Dent family connections
| Rank: Private |
Religion: Catholic |
Eyes, Hair, Complexion: Hazel, Dark Brown, Swarthy |
Birth Place, Trade, Height Marital Status, Ship to NZ |
Thomas Cassidy married a Scottish girl and they had two Australian born children, a son and daughter, at the time of their arrival in New Zealand. The Cassidy's had eight more children in Hamilton, four boys and four girls. Their children were amongst the first to attend the convent school.
He received two land grants - a town section on the corner of Cook and Galloway Streets, Hamilton East and 50 acres of farm land. Unlike many of the other settlers he didn't go to the Thames gold rush but continued in his trade as butcher after being discharged from the militia. In April 1877 he was granted a licence for a slaughter house situated at Pumpkin Flat (later known as Hayes' Paddock), Hamilton East and, also, had a shop in the settlement, where he employed another butcher. Thomas supplied meat to the Waikato Hospital and one of his sons was the first butcher's boy to deliver meat there. All five sons followed their father and became butchers.
In 1889 Thomas Cassidy was one of the fifty settlers who planted a tree in Sydney Square, Hamilton East, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the militia's landing at Hamilton. He died 5 October 1901 and is buried in the Roman Catholic block, Hamilton East cemetery. His wife, Sarah, died seven years earlier after a long illness.