The White's House

We have been researching the White's house and their history because it is on the farm that we both live on.

It is on the Kilmog in Merton. Mr and Mrs White had eight children, one died at birth.
They all lived in this three bedroom house up on the hill.
Their child was born shortly after William met with an unfortunate death being rammed by a bull
at age 36, November 1879.

Here is a poem written by Margaret White about life on the farm:

Just listen to me for a moment
The truth to you I will disclose
About our life here in the country
Which few in the town ever knows
You see when we rise in the morning
Our breakfast the first thing we seek,
Then off we go feeding the fowls
For they are wanting their feed,
The calves they are bellowing us
We cannot even open the door
But the ducks and the chickens surround us
Dancing pell mell on the floor,
The cows they have got to be milked ,
They are standing around by the shed
The pigs too are screaming like demons
For they have got to be fed
Milk buckets and dishes need washing
The breakfast things too cleared away
The hurry and bustle for dinner
That takes up the first part of the day.
In the the afternoon then comes the baking
The same to go over each day
Some people think country a pleasure
But what they refer to I can't say
Unless it's the pleasure of wading
In water and mud to the knees
Or caught in the bush amongst briers
That's clinging so fast to the trees
'Tis all very well in the summer
When everything looks fresh and green
When flowers with their sweet smelling blossoms
Is a sight that is there to be seen
No flowers now are blooming to cheer you
You scarcely know where they have been
The leaves from the trees now have fallen
And all the sweet birds once so cheery
Have took to the wing and away
But why am I writing such nonsense
The country's the place I would be
The town with its pleasure and gaiety
Has not half the attractions for me.

Acknowledgement

Barkman, Frances The Whites of Merton, Otago: family history: a short history of Jeany and Thomas White and their descendants