Although Maggie was not enrolled at Te Whiti School until 1886 when she
was 15 years of age, her family believed her to have had a normal
education. It is very likely some of the McKenzie children stayed with
Isabella's mother in Kuripuni in order to attend Central School. By this
time the four older girls, Katherine, Mary, Annie and Jessie were
already married. One ponders on the organisation required to send eight
children off to school each morning with a cut lunch. Jane and Bella
were at home to support their mother in the kitchen. As a young woman,
Maggie, a pleasant and quiet girl, was employed as a tailoress in
Masterton riding to work on horseback each day from Te Whiti. She was
admired from a distance by a young man named Samuel Baggarley who one
day caught up and rode home with her. When he asked for directions to
find his way home Maggie, not wanting to encourage this young hopeful,
sent him off the wrong way. This incident wasn't enough to deter the
young man, however, as they became friends and eventually married. Her
brothers, all good shots, loved to go duck shooting. After a day's sport
and home with a good bag they could then relax and play cards while the
girls had to set to and clean, pluck and prepare the birds for the
table, an onerous and unpleasant task they didn't enjoy.
On her wedding day Maggie was given a bible by her mother inscribed,
"From mother to Maggie, 27 March, 1896", a treasure which remains in the
family in the care of her daughter, Hazel Maunder. The couple were
married in Masterton. They lived first in Carterton where Samuel worked
with his father.
Just before Christmas, 1897, a son, Harold Arthur, was born to Maggie
and Samuel in the family home at Te Whiti. When the second son, Leslie
Clarence arrived in 1900 they had moved to Nireaha near Eketahuna where
Sam was employed at a sawmill and used to take milk to Eketahuna by
horse and cart. Living not far away on the Daysh farm at Nireaha was
Maggie's sister, Jane.
The next move was on to their own land at Marima near Pahiatua where Sam
established a dairy herd. Their four daughters, Aileen, Hazel, Doris and
Olive were born here. Maggie's early training as a tailoress was
invaluable. She made all the children's' clothes and taught all four
girls to sew besides coping with the many demands of a farmer's wife. An
early school photograph shows both boys dressed alike in smart sailor
suits.
In 1910 a decision was made to move to the Waikato. It took considerable
planning. While the boys remained on the farm, the girls went to
Carterton to stay with a Baggarley Aunt (proably Sarha Mable) while
their parents went North to look at the prospects. A postcard to Te
Whiti from Ngaruawahia dated 26 July indicates they took the baby,
Olive, with them. Eventually a property was bought at Komakarau, 10
miles east of Taupiri. During this time the girls repaid Aunty. May's
kindness by all going down with measles. (Aunty May would warm oranges
in the oven for the sick children).
When the time came for the move, Sam and the two boys accomplished a
remarkable feat in driving from Pahiatua to the farm in a buggy he had
built himself. It is not related how long the journey took. There was a
house of sorts and a shack on the property and Maggie's brother, Colin
McKenzie, came to lend a hand and help them get established. When Maggie
brought the girls up by train they were met at Frankton Station by Sam.
Aileen would not own him as her Dad had shaved off his moustache! The
farm carried sheep at first but a change to cows was made just before
World War 1. James Kenneth, the youngest son, was born here in 1914.
Samuel Baggarley's inventive mind wrestled with the idea of developing
an efficient water heater. Stringent hygiene regulations in the milking
sheds demanded a ready supply of boiling water. After some
experimentation he developed what became known as the Baggarley Chip
Heater. Burning either wood or oil the heater was very popular in those
areas where there was no electric power yet.
Hazel's marriage to Beadon Maunder took place the following year in
1927. They lived at Tirau and Ohaupo before moving north. During the war
years while living at Kauri near Whangarei, Beadon was involved building
army camps and shifting schools. Towards the end of the war they
purchased a 500 acre dairy property at Mangapai and over the years added
to the property which is now farmed by their son, Douglas.
The Windelborn family lived at Komakarau near the Baggarleys and on 10
March, 1928, their son, Geoffrey, married Doris Muriel who had attended
Auckland Girl's Grammar School and become a teacher. Sadly, Doris died
at the age of 30 years and the couple's two daughters, Dulcie and
Jeanne, with their father, were cared for by Maggie and Sam then living
in Clarence Street, Hamilton. In 1939 in Masterton, Geoffrey married
Doris' cousin, Myra McKenzie, youngest daughter of Malcolm and Sarah.
After several moves they and the two girls lived on their dairy farm at
Puhipuhi, north of Whangarei. They had to leave the farm because of
Myra's disability and after the girls married, lived for a period at
Whananaki and Masterton, returning to Auckland in the late 1950s to live
at Te Atatu. Geoffrey died there in 1961 and Myra later returned to
Masterton to live with her sister, Beatrice.
In the meantime Olive had met and married Archibald Dewar in Hamilton.
Though not a farmer he was involved with the dairy industry and had a
contract installing milking machines for the Gane Engineering Company.
Their four oldest children were born in Hamilton. In 1945, still working
for Gane they went to Whangarei where the two youngest children were
born. They lived for about ten years at Parua Bay, east of Whangarei and
worked for a period with Clyde Engineering Co. In 1959 they shifted to
Te Awamutu he was again contracted to Gane Engineering and where the
family eventually settled.
Maggie spent some time with her sister, Annie McDonald in Cole street
Masterton. Later, she sold her home in Hamilton taking the time to visit
her family now well scattered. She spent her remaining years with her
daughter, Hazel Maunder and family at Mangapai living to the age of
almost 92 years.
Spouse: Samual Harold Baggarley (Married 27-Mar-1896)
Children: Harold Arthur Baggarley, Leslie Clarence Baggarley, Aileen Maggie Baggarley, Hazel Isabel Baggarley, Doris Muriel Baggarley, Olive Myrtle Baggarley, James Kenneth Baggarley
Johannah Margaret's Heritage
Parents:
Siblings: