Woman and Child's Preservation from Crushing during Taraniki Earthquake
Published October 5, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
During a severe earthquake in Taraniki, New Zealand, which saw nearly every chimney collapse, a stone house fell in, nearly burying a woman and her child.
Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 31, No. 3 (16 January 1869), p. 46):
At Taranaki, during the late earthquake, nearly every chimney was thrown down, and a stone house fell in, but a woman and her child, who were in it, were preserved from being crushed.
In Their Own Words
“Scarcely a chimney is standing. One stone house fell in, almost burying a woman and child. A great destruction took place of publicans’ stock. The damage is estimated at £5000. No lives were lost. — Millennial Star 31:3”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 16 January 1869 (Vol. 31, No. 3). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1869-01-16_31_3 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Complete account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 31, No. 3 (16 January 1869), p. 46 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1869-01-16_31_3
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