Joseph Hewlett PERCY - Hutt Valley Biographical Index and ...

Hutt Valley Biographical Index and Genealogies website www.hbig.gen.nz
Evening Post 17 Jul 1937 Obituary – Mrs J. H. Percy
Mrs J. H. Percy, who was a member of a well-known family in the Hutt Valley, died recently at the age of 77 years. The late Mrs Percy was
born at Kaiapoi and came with her father to Petone when she was only a child. She married the late Mr Joseph Percy, whose parents came
out to New Zealand in the ‘Clifton’ in 1842. Mrs Percy’s father kept the first toll bridge over the Hutt River. She leaves two sons, six
daughters, 27 grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.
Evening Post 12 Jan 1939 Obituary – Mr A. W. Percy
The last member of the third generation of the Petone pioneer family of Percys, Mr Arthur Welch Percy, died at his home on the western
hills of Petone on Sunday, at the age of 75. The Percy family was one of the first to settle in the Hutt Valley and for many years the Percys
were among the foremost of the builders and contractors in the district. Among their many contracts was one for building one of the first
bridges to span the Hutt River, near the site of the present Lower Hutt bridge. They also owned one of the first flour mills in the valley; the
building still stands at the end of Mill Road, Petone. The late Mr Arthur Percy and his brothers took a keen interest in native flora and it was
largely owing to the initiative of Mr Joseph Percy that the present law protecting native flora was passed. It was the desire of the brothers to
have on their extensive property a specimen of every known native plant and the collection they made is extremely valuable and forms a
beauty spot on the border of Petone and Lower Hutt. The late Mr A. W. Percy, who never married, was a keen cricketer in his younger days
and was a “googly” bowler of great merit. He was also an expert fisherman. He did many oil paintings on canvas and on glass, preparing
his won canvas and colours after the manner of the old masters. Some of these paintings were of rare merit. He made a violin which in its
way was a work of art, being entirely composed of native timbers and of excellent tone. In his later years he was interested in botanical and
horticultural research, producing many beautiful and rare hybrids, his Ligridium crosses being outstanding. He propagated many native
mistletoes of at least four kinds, considered to be a very difficult feat. Along with his brothers he planted and cultivated the well-known
Percy Gardens, which are of great scenic beauty and contain, beside a lake and a cave, many rare and beautiful plants. The late Mr
Percy’s father, Mr Joseph Hewlett Percy, planted an acorn on the bank of the Hutt River in 1843, and then transplanted it to the Percy
homestead near where the ramp now is, and where it grew to a tree of 60 feet spread. It was cut down in 1926 and the stump removed and
left above ground for three months exposed to all weathers. It was again planted in front of the old mill at the end of Mill Road, where it has
grown to a height of 15 feet or more. The old mill, the first wheat mill in the Hutt Valley, was built in 1851 and operated by the family. It has
never had a coat of paint and the weatherboards are still sound.
HBIG A-Z Percy Last updated 16 February 2013 Page 4 of 5