03/01/2025
Connections Across Time - part two
Several years ago, I wrote about my personal connection to a World War I soldier memorialized on the Matakana War Memorial – Rifleman Charles Lawrence Leeds. I recalled living on our family farm in an old homestead, the same home where Charles once lived. In fact, his parents, Charles and Millicent Leeds, built the house on Tongue Farm in the mid 1890s. Researching and telling his story became deeply personal. An emotional bond formed, and his story has stayed vivid in my memory.
When I continued my research on the villagers resting in our cemetery, I came across a relation of Rifleman Leeds. William Jackson, a baby buried in our cemetery, was his nephew. William was the son of Charles’ older sister, Millicent. I found myself on the edge of a rabbit hole, and down I went.
Millicent Lawrence Leeds was born on June 29, 1882, on the family farm “Eyebury” in Peterborough, England. Her father, Charles, was a solicitor with a passion for fossils, often collecting bones from the clay deposits around the farm. Today, his collection can be found at the British Museum of Natural History in London.
In late 1887, the family emigrated to Auckland, New Zealand, and purchased Tongue Farm in Matakana. This sprawling 2,000-acre farm stretched from the Point Wells shoreline, over Matakana Hill, down the river into the Sandspit Harbour. Parts of the land, particularly on the Omaha Flats, were covered in dense, native bush, including Harakeke, Manuka and Ti kouka trees. Gum diggers, drawn by the buried swamp kauri, sparsely populated the bush, living rough in small shantys.
By the mid-1890s, the Leeds family had built a grand kauri homestead on the Matakana side of Tongue Farm. Their children attended Matakana School, and the family became an integral part of the community. Of particular note, Millicent’s mother, also named Millicent, signed the historic 1893 petition advocating for women’s right to vote in New Zealand and her name can be found on the 1894 electoral roll.
In 1903, young Millicent Leeds married William Jackson, an Australian with family roots in Yanwath, Penrith, England. Together, they had three children. Their firstborn, Millicent Emma Kate, married Rupert Rutherford and passed away in 1991. Their second Son born in 1910, Albert Henry, was tragically killed in action during World War II.
Their second child and first son was William Thomas Albert Jackson, born in 1908 in that kauri homestead. Heartbreakingly, baby William passed away just five months later, in the same home where he was born. His death left a profound sadness, and now, more than a century later, I felt an emotional tie to him. He was born and died in the same home that my family once occupied.
Over the past five years, I’ve been creating a digital database of all those buried in the Matakana Cemetery. Drawing from cemetery trust archives, newspapers, and national records, I uncovered countless stories. During my many visits, I noticed William Jackson’s small grave, marked by a broken marble cross. When I discovered his connection to the Leeds family, it became my mission to restore his headstone.
William’s story is one of forgotten connections. No other family members are buried in the cemetery. His mother, Millicent, passed away in 1936, and it’s likely no family has visited his grave in 88 years. One hundred and fifteen years have passed since his death.
Today, with the help of a young couple, Kauri from Japan and Shane from Canada, we repaired William Jackson’s headstone. After consulting professionals, we carefully glued the broken marble cross back in place. It’s now supported by wooden stakes as the adhesive cures.
Thanks to these two kind helpers, my mission is complete. Rest in peace, William Thomas Albert Jackson – five months old, gone but not forgotten.
