Family claims Longden's lane

A descendant of the long-dead owner of a central Christchurch laneway has come forward. Lynette Mary Raymond, who lives in Australia, said she was the great, great granddaughter of Joseph Longden - who remains the registered owner of 151 square metre lane and surrounding land at Kilmore and Colombo streets despite having died in 1865. The mystery of his continued ownership was revealed in The Press last week. Raymond said a great granddaughter may still be alive, in her 90s, in the United States. If that woman has passed, she estimated there were about 50 potential heirs in her generation. Longden bought sections 178 and 180 on the Black Map of Christchurch in March 1856. He subdivided 178 and sold the sections separately while 180 was sold whole. A lane was established between them and for reasons unknown, Longden kept title to it. His name still appears on the land title 149 years after his death, in England, aged 37. The lane, now addressed 125 Kilmore St, is just west of the former Caledonian Hall near the corner of Kilmore and Colombo streets. The Public Trust has applied to "manage" the property and will sell it. The city council valued the land at $16,000 in November. Raymond is a nursing lecturer at an Australian university and a keen genealogist. She visited New Zealand to research her family tree. A distant relative spotted The Press story and alerted her to it. She has approached the Public Trust about claiming the proceeds. Longden arrived in Canterbury before the First Four Ships, set up several businesses in Lyttelton and built a home at 14 Oxford Tce in 1852. It survived the earthquakes and is today the oldest part of the The Pegasus Arms pub. A plaque outside credits Longden. He also owned several sheep stations and sub-divided Easdale Nook Station to create Mt Torlesse Station. Anthony Nixon lived at 802 Colombo St, which backed onto Longden's lane from 1955 to 1959. He recalled men and women taking time out from dancing at the Caledonian for "extra curricular activity" up the lane. He could not remember the date but "my finest hour was calling the fire brigade out to save Chas Luney's woodworking factory from burning down", he wrote in an email this week.Luney's company still owns the section 180 land and alerted the Public Trust to the lane's ownership. Luneys has drawn up concept plans for a new office block that appear to envelop the lane. Ad Feedback Long-dead landowners are found across the land titles records and sections in the Cardrona Valley, Otago, have recently been sold by the Public Trust. Many are clustered about the Cardrona Hotel, which survives from gold rush days. Andrew Tuohy, for example, is the registered owner of 329sqm in the Cardrona Valley. He died in 1923 after fathering 11 children with wife Hannah (Annie) O'Sullivan. One of them, Patrick Tuohy , changed his name to Fintan Patrick Walsh. He became "unquestionably the most important figure in the history of the New Zealand labour movement", according to Te Ara Encyclopedia, being a close ally of Prime Minister Peter Fraser. Walsh never married but had a daughter. Rebecca Bond died in 1904 and is still the registered owner of 556sqm at Cardrona. In 1885, she applied for a publican's licence for the The Prince of Wales Hotel in Queenstown, which she renamed The Mountaineer Hotel. She was later hostess of the Crescent Hotel in Invercargill. Four Chinese nationals are still registered landowners in Cardrona. Little can be found about them. Ah Hin had 1012sqm - a quarter acre. In 1882, a man of the same name was recorded to have taken an oath of allegiance and was said to be a 35-year-old storekeeper at Tuapeka Flat. Ah Lem's written history in New Zealand includes a title deed for 455 sqm at Cardrona, an 1872 application for a water race near Nevis and an 1890 application for residence at Manor Burn Flat. Wong You applied for an agricultural lease at Cardrona in 1878 and had title to 2808sqm in the area in 1877. Wah Leong had two titles at Cardrona of about 1000sqm. In August 1876, the Lake Wakatipu Mail reported that an Ah Leong was found "coiled up in the chimney of his hut, where probably he sought the solace of the warmth, and as the last dying embers ceased their comfort, the cold hand of death stole over him". Are these your ancestors? Contact will.harvie@press.co.nz - The Press WILL HARVIE AND PHILIP CREED Last updated 05:00 06/09/2014 http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/10466612/Family-claims-Longdens-lane