Chapter 1 - Lost Ones

LOST ONES

These children all died before they reached adulthood.

To our knowledge, 

1. Sam (Hami) Beazley lived to the age of about nine or ten and that he died from an infection of some kind (possibly gangerine) as other members of the family recall hearing talk about a wire hoop placed over his legs to keep the weight of the blankets off. The second Sam (Haami) Beazley, was born shortly after this, but survived to live a full life. 

The other four children, three boys and a girl

2. Kereoma Beazley

3. McLean Norman Beazley 

4. Rewiti Beazley

5. Eliza Beazley

were either still-born or died in childhood. It is believed these five children were born and had died during the period 1902 to 1922.

Editorial Notes

• We can only speculate as to why so many died so young.

• It is well known however that Māori who lived in isolated rural areas were vulnerable to severe epidemics of illnesses such as measles, often accompanied by diarrhoea, bronchitis, pneumonia and dysentery. The Māori death rate during the influenza pandemic of 1918 was seven times that of Pākehā. Serious epidemics occurred regularly in Māori communities until the 1940s.

• Māori were also severely disadvantaged socially and economically, with poorer housing and nutrition than Pākehā. Diseases such as tuberculosis were closely associated with socio-economic factors such as overcrowded housing.  Modern medical treatments for all these diseases were either non-existent or prohibitively expensive. 

• There can be no doubt that times were indeed very tough back in those days for the whanau.

Chapter 1 Attachments 

(click images to enlarge)

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