On 2 Oct 1835, at Tenby, Pembrokeshire in Wales, William Richard Parcell (1) was born. This father, John Parcell and family were known as shipwrights to Her Majesty the Queen.

On 20 Jul 1845, at Limerick in Ireland, Mary Magdalene O'Brien was born. Her father was James Patrick O'Brien.

William Parcell served his time as a shipwright and then went to sea for 5 years.

William left his ship in Melbourne and went to the Australian gold diggings for five years.

William Parcell moved to Tasmania where he was engaged in sawmilling for four years.

Upon hearing of the Dunstan gold rush, William Parcell came to New Zealand, landing in Dunedin.

In April of 1863, William Parcell obtained his miners right in Dunedin, then made his way up to Central Otago accompanied by his mate Mr William Williams. They did some mining on the 6 mile beach (believed to be in the Clyde-Roxburgh area). The pair made their way up the river to the Bannockburn area but could not find a good claim due to the number of miners working there. They continued on to Wanaka where they purchased an old boat and patched it up. They then started downriver to Clyde. At Deadmans Point above Cromwell they went ashore to boil the billy and met Mr D A Jolly and a party of miners. The miners warned them about the Cromwell rapids, in those days they were very steep and un-navigable. In later years, blasting made the rapids navigable with difficulty by dredges. Mr Jolly and the miners helped William and William to carry their boat overland to the Kawarau River, and from there they carried on down to Clyde. At Clyde the pair used their boat to run a ferry service across the Clutha River. They charged one shilling per trip and would tow two horses for two shillings and sixpence.

William Parcell went to Dunedin and married Miss Mary Magdalene O'Brien who had come from Ireland. The couple returned to Clyde and settled there.

It appears that Mr Parcell's sister was in Clyde about this time. (She may have come out on the same ship as Mary O'Brien ?). Mr William Williams married Mr Parcells sister (name unknown) and they had a large family.

William Parcell and family moved to Happy Valley. Here he built, or brought the Halfway House, which included a store and a dwelling. The Halfway House was situated on the dray road between Clyde and the Nevis (and Cromwell). However, there was very little traffic to Cromwell until James Stewart installed the 'Bannockburn and Kawarau Ferry' in 1867. The only detail of dwelling #292 that has survived is that it had 7 rooms. William sold stores to miners an their way to the Nevis goldfield and would buy gold from the miners returning to Clyde. he farmed the land in Tuckers Gully, growing oats and potatoes. William also operated a taxi service with a two horse waggonette or express. Travellers could be fed and accommodated at the Halfway House.

The Bannockburn Bridge was opened and this provided easier access to Cromwell. This resulted in a downturn in Mr Parcell's business.

In December 1881, Mrs Jane Crow, her three children and father had arrived from England to join her husband Jacob in Duffers Gully. They stopped at the Halfway House where Mrs Parcell welcomed her new closest neighbor with a cup of tea and a gift of a stone hot water bottle.

On 23 May 1882 the Halfway House burnt down. Mrs Parcell had left her daughter Ellen at the house. Harry, her son, had driven his mother and family to the Quartzville shops in the waggonette

Report from the Cromwell Argus, 30 May 1882. " A seven roomed farm house of Mr W Parcell, on the road between Nevis and Cromwell was totally consumed by fire on Tuesday afternoon last, about half past two o'clock. On receiving information of the event, sergeant McLeod proceeded to the spot and instituted enquiries. It seems that Mr Parcell was at the time in the chaff house, some little distance from the dwelling. On observing the smoke he ran to the place, only to find that flames had got a firm hold beyond the power of extinguishment by one man, with no water or other assistance at hand. The owner managed to get out only some fourteen pound worth of property before the house was a smoldering ruin. The house was insured in the South British office for one hundred and fifty pound, and fifty pound on the furniture, but over and above this Mr Parcell estimates his loss at not less than one hundred and fifty pound. It is not known how the fire occurred."

On the day of the fire, Mr James Cowan, the manager of Kawarau Station was up the hill behind Halfway House working some sheep. He galloped down to help but all was lost, however Ellen Parcell escaped the flames. Mr Cowan took the whole family to the Kawarau Station homestead (dwelling #285) for the night. The next day the family moved to the Renshaws (dwelling #283) about 800m below the Kawarau homestead. Mr Parcell took his wagon and team to Invercargill, returning home with material and goods for a new house. For details of this new house, known as Rose Cottage, see dwelling #294.

(from notes by J P Parcell) John Parcell was on the Victorian goldfields, (possibly at the same time as his son W R Parcell.) John Parcell was married for a second time while in Victoria, to a German doctor by the name of Scahffer. The couple had a daughter, Mary, and the family moved to New Zealand and settled in Clyde. It appears that the family lived here for some years. John Parcell and maybe his wife returned to Wales (the latest electoral roll of this period that the author has is for the year 1870-1871 and Mr John Parcell s listed as living at Sutherland Street in Clyde.) It is unclear when John Parcell left Clyde. However, his daughter Mary moved to Bald Hill Flat where she worked as a housekeeper for Mr Jacobs. He was in charge of the 'Last Chance Water Race' which ran from Gorge Creek to Bald Hill Flat. Mr Jacob was very much older than Mary, probably by forty years however in time the couple were married. Unfortunately Mr Jacob died at the age of 71 years, leaving his wife aged 29 years with a family of five children to look after. There was a Peter, Lottie, and three other girls. One girl died in her teens. Peter married a Miss McKay from Luggate.