Publican, auctioneer, farmer and businessman

Joseph Andrews, one of Nelson’s early settlers, arrived in Nelson on board the ship Bolton in 1842 with his parents William and Mary Ann and brothers Thomas and John.

For a while the family were living in Nelson, settling on the banks of the Maitai River before relocating to Brightwater where Joseph took up farming.

His future wife, Mary Dewar, daughter of John and Isabella Dewar, had also arrived in Nelson in 1842 via the ship Prince of Wales and the couple married in 1844.

Joseph appears to have been a man who always looked for an opportunity and it is evident that he could turn his hand to many things.

He ran a Light Spring Cart conveying goods from Waimea South to Nelson, initially two days a week but later increased it to three days a week.

In July 1856, Joseph sold by auction all of section No.3 on River Terrace, Waimea South, along with all stock animals and farming equipment.

He then began a new business running an omnibus and delivering on a mail contract.

The omnibus ran daily, except for Sundays, from Henry Martin’s Richmond Hotel to Nelson with the fee being two shillings.

In July 1861, Joseph took over the Wakefield Arms where he not only ran the inn, but in 1865 became an auctioneer and general commission agent.

From the inn he ran cattle sales every fourth Thursday of the month and held other auctions for a multitude of items.

He remained at this address until June 1867 when the inn was taken over by Joseph Wagstaff.

Following this Joseph was farming in Eighty-Eight Valley, but in September 1893 an advert appears for the sale by auction of his household furniture, farm implements, buggy and dray and horses at the property.

There is no mention of the property being sold, but Joseph continued to live in the Wakefield area until his death.

Joseph and Mary had at least eight children but in the cruellest of turns the couple lost a number of them to the infectious disease diphtheria.

Diphtheria was raging throughout the district in1862 and early 1863, and the Andrew family were not immune to its reaches. Within a fortnight three of Joseph and Mary’s children were lost, eldest son John Constance died 4 February aged 14 years, eldest daughter Constance Comfort died on 8 February aged 18 years, and son Vincent Dewar on 17 February aged 9 years.

Unfortunately, the siblings of Joseph also went through the agony of losing children.

Brother Charles lost two children in 1865, one son Thomas dying on 10 November from scarlet fever and another son, Alfred, on 16 November.

Another brother, Thomas, also lost two sons in March of 1863, one aged 2 years and the other 16 months.

Joseph and Mary, with great fortitude, carried on until their deaths in September 1907 and January 1916 respectively. Both were buried in St Johns cemetery.