Uncle Sam
In 1913, as a lad just left school, Uncle Sam elected to go with his older brother to start a new life on the farm that Fred had bought in the Waikato. They arrived at Frankton Junction with all their worldly possessions, the prayers and good wishes of all the family, and high hopes that they would be able to make that part of the country, though rough and untouched, blossom like the rose - or at least be turned from raupo and rushes into grass to feed many cows.
Unfortunately, they had neglected to label the boxes, so for their first meals they had to cut and butter the bread with a pocketknife and drink out of a Bell tea tin. Uncle Sam’s cheerful disposition at that time, and often in the years to come helped them on the way.
My parents married in 1915 and began a long happy life together. Uncle Sam was 20 when I was born, and after my christening, sailed away with the troops to do his part in the Great War. My Father, having sustained a deep wound in his leg when a farm cadet, was turned down for service, so it was that Mother was called to do jobs Daddy never intended her to do.
Uncle Sam was wounded in France and returned home in 1918, and later he called his home “Mailley”, so he must have had some happy memories, as well as painful ones. They had installed milking machines and a benzine engine so milking the cows was not as lengthy a job as doing it by hand.
On starting to work up the land they had found, just out of sight in the ground, numerous great kauri logs that had to be removed before it was possible to plough and plant the paddocks. This was a very hard job for men and horses, and usually needed the help of gelignite as well. It was very necessary to get it in just the right place; not only for their safety, but also that it would do what they hoped and shift the log so they could get it out of the ground. Gradually over many, many years, not only those kauri logs but another layer of trees that was below them and came to the surface, had to be removed before the farm was able to be worked without fear of striking an obstacle that could jar or halt the work, or indeed break the implement being used.