr
Cyclopedia of NZ: Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts, 1906: Pangatotara.
Also featured in this section about Ngatimoti residents is farmer George Kemp Marshall of "Stoney Terrace", Pangatotara, who was Grace Remnant's brother-in-law - her brother Harry Wakefield Slatter married George Marshall's sister Ruth Marshall. Yes, pretty much everyone living in the Motueka Valley ended up related to everyone else by either blood or marriage!
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| Account made out by Chris Remnant Jnr to John Campbell (Jack) Strachan of "Meadowbank" farm at the foot of Church Hill, Ngatimoti, for services rendered. |
Photo credits
Nelson Provincial Museum, Savage Collection, ref. 316501
Waterwheel
Nelson Provincial Museum, Savage Collection, ref. 316580
Copy of account: Jack Strachan of "Meadowbank" dr to Christopher Remnant
Courtesy Mr E, Stevens
Copy of account: Jack Strachan of "Meadowbank" dr to Christopher Remnant
Courtesy Mr E, Stevens
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