Robert A. Wilson

Robert Wilson was born in the town of Lanark, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1873. In 1874 he came with his parents to Port Chalmers by the ship "Jessie Readman" and was brought up to farming. Mr Wilson joined the service of the company Hampden Creamery at Portobello and was promoted to the position of manager in 1897. The Hampden Creamery-the property of the Taieri and Peninsula Milk Supply Company, Ltd occupied a site on the main road at Hampden. The building was of wood and was erected in 1890 by the New Zealand Dairy Supply Company, the present company having purchased it in 1896. The creamery was equipped with two DeLaval separators and the plant worked by a five horse power Tangye engine. About 90 farmers supplied milk and about 1000 gallons are put through daily. On the 26th February, 1900 he married Annie Thomson, the second daughter of the late Alexander Thomson of Hampden. They started a family and had three daughters, Eileen ( b. 1904), Dorothea (b. 1906) and Muriel (b. 1908). Some time in the next decade he became the proprietor of a general store in Hampden and then a few years later shifted to a store in Herbert. Later in the early 1920's the family moved to Outram where they ran a store located in the main street: the building still stands today.

Robert died in 1929 but the family continued to run the business until 1934.

WILSON.-On the 18th February, at Herbert, Dorothea Wilson, dearly beloved wife of Thomas Wilson; in her fifty-second year. Deeply regretted. (Feb 19th 1901).

Based on the above, Robert's parents were Thomas and Dorothea Wilson, presumably born in Scotland.