I’m sure little George McIlraith paid little attention to the melting of the ice that had encased his older half sister Jane’s heart whenever John Deans had been in view or the subject of conversation. He would have been too far busy rumbling around Auchenflower farm to concern himself with foolish adult troubles. But George …
Grace McIlraith (nee Lyons) was only 10 years old when she came to stay at Riccarton in 1854. In the company of her parents, they had walked up to the Deans Cottage (which then faced the Avon, just a few metres from a cattle track that we know as Kahu Road today) and was met …
James McIlraith was the half brother of Jane Deans. He came to New Zealand with two of his brothers, Hugh and George from Scotland, to help Jane after the death of her husband (John Deans I) in 1854. He went on to manage Homebush even after his nephew John Deans II came of age and …
