Mata Pekamu Tamatuhiata,
Alive in 1874
Mata Pekamu, also known as Martha Beckham or Mata Pekamu Tamatuhiata, was the daughter of Akatohe and Tamatuhiata. In the Native Land Court record she is also called Tuhawaiki in a whakapapa given by her close relative, Ruakere Moeahu.
Her mother, Tamatuhiata, was the sister of Kawana Hiangarere of Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Kura. Kawana Hiangarere was the father of Wi Tamihana Te Neke who signed the Treaty of Waitangi at Waikanae on 15 May 1840. Mata through her father was of Taranaki iwi. She came south on the heke of those iwi to Waikanae and then carried on later, to Te Aro Pa at Te Whanganui-a-Tara. She had an older brother Patara Runga who died without issue.
Mata, with her mother and other Taranaki iwi, was living in Te Whanganui-a-Tara before at least the large Te Atiawa body of the heke Tama Te Uaua came from Te Uruhi in 1833/34. As the Tama Te Uaua heke under the leadership of Te Wharepouri, Te Puni, Rauakitua and others trans-migrated through Poneke on its way to the Wairarapa, it appears to have been joined by some of the whanau who had reached the harbour at an earlier date.
Tamatuhiata, also known as Te Rununga, was one of those who went on the heke to the Wairarapa and she, along with one of the sisters of Te Wharepouri, was drowned while Taranaki whanui were in the Wairarapa.
Mata Pekamu was married to the whaler George Ashdown who was one of thirteen pakeha whalers and traders of Nga Motu who took part in the Battle of Otaka, 1830. These men included Billy Bundy, John Agar Love, Dicky Barrett, William Keenan, Joseph Phillips and others, many of whom married Maori women. George and Mata Ashdown had five children. They were George, Maraea (Mrs. Guard), James David, Sarah (Mrs. Clegg) and Ellen or Helen (Mrs. Wilberforce). George Ashdown predeceased Mata and she subsequently married Tamati Te Wera of Te Aro.
Mata was included in the original ownership of Te Aro Pa when that case came before the Native Land Court in Wellington in 1866. She was given a Crown grant to allotment No. 23. Arama Karaka of Ngati Haumia, Taranaki iwi, gifted this land to Mata, in a will. She was present when the sale of sections 89 and 90 Town of Wellington took place in 1874 and had interests in Te Aro Pa section 23, New Zealand Company Tenths, Ngatitara, Oeo and Cape Survey District.
In the Taranaki lands, her children succeeded to the interests of her brother, Rakautauri. In the Wellington Tenths lands, her children succeeded to Hohepa Te Matewai of Ngati Taeri who was in the Pipitea succession lists.
References:
- Judge Ward MB no. 35, p. 258 ; Judge Ward MB no. 36, p. 5-9, 21
- Taranaki MB no. 3, p. 162- 171, 179, 180-191, 193-194, 217-218, 348
- Wairarapa MB no. 1, p. 1-2, 11-12
- Wellington MB no. 2, p. 44-45, 153 ; Wellington MB no. 8, p. 49 ;
- Wellington MB no. 9, p. 33-34, 42 ; Wellington MB no. 14, p. 127- 128