John Dow was a big strapping Highlander, renowned for his kindness and generosity. Born at Coldrach in Perthshire about 1822, he worked on various farms before learning the stonemason’s trade. After his father died, John, his mother and three brothers emigrated to Otago on the Robert Henderson in 1858. John found work as a mason in Dunedin but when gold was discovered in 1861 he made his way to the goldfields. He put the money he earned into buying land at Woodside in West Taieri. His farm was originally swampy ground but by dint of hard work he turned it into a profitable farm. He and his brother were caught out by the great flood of 1868, however, and had to take shelter in a haystack for several days with one of their workmen.
In 1878 he married Janet Thomson Murray, daughter of a local farmer. They had three sons together. John was very active in local affairs, as a justice of the peace, local body politician, and one of the founders of the Masonic Lodge on the Taieri. He had had a good education in Scotland, was well read and a keen supporter of the Liberal Government.
Eventually he purchased another 100 acres alongside his original farm ‘Newton’. With timber from that property he was able to replace the family’s original sod cottage with a new wooden home and upgraded all of his farm buildings in like manner. John Dow was a tall, handsome man, with a patriarchal beard and a manner that won him the esteem of his neighbours. He died at Newton farm in 1912, aged 80 years.
John Dow