When we travel to the South Island (New Zealand), we often spend some time re-visiting places of ancestral and/or historical significance. So it was that, last week, we found ourselves in the Maniototo area of Central Otago once again. This time, I made a point of stopping at the small cemetery between Middle Kyeburn and the Kyeburn Diggings. In particular, I wanted to see if I could find the resting place of Lawrence Peter McCarthy.
It is a small cemetery so Lawrence was not hard to find. The plaque marking Lawrence's resting place looks like it may have been replaced relatively recently. It reads:
Sacred to the memory of
LAWRENCE PETER
McCARTHY
Died 10 August 1881
aged 2 years 5 months
An inquest into Lawrence's death was held on 12 August 1881. It was conducted by Mr L.W. Buseh J.P., Acting-Coroner. He was supported by a jury of 14 men. Thomas Forgie, who had also been involved in the search for Lawrence, was the Foreman of the Jury.
Most of the information that follows is from the Inquest, as reported in the Mount Ida Chronicle on 18 and 20 August 1881[1]
No medical evidence was heard at the Inquest. The Doctor had been summoned but he declined to be present on the grounds that he was too busy attending to the living. Instead the Inquest relied on the testimony of Margaret McCarthy, Lawrence's Mother, and William Bisson who, by his own account, was the first person to find Lawrence's body.
Margaret and her husband Peter McCarthy were living at Middle Kyeburn at the time. Margaret told the Inquest that she had left the house at midday telling the two older children to go to school. She told Lawrence not to leave the house. When she returned, she found her eldest son in bed and asked him where Lawrence was. Her son told her that Lawrence was in the creek. She went outside and called out to Messrs Veale (Samuel Jeffery Veale) and Parker (William Charles Parker). In response, Samuel and William ran to the creek to look for Lawrence.
Willam Bisson told the inquest that he was prompted to go down to the creek when he saw several men running and Mrs McCarthy crying. He found Lawrence in the river and pulled his body to the beach where, with the help of Messrs. Forgie (Thomas Forgie) and Parker (William Charles Parker), he tried to revive him but without success. It isn't clear why William Bisson was the first to find the body when others, including Samuel Veale and William Parker, had run towards the creek before him. Perhaps Samuel and William initially looked in the wrong place?
William Bisson indicated that Lawrence's body was lying in a shallow place, with its back to the stream, about eighty yards from the crossing. All of the body was out of the water, with the exception of the legs.
There was no other evidence. On addressing the Jury, the Acting-Coroner expressed regret at the lack of medical evidence but indicated that he did not consider it absolutely necessary as it seemed to be a clear case of drowning by accident. The Jury brought the following verdict:
That the deceased Lawrence Peter M'Carthy was drowned accidentally in the Kyeburn River on the 10th August, 1881, being swept down the river about eighty yards, after falling from the crossing.
My interest in this story, and what prompted me to look for Lawrence's grave, comes from the involvement of Samuel Jeffery Veale. I mentioned Lawrence's story previously in the context of my post: From Pauper Relief to Mariner to Miner: Samuel Jeffery Veale (1843 - 1929. Samuel is my husband's 2nd Great Grandfather.
At the time of Lawrence's death, Samuel Veale and William Parker held a mining licence together under the company name of William C. Parker and Company. They were presumably at work when called upon by Margaret McCarthy to look for Lawrence at the creek.
Related Post
N.B. I have now moved by blogging efforts from this platform to We Are.xyz so that I can integrate building my family history archive with blogging. This post, or a similar version of it, can be found at: Accidental Drowning - Lawrence Peter McCarthy
Notes
[1] Inquest: 18 August 1881 - Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 620, 18 August 1881, Page 3 via PapersPast [Website]; 20 August 1881 - Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 620, 20 August 1881, Page 3 via PapersPast [Website].
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