Ōtautau District Early Settlers - JAMES HENRY HOLT, known as “Harry” & wife Priscilla:

Shared by Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

JAMES HENRY HOLT, known as “Harry” & wife Priscilla: Photo 1: Harry Holt - public domain photo from an old newspaper Photo 2: Harry & Priscilla Holt in their garden outside their North Ōtautau home, public domain photo; this copy donated by Peter Campbell to "Between River & Stream" early Ōtautau book project. Harry Holt often has his name linked to early Ōtautau and is lauded as one of the towns earliest settlers in earlier tales of town history. But although he lived around the district in the early days, he did not purchase land in the township itself until 1881 and at this time he is recorded as working and living at Ringway Estate. Even in 1897 Harry is still recorded as living at Ringway, an Estate on the south side of Ōtautau. It does us well to remember that just because someone is reported as "living at Ōtautau" that does NOT mean in the township itself! Even those as far away as Blackmount, had an address that included Ōtautau. Harry was born in 1847 in the UK. He was married to Priscilla Dimmock in 1872, at England, before immigrating here. The young couple set sail to Aotearoa NZ from the Blackwater docks for their honeymoon. After landing at Murihiku Bluff, Harry and his wife say that they arrived in Waihōpai Invercargill on 15th Jan 1873. At this point, Ōtautau had only been surveyed the year prior and was not even a township yet, in that there were no recorded buildings at all in the newly created village, and only one in on an adjacent plot in the Aparima Hundred, which was the old Ōtautau Accommodation House, built in 1862 and opened in 1863. You can see more about these early days under the Place Notes below. Harry and Priscilla spent quite a bit of time living and working around the wider Murihiku Southland region for some years, before finding their way to the Ōtautau district. With his prior experience on the railways, Harry was soon found working on the line from Invercargill to Woodlands, while much later on he worked on the Thornbury to Fairfax line also. After his first railway stint, Harry is said to have done some time in a flax mill at Menzies Ferry, then worked his way west, ending up at Aparima Riverton where he was working on fencing the roads. He is reported as having worked on the properties of Miller, Ford and Cupples, and also that of Dr Samuel Hodgkinson on his estate at Fairfax, or Mount Pleasant as he called it. Harry also did time on the Merrivale Estate where he was rabbiting and there he is reported to have had a pack of 42 dogs!! Despite the claims made about Harry's early residency in the town, the earliest land record for Harry was from the 19th November 1880 when he obtained the rights to his first land holding at Wairio, which appears to be under a Lease Right (Deferred Payment). And it was not until virtually a year later, on the 28 Sept 1881, that Harry purchased the title to a section in North Ōtautau. This was land previously farmed by James Mackintosh MHR on the Strathmore Estate, which ran right down to the Ōtautau River (now Ōtautau Stream) in what is now the middle of Ōtautau. Despite other accounts of history putting Harry in the Ōtautau Township in much earlier years, the north Ōtautau blocks were only put up into sections for sale during 1881, so that doesn't seem likely. The couple do not appear to have moved onto their land or built there at this stage. At times Harry would go off to work around the local district when this was necessary, other than that, Harry and Priscilla lived the most of their days on estates not far out of Ōtautau. They appear to have moved into the Township sometime around 1900 as Harry retired from estate work. Harry was not just a skilled hunter, pig killer, bacon curer and more, he was also an excellent gardener and orchardist. The property the couple lived on in later in life, on the Main Street of North Ōtautau, bore testament to this fact and most of those around the Township knew of and took note of his abilities in the garden. His vegetables were said to have often taken out the prizes at the local shows, and lists of these confirm this, but they were said to more often be gifted to others around the township, for their enjoyment or food. The photo here of the couple's house and fantastic gardens, back up the claims of fame he had for having green fingers. Harry passed away on 1st April 1929 and his wife Priscilla followed him some 6 years later. She died a week after apparently recovering from the flu, at the age of 83 on 10th July 1935. Priscilla had died at the home of the Mills, who had been caring for her in her later years. Once she immigrated to Murihiku Southland as Harry's wife, there are accounts of Priscilla acting as a nurse for the sick, and she is noted as a “capable horsewoman” who would ride to visit her patients all over the district. With what was termed a “sympathetic disposition”, her nursing was considered a great benefit to the district and in all those homes who she visited. She was also a great supporter and worker at St Andrews Anglican Church of Ōtautau. The naming of HOLT PARK: On his death, Harry Holt bequeathed a sum of money to the cause for upkeeping what is now Holt Park, which led to renaming of the park from “The Rec” as it was more commonly called, (the full version was The Recreation Ground). In 1938, the name was changed in memory of these spirited early settlers. Despite their not having been living in the Ōtautau Township as long as claimed by others, they did leave us a lasting legacy. And for this, they will be long remembered by us all, in the name of Holt Park. Information above is researched by and copyright under a CC BY Licence to “Between River & Stream”, early history of Ōtautau book, and is kindly gifted by that project to our online community archive so everyone can view it. Hopefully this entry will be added to as more information comes to hand. If you or anyone you know has any more information or photos to share or accounts of Harry and Priscilla Holt during the years, please do share this with us in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page. Or you can make contact with us as per the archive front page. Note: these entries are compiled with information provided by donors with the records, from locally reported news, from national and occasionally international reports in publications, from personal records made by the people themselves - such as their electoral enrollments, wills, war records etc., also from government and council held records such as births, deaths and marriages or cemetery information, and lastly, from community memories, such as those passed on by friends, family and contemporaries. It is not always possible to verify memories from others, so please let us know if you believe we have any incorrect information. If you believe that any public or personal record information quoted is wrong, if you can provide proof of any alternative fact to us in a document showing evidence of the correct details, that would be very helpful to us. Thank you.