Eliza and Thomas Deacon had three sons and five daughters, all born in Riverhead, Rodney, Auckland:

• Blanche Deacon (1851-1930) – m. John McCrae Brigham
• Arthur Deacon (1854-1930) – m. Eliza Jane Nixon
• Thomas William Deacon Jnr (1856-1915) – m. Edna Grace Herbert
• Grace Deacon (1859-?) – m. John Alexander Lamb
• Sarah Deacon (1861-1943) – m. James Nehemiah Griffin
• Francis Deacon (1863-1920) – m. Elizabeth Lochead
• Mary Deacon (1865-1942) – m. Richard Percival Kinloch
• Mabel Thonasine Deacon (1869-1918) – m. Thomas. F Cahill

Some of the children married into other prominent Riverhead families such as Brigham, Lamb, Lochhead and Kinloch. Sarah married an American, James Nehemiah Griffin.

Blanche Deacon | Brigham

Blanche married John McCrae Brigham (1842-1920).

John McCrae Brigham was a son of John Brigham (1810-1885), born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland to John Brigham and Mary Morton. Around 1938, John (Jnr) married Anne McCrae (1815-1887). In 1841 they emigrated from Ireland to Auckland, New Zealand on the Shamrock. John and Anne Brigham had three sons:

• John McCrae Brigham (1842-1920) – married Blanche Deacon
• James McCrae Brigham (1848-1910) – married Elizabeth Dines (c.1845-?)
  • Son John Sylvester Brigham (1872-1940)
• David Brigham (1848/61-1927) – married Mary Frances Sankey.

Having acquired 94 acres on the Rivershead foreshore, by 1856, John Brigham had erected the Waitemata Flour Mill.

Blanche and John Brigham had four children:

• C. Brigham
• John McCrae Brigham (1880-?) – married Clara Georgina Callaghan in 1903
• Sarah Rita Brigham – married H. M. Fogarty
• ? – became Mrs B.A. Pattullo.

John McCrae Brigham died in 1920 and is buried in Glenfield, Auckland. Blanche died in Bayswater, Auckland, in 1930.

Arthur Deacon | Nixon

Arthur was born in 1854, the second child eldest son of Eliza and Thomas Deacon.

In 1886, Arthur married Eliza Jane Nixon (1868-1962).

Arthur was the licensee of the Kumeu Hotel, also known as the White Horse Hotel.

Arthur died 30 October 1930; he is buried in Row 5 in the Kumeu Cemetery in Northland, New Zealand. He shares the grave with his wife, Eliza Jane, who died on 19 January 1962 aged 93 years (NZ Cemetery Records, 1800-2007).

Thomas William Deacon Jnr | Herbert

Thomas was born 4 May 1856, the third child of Eliza and Thomas Deacon (he signed Sarah Deacon’s Journal for Birthdays at this date).

Married Edna Grace (nee Herbert). No known children.

Thomas died 8 August 1915 [check]; he is buried in Row 5 in the Kumeu Cemetery in Northland, New Zealand (NZ Cemetery Records 1800-2007).

Grace Deacon | Lamb | West

Grace was born in Riverhead in 1859.

Grace’s first marriage

On 31 October 1876, Grace married John Alexander Lamb (1849-1891). 

Spouse’s parentage

John Alexander Lamb was a son of:

• John Lamb (1816-1889) born in Bo’ness, Scotland; and
• Euphemia Lamb (nee Spence) born in Falkirk, Scotland in 1819 (Riverhead Jubilee, p.90).

Photo: Riverhead, p.90.

• Jane Lamb (1844-1881) – m. Shaw
• Robert Spence Lamb (1847-1914) –
• John Alexander Lamb (1849-1891) – m. Grace Deacon
• Euphemia Lamb (? – 1859)
• Alexander Lamb (?-?)
• Sarah Lamb (1858-1935) – m. Jamieson

Upon arrival in New Zealand, the Lamb family stayed temporarily at the Immigrants’ Home, Freeman’s Bay. There, Euphemia, a twin, died falling head-first down a rocky cliff (Riverhead Jubilee, p.80).

On 25 November 1859, the Lamb family settled in Riverhead and John gained employment at Brigham’s Mill.

Before marrying Grace Deacon, John Alexander Lamb had married Elizabeth Reid, daughter of James Reid, Belfast, Ireland, then of Eden Terrace, Auckland.

Grace and John Lamb had two children:

• Eliza Winifred Lamb (1877-1955) – born in Riverhead, died in Auckland
• Edward Alexander Lamb (1879-1925) – born in Hodgson St, Auckland, died in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia.

In 1909, in Auckland, Eliza Winifred Lamb married Wilfred Staniland West (1885-1956), manager of her father’s store at Kumeu North. Wilfred West was the second son of John Burgess West and Mary Fanny Peek. Eliza died at the age of 77 on 8 July 1955 in Auckland where she was living at 10 Patey Street, Remuera. She was cremated on 11 July and her ashes scattered on 12 July 1955. 

Death

John Lamb died on 19 October 1891 at the Avondale Mental Hospital, Auckland (New Zealand Death Index 1848-1966, folio 1623).

Sarah Deacon | Griffin

Sarah Deacon was born in 1861 in Riverhead, the fifth of eight children born to Eliza and Thomas Deacon.

For more detail on Sarah, see the Sarah Deacon | Griffin page on this website.

Sarah married American James Nehemiah Griffin in Riverhead in 1897. Sarah and James Griffin had four children during their marriage:

• Clyde Mabel Grace Griffin (1898-?)
  • married Lawrence Grace, no children
• Esther Ruth Griffin (1900-1976)
  • married George Dunnet in 1928, children Donald and Rodney
• Roger Aiken Griffin (1903-1963)
  • married Florence Jessie Downey (1862-1975) in 1926
• Helen Tanzin Griffin (1905-2003)
  • married William Shanly in 1933, daughter Helen Meril
  • married Ralph Fergus Cahill in 1948, daughter Joan.

On 15 October 1931, James Griffin died at the age of 79. Sarah Griffin died on 29 September 1943 in New Zealand at the age of 82. 

Francis Deacon | Lochead

Francis Deacon was born in 1863 in Riverhead.

Marriage

Francis married Elizabeth Hamilton Lochead (1875-1974) on 4 November 1901 at the Presbyterian Church in Sandringham, Auckland (NZ Marriage Index, 1840-1937, folio 1331).

Spouse’s parentage

Elizabeth was born in Dairy Flat, Rodney, Auckland, the daughter of David Rough Lochead (1846-c.1919) and Mary Jane Inglis (1849-1934).

David Rough Lochhead was one of the first European twins in Auckland. David’s twin brother, William Martin Lochead (1846-1919), married, in ca 1885, in Helensville, Eleanor Rosina Mary Palmer of Hamilton.  Twins David and William had an older brother, Robert Lochead (b.1832).

Elizabeth had two siblings: James Lochead (b.ca.1876) and David Robert Lochead (b.1889) who married Una Pauline Frost in 1916 at St Andrews in Auckland.

Francis and Elizabeth had two children during their marriage:

• Leslie David Deacon (1901-1957) born on 19 December 1901.
  • Leslie married Mary Isabel Munroe (1900, Ireland) 1995, Birkenhead) on 4 November 1931 at the Presbyterian Church, Sandringham, Auckland.
    • They had three children: Elizabeth, Anne and Robert.
  • Leslie died at home on 16 October 1957 and is buried in Plot 6 the Waikumete Cemetery, Auckland (NZ Cemetery Records).
• Iris Deacon.

By 1914, aged 51, Francis was listed as a Trooper serving in the Auckland Mounted Rifles Regiment No 13/645[2]. Francis worked as a mechanic in World War I and served in Egypt.  An electoral roll listed Francis as a clerk with the couple living at 4 Seaview Terrace, Glen Lynn, Auckland.  

Deaths

Francis died on 14 October 1920 at the age of 57 in Mt Albert, Auckland (NZ Army WW1 Roll of Honour, 1914-1919).  He was buried at Waikaraka Cemetery, Auckland, on 15 October 1920 (NZ Cemetery Records, 1800-2007).

Elizabeth died in 1974 at Greenlane Hospital, Auckland.

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[2] New Zealand Army WWI Nominal Rolls 1914-1918: Vol.1: 15 Aug 1914-31 Dec 1915.

Mary Deacon | Kinloch

Mary was born in 1865.

Marriage

Mary married Richard Percival Kinloch (1863-1936), a vet.  They lived in Auckland but retired to Kumeu/Riverhead.

Children

Mary and Richard had three children:

• Richard Edward Deacon Kinloch (1895-1920)
• Olive Kinloch
• Frank Robert Kinloch

Death

Richard Kinloch died on 3 June 1936 in Waikaraka.

Mary Kinloch died on 10 May 1942.

Mabel Deacon | Cahill

Mabel was born in 1869[1] the youngest child of Eliza and Thomas Deacon.

In 1898, Mabel married Thomas Francis Cahill (1864-1918).

Mabel and Thomas had 3 children:

• Alfred
• Sylvia
• Ralph Fergus Cahill

Death

Mabel nursed her husband who died of the Spanish Flu on 3 October 1918 aged 54. Mabel died of Spanish Flu five weeks later on 30 November 1918 aged 48.  They are buried in the Waikaraka Cemetry. Their children were brought up by a nanny called Biddy.