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_William MCLEOD ____|
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_Isaac MCLEOD __|
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| |_Janet MCDONALD ____|
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|--James MCLEOD
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| _Phillip BRIMNER ___|
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|_Janet BRIMNER _|
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|_Catherine MURDOCH _|
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Frank Grey, HISTORY OF THE MCLEODS OF HELENSVILLE, (1962), p. 26.
James McLeod was the seventh living child of Isaac and Janet at the time of arrival in New Zealand. James was by far the most outstanding member of the family both by reason of his personality and of his pbulic spirit. As he grew to manhood he attracted the notice of all who lived in the little township of Helensville. Not only did he have a very fine stature and more than a fair share of good looks, but he was also remarkable for his keen sense of justice and fair play. By 1879 when he was still a very young man, he became a member of the Road Board of his district, Te Pu, serving actively on it until the district became merged in the Waitemata County. This was only the beginning of a long life of public service. He was a member of the Council for the Mairetahi Riding; he acted on the local school committee and on the executive of the branch of the Farmers Union. He was president of the Helensville A. & P. Association and was a member of the general committee of the Auckland A. & P. Association. In connection with the Helensville Association it was he who was mainly instrumental in forming a syndicate which purchased forty acres of land adjoining the town at £35 an acre, the property being held in trust by the syndicate until the Association could see its way clear to take it over for show purposes. At 25 years of age he married Miss Sarah Little of a well-known Albertlander family who came out to New Zealand on the first ship, the 'Matilda Wattenbach'. James and Sarah had a family of seven, five sons and two daughters, of these Mabel (Mrs. F. M. Rimmer), was the oldest and her two children are Noel, and Joan (Mrs. Joan Opie). Logan had a family of three, Jim, Jack and Lindsay (Mrs. J. Forrest). Harold's family of seven are Nancy (Mrs. J. Hedley), Jean (Mrs. J. R. Robinson), Betty (Mrs. T.P. Jones), PHIllip, Mary (Mrs. G. R. Hill), Marjorie (Mrs. J. W. Jones), and Alexander Percy, deceased, had a family of seven. They were Dorothy (Mrs. Phillips), Neil, Don, killed in the Second World War, Hilda (Mrs. S. Codling) Kathleen (Mrs. J. Sheffield), Fraser and Helen (Mrs. P. Bradley). Arnold, deceased, Winifred, deceased, (Mrs. Marcus Adlington) left a family of four, Douglas, Murray, Graham, and Mary, (Mrs. P. Perry). Cedric's four children are Alan, Ronald, Ian, and Sheila (Mrs. F. Webber). James and Andrew were partners in the firm of J. and A. McLeod, timber contractors, who worked what was then Slatter's bush. It was largely due to Jim's aument that this partnership prospered until it was dissolved somewhere about 1890 owing to a temporary setback in the timber industry. James then took up farming on a property just beyond the bridge over the Kaipara River, and later a rich alluvial bock of about 800 acres at Parkhurst and named "Harbour View". There he built up a dairying industry on up to date lines and also carried on systematic cropping. His herd of Ayrshires became one of the most noted in the province. His public life continued. He was a foundation director of the Kaipara Dairy Company and retained office for some years. When Helensville grew to such an extent that a Town Board was required for its government Mr. McLeod became chairman, holding office for some years. On the advent of electricity to the district, he was elected as one of th representatives to the Waitemata Electric Power Board. Later he also served on the Auckland Hospital Board, of which he remained a member until his death. The movement which brought the curative properties of the Parakai Hot Springs to public notice in New Zealand had James McLeod as one of its most energetic workers. In every forward movement taken by the Helensville district since its settlement, he took a prominent part. But he will be remembered for his private generosity as well as for his public owrk. many families and young men owed their progress to his help. After a long life of foresight, energy and industry he died in Mt. Albert on October 19th 1927 and was buried at Helensville.