Andrew Hastie (1834-1905)

Andrew  Hastie  was born at  The Heads ,Whiteburn ,Linlithgowshire Scotland on the 26 Feburary   1834 Son of James Hastie and Ann Pollock

(Andrew may be known as Andrew John Hastie )

After his fathers death and with his  Mothers blessing he departed from Liverpool on the "White Star "" on 26th August 1858  for Melbourne Australa

On arrival in Melbourne he set off for Ballarat for the  the gold mining ,where he did very well for himself.  He moved to Wallsend where he met his wife to be Asenath Lavis ,and asked her to marry him but as she was only 16 years old ,permission was refused .

He then  decided  to go to  Gabriels Gully Central Otago, New  Zealand  where Gold had  been discovered .He had a claim with a partner there and after three years work and only one week of slucing left to do a clould burst washed away a portion of the race .,so they decided to quit . While Andrew was saying goodbye to some of his friends , his partner left in a hurry with all the gold ,excepting one nugget he had put aside .(This nugget is still in the family )When he discovered what had happened he followed the thief and was catching up on him when his horse fell and broke his leg. he fired a couple of shots, but was to far away .Andrew followed him to Australia but was unable to find any trace of him or the gold

Andrew returned to Wallsend and once again asked Asenath Lavis to marry him and she did .

They were married at the residence of Mr William LImsley ,Plattsbury Wallsend  on the 19th May 1864 .Andrew occupation is given as an Engine Driver ,residing Sussex St Sydney and Asenath as a Domestic servant residing in Parading Ground Newcastle

In 1865 they set sail for New Zealand and settled in Kihikihi ',Waikato ,where Andrew purchased 300 acres of farm land This was bare land  with no fences or a house on it . The farm was on the banks of the Pūniu River in an area known as Parawera .   While at Kihikihi Andrew was contracted to supply milk at 2 pence a pint,butter ,cheese at 2shillings a pound and beef  at 8 pence a pound to the Army garrisons stationed at both Te Awamutu and Pironga . During thier stay in Kihikihi the area was unsettled by the Māori wars ,Andrew was a dispatch rider for General Cameron ..They stayed there until 1877

Children born to Asenath and Andrew while in Kihikihi were Andrew John (Jack )born 1865 at Alexandra(Pironga ) Matthew James (James )born 1866, Edwin Reubin born 1868 at Auckland ,Margaret Anne born 1870 and Thomas born 1872 at Pironga

The family then moved to Ōpōtiki where they  brought another farm of 361 acres ..Buying stock in Onehunga and driving them done the coast to Ōpōtiki Again they sold this stock to the army garrison.  There was unrest with the local Māori and the 1st Waikato Regement was transfrerd to Ōpōtiki Again this was bare land so they had to fence it and build a home for themselves on the farm

While in Ōpōtiki tradgey struck with the drowning of two of their sons in the river on the 17th December 1877 ,Matthew James age 11 and Robert age 4 years  . Children born in Ōpōtiki were Jessie born 1874 died 1875 Alexander James born 1875 and William David born 1878

 In  1879 they sold this farm and moved to the Northshore  Auckland renting a home while Andrew looked for suitable Land to go farming again .

He went North to the Bay of Isands and also down to Gisborne looking for land to purchase .

In Auckland Andrew also acted as an agent buying and selling stock  on behalf of others

Daughter Martha Rose was born in Auckland in 1880