Mere Kapa Ngamai I, d. 1852
Below is an online version, from Nga Tupuna o Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Volume 2 (2003), of the biography for Mere Kapa Ngamai I, reproduced with the kind permission of her whānau.
Published Text
"Mere Kapa Ngamai I". In Nga tupuna o Te Whanganui-a-Tara, volume 2. (2003)
Mere, or Mereana Ngamai, or Mere Kapa Ngamai I, was the daughter of Rawiri Kowheta, who was also known as Rawiri Motutere and Maweuweu. Rawiri lived mainly at Koangaumu at Titahi Bay but visited Ngauranga regularly and stayed in a house built by his son in law Enoka Mangu. Arnold Park in Titahi is named after one of Rawiri's descendants. Mere belonged to the Ngati Te Whiti and Ngati Tawhirikura hapu of Te Ati Awa. She was one of four children, the others being Rawinia, Te Ngira, and Mere Tako (Mere Te Hamene). The mother of Te Wharepouri and Mere's mother were closely related.
Presumably she travelled with her family to Waikanae in 1832 in the Te Heke Tama-te-uaua. According to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, she married James Harrison an American whaler (from Massachusetts) who lived on Kapiti Island. They had a son called James Te Tana o Te Taha, or, James Te Taha o Te Tana Harrison and a daughter called Mere Kapa Ngamai II or Mere Harrison. Mere Kapa I had another son called John who died at a young age. James (Jnr) married Julia Wallace at Opunake, and they lived at Patea. Julia died 11 September 1910, and was buried at Orimupiko Urupa, Opunake. James moved north to Tauranga where he died. Mere Kapa II (daughter) married James Robson in 1863 at St Peter's church Wellington and lived first at Carterton and then Stratford in Taranaki. In 1891 their daughter Mary Rachel Robson (d. 1939) married Henry Matthew Stowell (1859-1944). Mere and James Robson had a number of other children.
Mere Kapa Ngamai I lived at Kapiti Island until the death of her husband James Harrison about 1845. She then went to live with her father Rawiri Kowheta or Rawiri Motutere at Ngauranga. By 1847 she had married Wi Tako and went to live briefly at Kumutoto. After the earthquake in March 1848, Wi Tako and Mere Ngamai shifted to Ngauranga and then to the Hutt Valley where Mere Ngamai died in 1852. Two of her three children survived her. The next year in 1853 Wi Tako married her sister Mere Te Hamene.
References:
- Wellington MB
- no. 1C p.36, 44, 80, 84, 102, 117;
- no. 2 p. 157 ;
- no. 12 p. 90.
- Evening Post, 18th November 1939
- Gibbons, P.J. "Stowell, Henry Matthew." Dictionary of New Zealand Biography.
(MB = Minute Book)
I Te Reo Māori -
Ko Mere Kapa Ngamai I (ko ētahi atu ingoa mōna ko Mere, ko Mereana Ngamai), te tamāhine a Rawiri Kowheta i mōhiotia ai hoki ko Rawiri Motutere, ko Maweuweu rānei. I noho ai a Rawiri ki Koangaumu ki te whanga o Titahi, he wā ōna ka peka ki Ngauranga, ki te whare rā nā tana hunaonga nā Enoka Mangu i hanga. He mea tapa te papa tākaro o Arnold Park i te whanga o Titahi, ki te ingoa o te uri nei o Rawiri. Nō ngā hapū o Te Ati Awa, nō Ngati Te Whiti me Ngati Tawhirikura a Mere. E whā ngā tamariki a ōna mātua ko Rawinia, ko Te Ngira, ko Mere Tako (Mere Te Hamene) ēnā. He whanaunga tata hoki te whaea o Mere ki te whaea o Te Wharepouri.
Te āhua nei ka heke mai ia me tōna whānau ki Waikanae i te tau 1832, i Te Heke Tama-te-uaua. E ai ki te Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, ka mārena ia ki te kaiwhaiwhai tohorā nei ki a James Harrison (nō Massachusetts i Merika) ka noho nei i te moutere o Kapiti. Tokorua ā rāua tamariki i ora, ko te tamaiti ko James Te Tana o Te Taha, koia rānei ko James Te Taha o Te Tana Harrison, ā, ko te tamāhine ko Mere Kapa Ngamai II ko Mere Harrison rānei. Ka mate tamariki tonu tā Mere tuatoru ko John tana ingoa. Ka mārena a James (Jnr) ki a Julia Wallace i Opunake, ā, ka noho rāua ki Patea. Ka mate nei a Julia i te 11 o Hepetema 1910, ka nehua ai ki te Urupā o Orimupiko ki Opunake. Ka neke atu rā a James ki te raki, ki Tauranga mate ai. Nō te tau 1863 i mārena ai a Mere Kapa II (te tamāhine) i a James Robson ki te whare karakia o St Peter, i Te Whanganui a Tara, ka noho tuatahi ai ki Carterton, kātahi ka neke ki Whakaahurangi ki Taranaki. Nō te tau 1891 i mārena ai tā rāua tamāhine a Mary Rachel Robson ( - 1939) i a Henry Matthew Stowell (1859-1944). Arā kē atu hoki ngā tamariki a Mere rāua ko James Robson.
Ka noho a Mere Kapa Ngamai I i te moutere o Kapiti, tae noa ki te tau 1845 i mate ai tana tāne a James Harrison. Kātahi ia ka neke ki Ngauranga, noho ai ki te taha o tana pāpā o Rawiri Kowheta a Rawiri Motutere rānei. Nō te tau 1847 kua mārena ia i a Wi Tako, ā, he wā poto ka noho ki Kumutoto. Whai muri i te rū whenua i te marama o Maehe 1848, ka neke a Wi Tako rāua ko Mere Ngamai ki Ngauranga, ā, ki Te Awakairangi, i mate ai a Mere Ngamai i te tau 1852. Tokorua ana tamariki i ora tonu iho. Nō te tau 1853, te tau i muri mai, ka mārena a Wi Tako i te teina, i a Mere Te Hamene.