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SCARFs in Timaru

This was sent to me by John Waters, to whom many thanks

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"ROBERT SCARF & his wife JANE together with his older brother WILLIAM SCARF and his wife LETITIA and their children, were among the first immigrants to Timaru, under command of Captain Williamson, the 551 ton barque "Strathallan" with 259 passengers, anchored off Timaru on Friday, January 14 (21st January - Les Sabiston) 1859, after a 90 day voyage from Gravesend, London.

A strong southerly wind delayed disembarkment until Sunday 16th when the heavy seas abated sufficiently for about 120 passengers to land. Accommodation facilities were extremely spartan for the new arrivals and some decided to return to the ship and continue to Lyttelton. The tussock covered treeless lowlands of Timaru must have presented a stark comparison to the accustomed green lowlands around Capel St. Mary, Suffolk where the Scarf family ran a small butchery business.

The Scarf brothers were each ceded 20 acres of land with a frontage on North Street which was known locally as Scarf's Paddock.

With the death of his wife Jane, about 1862, Robert Scarf sold much of his 20 acres and moved temporarily to Ashbury to work on local farms.

Meanwhile William had purchased a few sheep & cattle which he fattened to supply the newly established butchery, which, with Robert, they had opened in conjunction with the "Scarfs Livery Stables" located in George Street. At the back of the stables, they set up abbatiors much to the disgust of the editor of the "Timaru Herald" who ran editorials about the lack of hygiene in the abbatiors.

William ceased trading as a butcher in 1867, and three advertisements appeared in the "Timaru Herald" of 29 Jun 1867 as follows:

W SCARF

Having disposed of my butchery business to the executors of the late James King, I beg to return thanks for the support I have received and request the same may be extended to my successors"

W. Scarf begs respectfully to inform the public that he has this day sold his butchery business and in future will only carry on the business of LIVERY and BAIT STABLES and hopes by attention to receive his share of public patronage

I hereby give notice that I have appointed Mr Edwin Lough to collect any sum or sums due to me in my business as a butcher and have instructed him at the end of thirty days to proceed at law for the recovery of unpaid accounts"

W.Scarf, Butcher

 William sold his North Street property about 1870 and he purchased a one acre town section at "Saltwater Creek". His wife died of pneumonia in 1875 and his sons took over the butchery business. He then went to work for the Levels County Council until his retirement in 1900.

There is a report in the "Timaru Herald" of Letitia giving evidence in the trial of William Hoare, alias James Ross of 1st March 1870. She said:"I am the wife of William Scarfe. I am living at Saltwater Creek. I saw the prosecutor (plaintiff) at my home on Friday last.I met prisoner at the corner of the path near the house. He frightened me as I was coming towards the house with the prosecutor. We went into the house and the prisoner followed. I did not hear the prisoner say anything at the corner of the fence..." The rest of her evidence did not either support or demolish the defence. But it was of interest that the prosecutor stated in his evidence that he had seen Letitia at the races with the prisoner the day before the offence in which he was robbed of £5, and that she had ridden home with the prisoner, inviting the prosecutor to her house.

Robert for the second time married in 1879, Elizabeth Craddock, who later died during the bronchial influenza epidemic. He, for the third time, in 1894, married Emily Booth, who survived him when he died in July 1918.

Seven children were born to William & Letitia, they were William & Letitia (who came out to New Zealand in the "Strathallan") Eliza, Caroline, Harry, Rose & Florence.

Tragedy struck the Scarf family during the Bronchial Influenza epidemic. Along with William's wife, Letitia, eight Scarf children all under 9 years of age are known to have died including William's daughter, Caroline.

Letitia, Eliza, Rose, & Florence were married to, Fred Tasker, John Tinney, George Hilton & Bertran Walker respectively. Eliza and Florence later mived to Wellington.

NOTE:
It is not known what children were born of the marriages of Robert Scarf, except, of course, Grandma Elizabeth Waters whose parents were Robert and Jane. Nore it is known the names of the children who died in the epidemic. This is an extract from a manuscript by someone unknown."

OBITUARY

Mr ROBERT SCARF

From the Timaru Herald - 10th July 1918.

The funeral took place on Sunday of Mr. Robert Scarf, another of South Canterbury's early settlers. He came to Timaru in the "Strathallan" (the first immigrant ship to come to Timaru) in 1859. He and his wife Jane came out under engagement to Captain Woollcombe, Magistrate & Harbourmaster.

Mr. Scarf presently became one of the first, if not the first retail butcher in Timaru. He brought marino wethers from The Levels at 40 shillings a head and sold the mutton at one shilling a pound.

Afterwards he took to roadmaking and made the roads out of Timaru north and south and several others in the Hilton and Kakahu Districts.

He also started a timber yard where J. Jackson and Co's factory now stands. For his home he made an early purchase at two pounds an acre, of 20 acres of land with frontage on North Street, the block formally known as Southerton, subdividing and selling as time went on but retaining one acre and the dwelling in which he resided until his death at the age of 84.

Mr. Scarf leaves a family of eight. The eldest, Mrs. Waters was born in Woollcombe's barn in Oct 24, 1859, and was the first female christened in St. Mary's church.

There are now 16 grandchildren and 13 Great-grand-children.

"Note: in 1861 the family was at Ashbury, and in 1876/7 Robert Scarf had 20 acres of land at Section 233 Seadown. In 1778/9 he was a coal merchant at Great North Road, Timaru."

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