Mansons make reconnections at family reunion
Desendants of Victor and Bertha Manson at the Hadfield house at Awaroa
About 60 descendants of Victor and Bertha Manson gathered at East Takaka and other parts of Golden Bay over Easter. The reunion marked the 90th anniversary of the Manson’s move to East Takaka, the launching of a family history book Mansons and More by Jan Berthelsen, a granddaughter of the couple, and the unveiling of a memorial to the couple and their six children.
Both born in 1882, Victor and Bertha were married in 1906 and spent their early married life at Wainui and Awaroa before shifting to East Takaka in 1919.
Reunion participants travelled to Wainui and were told by long-term resident Jim Robertson, whose family farm was originally bought off Victor’s brother Lawrence Manson, about his earliest memories of farming life in the Bay. Excerpts from Victor’s 1917 diary were also read out.
Carrying on to Awaroa, the Manson descendants visited the Hadfield House where Victor and Bertha would have lived for some of their early married life. It was there that Vic constructed their first water-race and Pelton wheel to run the shearing machine.
The reunion also featured a dinner, a quiz, and the sharing of memories by some of the people who remembered Victor and Bertha.
Finally, modern-day Mansons and their relations had the chance to try out a replica yoke made by reunion organiser, Robin Manson. Victor had used the original yoke each day to transport two buckets of cream the 400 yards from his cowshed to the cream-stand on the East Takaka road.
Robin said that the reunion had been a great success as people rediscovered their family connections and shared memories.
“Probably the biggest buzz of all for most of the group was the trip to Awaroa,” said Robin. “Everyone knew that Vic and Bertha had spent quite a lot of time there but most of them had no idea of how much of a backwater it was.”
Neil Wilson
