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Martha Taylor of Greenstone
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DescriptionA story about Martha Taylor of Greenstone: Martha Cox previously Hill, née Taylor.
This is also a story connected to my Costello ancestors, one of whom is my great grand aunt Anastatia Costello. She married Raymond Poschich in Hokitika in 1866. They are buried together at Barrytown Cemetery, close to where they lived. Anastatia was born in the Ballypatrick Townland near Carrick-on-Suir in 1836. She grew up with her brothers and sisters, including my great grandfather William, at their Mile Tree farm in the Lawlesstown Townland near Clonmel, South Tipperary after the family moved there in 1851 from Carrick-on-Suir. Anastasia and Raymond had two girls and four boys. When I last posted I didn’t know much about them or where they were all buried. But now I know these locations and a bit more besides.
Back to Martha Cox. She was buried in the Greenstone Cemetery in 1899.
She was joined by her son Charles Cox Junior in November 1950, in a very special ceremony where the good citizens of the district joined forces to carry him from Greymouth to Greenstone where he had expressed a wish to be buried, rather than at Karoro as initially planned. He had to be ferried across the river as the bridge had been washed away. In 1950 no one had been buried at Greenstone for some time. A special thank you on behalf of the wider family was published by R. J. Harrington soon after the burial. Charles was unmarried.
I first came across Martha when I was researching Arthur Hill who married Catherine Anastatia Poschich, the oldest child of Raymond and Anastatia. Arthur and Catherine had one son of their own who died young of complications from appendicitis. However, they adopted one of Catherine’s Poschich nieces (also named Catherine) and later looked after Catherine’s two younger sisters, all three being the children of John Andrew Poschich and Alexis McPherson. The two younger girls are in the photo, their sister Catherine having passed away in 1947 aged 17 from TB, as did her mother Alexis some ten years previous.
The parents of Arthur Hill were Martha Taylor and Peter Hill. I knew that Arthur had some other Hill relatives because a George Hill was the executor of Catherine Anastasia’s will. Unfortunately he died a few months after Catherine in 1962 and so was not able to be her executor. But that’s another story. It turns out that George Hill Junior was the son of George Hill Senior who was a brother of Arthur (and therefore George Junior was Catherine’s nephew). I can’t find the parents of George Hill Senior but I presume they were Peter Hill and Martha Hill née Taylor (married 1866) since he went by the name of Hill. George married Mary Allen [?] and they had nine children. They lived in Ngahere and many of the family are buried there.
Peter Hill was a drummer in the Scots Fusilier Guards and served in the Crimean War. He played in the Garrison Band in Christchurch in 1864 before moving to Greenstone where he was initially a miner but later a commercial painter of some repute in the Grey district. In 1869 there was a benefit in Greenstone for Peter Hill (not sure why) and there is mention of his drumming prowess - he performed a solo on two drums to hearty applause. He died in Reefton in 1892 and must be buried there as his funeral started from Breen’s.
Sometime after Arthur (1868) and George (1873) were born, Martha must have separated from Peter Hill as she married Charles Cox Senior in 1874. They had Charles Cox Junior in 1875, lived in Greenstone and then had three girls and possibly another boy Robert who died young. The girls were Martha, Lucy and Sarah. Martha married John Harrington, and they had four girls and eight boys. They lived in Blaketown. Lucy married Joseph Goad and they lived in Kūmara where they had three children. Sarah married William Murray and they lived in Auckland. John Harrington and Chearles Cox Junior continued mining in Greenstone into the early 1900’s.
In 1887 there was a fire in the middle of the night in the Greenstone house rented by Charles and Martha. Their three girls were under ten and living with them. George smashed a window and on his wife’s insistence went outside first to pull the girls to safety. Martha handed two of the girls out the window to George. He tried to get back in the front door to get Martha but the fire was too great. He went back to the window and found Martha and the third girl partially out of the window so he dragged them all the way out. In doing so both George and Martha were cut about quite severely. The house was completely destroyed and they lost every stitch. Luckily the three boys were not home at the time - two were living at Duke’s Terrace and another at Lake Brunner. A short while after the fire a “benefit” was held in Kumara to set them up again. Even King Dick sang at this function.
After his wife passed away Charles Cox Senior went to live in Kūmara near his daughter Lucy and her family. It seems he must have suffered from dementia in his later years as eventually in 1911 he walked fully clothed into the Taramakau River and was washed up on the beach at Cobden several days later. He is buried in Kūmara while his wife Martha and his son Charles are in the same plot in the Greenstone Cemetery.
If you follow the Taramakau River to its source and then cross over the Taramakau Saddle (Harper Pass) you enter Canterbury via one of the main routes used by Māori over the centuries in the trading of pounamu. As you descend to the headwaters of the Hurunui and Waitohi Rivers you meet Lakes Sumner, Katrine and Taylor. From Lake Taylor the road leads you past the Waitohi Gorge and onto the Lake Sumner Road which runs parallel to the Waitohi River. A short distance further east along this road you reach the aforementioned farm of “Clonmel” where my great grandfather William, Anastatia’s brother, was successful in a land ballot in the late 1870’s and settled down in this area. From here you can travel on to Christchurch. Many hopeful gold miners travelled this route to Greenstone in the 1864-65 gold rush. I wonder if Peter Hill was one of them? Probably yes.ContributorPaul Quinlivan
This is also a story connected to my Costello ancestors, one of whom is my great grand aunt Anastatia Costello. She married Raymond Poschich in Hokitika in 1866. They are buried together at Barrytown Cemetery, close to where they lived. Anastatia was born in the Ballypatrick Townland near Carrick-on-Suir in 1836. She grew up with her brothers and sisters, including my great grandfather William, at their Mile Tree farm in the Lawlesstown Townland near Clonmel, South Tipperary after the family moved there in 1851 from Carrick-on-Suir. Anastasia and Raymond had two girls and four boys. When I last posted I didn’t know much about them or where they were all buried. But now I know these locations and a bit more besides.
Back to Martha Cox. She was buried in the Greenstone Cemetery in 1899.
She was joined by her son Charles Cox Junior in November 1950, in a very special ceremony where the good citizens of the district joined forces to carry him from Greymouth to Greenstone where he had expressed a wish to be buried, rather than at Karoro as initially planned. He had to be ferried across the river as the bridge had been washed away. In 1950 no one had been buried at Greenstone for some time. A special thank you on behalf of the wider family was published by R. J. Harrington soon after the burial. Charles was unmarried.
I first came across Martha when I was researching Arthur Hill who married Catherine Anastatia Poschich, the oldest child of Raymond and Anastatia. Arthur and Catherine had one son of their own who died young of complications from appendicitis. However, they adopted one of Catherine’s Poschich nieces (also named Catherine) and later looked after Catherine’s two younger sisters, all three being the children of John Andrew Poschich and Alexis McPherson. The two younger girls are in the photo, their sister Catherine having passed away in 1947 aged 17 from TB, as did her mother Alexis some ten years previous.
The parents of Arthur Hill were Martha Taylor and Peter Hill. I knew that Arthur had some other Hill relatives because a George Hill was the executor of Catherine Anastasia’s will. Unfortunately he died a few months after Catherine in 1962 and so was not able to be her executor. But that’s another story. It turns out that George Hill Junior was the son of George Hill Senior who was a brother of Arthur (and therefore George Junior was Catherine’s nephew). I can’t find the parents of George Hill Senior but I presume they were Peter Hill and Martha Hill née Taylor (married 1866) since he went by the name of Hill. George married Mary Allen [?] and they had nine children. They lived in Ngahere and many of the family are buried there.
Peter Hill was a drummer in the Scots Fusilier Guards and served in the Crimean War. He played in the Garrison Band in Christchurch in 1864 before moving to Greenstone where he was initially a miner but later a commercial painter of some repute in the Grey district. In 1869 there was a benefit in Greenstone for Peter Hill (not sure why) and there is mention of his drumming prowess - he performed a solo on two drums to hearty applause. He died in Reefton in 1892 and must be buried there as his funeral started from Breen’s.
Sometime after Arthur (1868) and George (1873) were born, Martha must have separated from Peter Hill as she married Charles Cox Senior in 1874. They had Charles Cox Junior in 1875, lived in Greenstone and then had three girls and possibly another boy Robert who died young. The girls were Martha, Lucy and Sarah. Martha married John Harrington, and they had four girls and eight boys. They lived in Blaketown. Lucy married Joseph Goad and they lived in Kūmara where they had three children. Sarah married William Murray and they lived in Auckland. John Harrington and Chearles Cox Junior continued mining in Greenstone into the early 1900’s.
In 1887 there was a fire in the middle of the night in the Greenstone house rented by Charles and Martha. Their three girls were under ten and living with them. George smashed a window and on his wife’s insistence went outside first to pull the girls to safety. Martha handed two of the girls out the window to George. He tried to get back in the front door to get Martha but the fire was too great. He went back to the window and found Martha and the third girl partially out of the window so he dragged them all the way out. In doing so both George and Martha were cut about quite severely. The house was completely destroyed and they lost every stitch. Luckily the three boys were not home at the time - two were living at Duke’s Terrace and another at Lake Brunner. A short while after the fire a “benefit” was held in Kumara to set them up again. Even King Dick sang at this function.
After his wife passed away Charles Cox Senior went to live in Kūmara near his daughter Lucy and her family. It seems he must have suffered from dementia in his later years as eventually in 1911 he walked fully clothed into the Taramakau River and was washed up on the beach at Cobden several days later. He is buried in Kūmara while his wife Martha and his son Charles are in the same plot in the Greenstone Cemetery.
If you follow the Taramakau River to its source and then cross over the Taramakau Saddle (Harper Pass) you enter Canterbury via one of the main routes used by Māori over the centuries in the trading of pounamu. As you descend to the headwaters of the Hurunui and Waitohi Rivers you meet Lakes Sumner, Katrine and Taylor. From Lake Taylor the road leads you past the Waitohi Gorge and onto the Lake Sumner Road which runs parallel to the Waitohi River. A short distance further east along this road you reach the aforementioned farm of “Clonmel” where my great grandfather William, Anastatia’s brother, was successful in a land ballot in the late 1870’s and settled down in this area. From here you can travel on to Christchurch. Many hopeful gold miners travelled this route to Greenstone in the 1864-65 gold rush. I wonder if Peter Hill was one of them? Probably yes.ContributorPaul Quinlivan
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EventMartha Taylor of Greenstone
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CommentsHarold Lee
I remember as a young fella in Kumara a gentleman in the town sometimes and people would say THATS CHARLIE COX from Greenstone. He probably walked to town late 40s or early 50s.
I remember as a young fella in Kumara a gentleman in the town sometimes and people would say THATS CHARLIE COX from Greenstone. He probably walked to town late 40s or early 50s.
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West Coast New Zealand History (22nd May 2024). Martha Taylor of Greenstone. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 26th Mar 2026 03:14, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/33459