The Elusive Ella Cossill - the discovery of another of Pourewa's feisty female descendants Part 1

Note - the spelling of Mongonui or Mangonui seems to have been interchangeable in newspaper and other records over this time. My spelling will also change between the two depending on the source I'm quoting. 

Update:  January 2024. There is now  verifiable evidence that the photo of the woman with the firearm is someone completely different - not a known family member at all. See this post for further information, but I'll leave the original research as written because the story of finding her is just as interesting. 

Ella has been the least known of the children of Charles and Pourewa (Margaret) Cossill. I am including all known research, including anecdotal and unconfirmed information and speculation (indicated as such) in the hope that through trying to confirm or deny it, we may end up finding more of her story or match it to any facts as they arise.  

The earliest information seems to have come from pre-internet word-of-mouth sources, or Neva Clarke McKenna's book Mangonui: Gateway to the Far North (1994) which includes some of the first referenced information about the Cossill family. I'll try to match any anecdotal information to its earliest known source, with much of this coming from research done by Cossill family researchers Debbie Herbert and Carl Cossill who visited  or contacted descendants and collected stories and photos along the way. Both have kindly handed on to me their research to date. Please leave a message or use the email option (scroll down panel on the right) if you want to suggest any corrections or if you can add further information on the sources of photos or other anecdotal details. This is a work in progress, and the aim is to get it as factual as possible. 

 In Nigel Cooper's book Nga Uri o Pourewa  - A Pakeha family discovers its Maori ancestry (2005), he includes a copy of  the registration of Pourewa's death in 1884 - under her married name of Margaret Cossill. It states she had 4 daughters still living at the time of her death (aged 48, 46,44, and 40) and one son aged 42 years. That gives approximate birth years of 1836, 1838, 1840, and 1844 for the girls (no names were given) and 1842 for the son (which could only be Richard).   

Ella was Pourewa's first-born child, in 1836, deduced by process of elimination of the known or likely dates and ages of the other siblings. This has also been confirmed by  Debbie Herbert's research of microfiche records from Kaikohe some years ago (sighted but not copied). Ella's birth year of 1836 and baptism in1838 are recorded in Debbie's (2004) family tree in  Nga Uri o Pourewa.  Ella is included as a daughter of Charles and Pourewa in a family tree by Dorothy Cooper (1980s) which was also included in Nga Uri o Pourewa. (Note - Ella's details "ran hospital / married Naysmith" are incorrect and had been confused with other descendants - but it was a start!) Also note there is some speculation that Charles Cossill may not have been Ella's father (Herbert research), likely based on the probability that she was born before they were married.  This will never be known, but for all intents and purposes, we can assume he was the father. The timing of  Charles and Pourewa's marriage may  possibly have been more to do with the availability of a minister wanting to tidy up the moral turpitude of Englishmen in de facto relationships with Maori women than Charles deciding to do the decent thing by his partner and child. Or it could have been a bit of both. 

Debbie Herbert's research gave Ella's birthplace as Mangonui and that (anecdotally) as a young girl she was taken to America and ended up staying there.  Another story is that Ella was a young baby when Charles and Pourewa married.  If Ella's year of birth is accepted as 1836, and we know that Charles and Pourewa's wedding date was definitely October 1836, then Pourewa was either heavily pregnant or Ella had already been born by the wedding day (the latter a more likely scenario). Debbie Herbert also had a story that Ella had married and had four children, and that the boy in photo (below) was her son. 

In the absence of any further information, there had been much speculation about what happened to Ella. A photo believed to be of her holding a machete (it was actually a bayonet) and firearm has been widely circulated, but there is no supporting evidence to prove it is her. It would have to have been taken in the earliest days of non-studio photography in NZ to fit her timeline (see below).  Also there is a photo of a woman and boy which is believed to be Ella and son and is likely to be authentic as it came from researcher and author Neva Clarke McKenna for her book. 

Believed to be Ella Cossill. (Photo from Debbie Herbert collection, source unknown)   

Believed to be Ella Cossill and son (Photo from Debbie Herbert collection from Neva Clarke McKenna. ) 

And then earlier this year I received a message from New Zealand historian and novelist Joan Druett, who specialises in maritime history with a particular interest in women in whaling. She had found my research on Charles and Pourewa on this blog site and matched it with some of her research on a woman called Sarah Gorsell, and this became the key that unlocked information we would never have otherwise discovered. And so the story of "Ella" unfolded: 

Somewhere along the line our Ella was known as Sarah,  and her surname has been written a variety of ways including Gorsell, Carssell, Corsell and Corsil.  The evidence clearly supports that Joan Druett's Sarah Gorsell is the same person as our Ella Cossill.  Let me explain: 

An article in an 1893 New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA, newspaper  stated that a reporter had made an unusual discovery while looking over some old documents in the town clerk's office in Fairhaven.  He found a "curious marriage contract" drawn up by Captain Ira Lakey, commander of the Fairhaven ship Arctic. The article said that in Australia, a sailor [since identified as the chief mate Charles A Evans] had "secreted" a woman on board, and by the time the captain had found out, they were too far out to sea [to return].  After discussion with the ship's officers, it was decided to marry the sailor and the woman. Captain Lakey performed the ceremony on March 12th, 1856, and drew up the document which was the one eventually found in the town records by the reporter. 

Declaration of marriage by Charles Evans and Sarah Corsell 
P.7 The Evening Standard - Feb 8 1893

Wedding vows of Charles Evans and Sarah Cossill
P.7 The Evening Standard - Feb 8 1893

Approximate location of on-board wedding of Charles A Evans and Sarah Corsell

The following men on board signed as witnesses of the contract of marriage and the solemnisation thereof: Ira Lakey, Peter Butman, Albert Lewis, Joseph B Bucklin, Amasa Holbrook, James T Holt, Henry Lord, Andrew Page Wood, and John Perkins.  The ring mentioned in the pledge was made by the crew from a silver coin.  Note: Ira Lakey was a jeweller before he was a whaling captain, so it is plausible that he  could have contributed towards its creation one way or another. 

The newspaper article states that the woman was taken on board "at Australia", so I tried to trace the movements of the Arctic through shipping intelligence published in both New Zealand and Australian papers.  I found the article below in The New Zealander, 6th February, 1856  and I also found it copied to the Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 15th February, 1856. 

If Ella /Sarah boarded in Australia, it would have added  another mystery to the story, but it is more likely that she stowed away from Mongonui, New Zealand, where the ship called and sailed prior to January 31st, If the Arctic  returned - as its intentions stated in the shipping intelligence notice - she could have boarded when (and if)  the ship arrived in Mongonui on 20th February before sailing for America - but I have found no evidence of the ship returning to New Zealand in February 1856. 

There's not a lot of room on a whaling ship, but the chief mate Charles Evans most likely had his own small cabin, enabling the concealment of Sarah. By the wedding date, March 12th, the ship was east of Tasmania, as indicated in the map above, probably on its way home to Fairhaven, America as intended. And so, Sarah stayed on board the Arctic for the remainder of the voyage after her marriage.

Note that Sarah is recorded as Sarah A Evans in her vows.  It's the only time I've seen an "A" in her name and  it would statistically be likely to stand for Ann. Her sister Maggie, who married Henry Rosieur, had a daughter also called Sarah Ann. Coincidence? There's no mention that she signed her name or added a mark, but it's unlikely she would be literate.  Doing the maths from her year of birth, she would have been 20 at the time of her stow-away. 

I have found the following record of their marriage, obviously entered after Charles Evans and Sarah returned to port in Fairhaven. Note that the correct date of marriage is entered to the left  (March 12), but I have found the date May 29th incorrectly given as the date of marriage in Family Search records (which are notoriously unreliable, but helpful  as a starting point). Also note Sarah's surname as Corsell and the apparent  later addition of the "A" to Charles' name.  I can't get access to the archives of the New London Weekly Chronicle without paying - and I wonder if there would be any information in that notice that could add to our knowledge, though it's probably the same as the other publications in which the notice appeared (see blow). 

From (familysearch.org) Index to marriages, New London Weekly Chronicles A-Z 

Marriage notice in the Salem Gazette - 27 May 1856 Source: MyHeritage.com [online database], MyHeritage Ltd.

 The ship returned to Fairhaven by May 22nd, confirmed by the inclusion of Sarah Evan's name under the heading Passengers of the May 22nd,1856, edition of the Boston Courier. 

In the Arctic, at New Bedford, from Ochotsk Sea, Mr John Perkins, late first officer of ship Natchez of New Bedford; also Mrs Sarah Evans (wife of Mr Evans, first mate of Arctic). 

The Boston Courier - 1856-05-22, page 3

Also Charles Evans' and Sarah's marriage notice appeared in the May 23rd edition of the Boston Courier (see timeline below). There are several court cases reported in various Massachusetts papers in May and June 1856 where Ira Lakey is the defendant in cases involving flogging members of his crew on his previous command of the Syren Queen and for libel, This further confirms the time frame of the Arctic's return to Fairhaven. 

On return,  Ira Lakey left  his command, and Charles A Evans was recorded as the captain of the Arctic in 1856. Clearly his stowaway bride and pop-up onboard wedding had not reduced his chances of promotion. 

According to the New Bedford Whaling Museum data base, the Arctic, commanded by Charles A Evans, departed the port of Fairhaven MA on 22nd July 1856, its recorded destination the Pacific, and Sarah accompanied him.  Further records indicate the Arctic ventured into the Indian Ocean. (See article below.) 

Tragically, Charles A Evans  died 3 months later on the 29th October (see article below) when he fell overboard and was fatally injured in the attempted rescue.  The crew attempted to bury him on St Paul Island - an uninhabited volcanic island in the Indian Ocean, but the sea was too rough to attempt it, so he was preserved in a double coffin and "stored" until the ship returned to Mongonui the following January. Whaling historian Joan Druett confirmed that burial at sea was not considered ideal, according to religious standards of the time, so efforts were made to preserve important corpses for burial on land - even though storage conditions were seldom ideal.  

New Zealander, Volume 13, Issue 1128, 7 February 1857, Page 2

Estimated location of Charles A Evans' death (Indian Ocean marker) and location of St Paul Island where the burial attempt was made. (Google Maps). 

It's interesting to note that the article about his death says Charles and his [unnamed] wife married from this place [Mongonui] 8 months before  - which would have been April, but this does not fit with the marriage at sea story.  Just in case there was another twist to the tale,  I checked the New Zealand register of births, deaths and marriages and could find no evidence of any land-based marriage between the couple. Perhaps it was a "cover-up" or mistaken information. It's interesting to note that the marriage did not seem to be recorded in Sarah/Ella's home country but was widely published in Charles' home state. 

It is also interesting to note the pomp and ceremony that was involved in Charles Evans' funeral.  I wonder if this was in recognition of the Cossill's standing in the local community, or of the recognition of the esteem that either Charles' Evans or Ira Lakey may have been held? Maybe everyone may have just liked a good ceremony after all the other hardships involved in whaling.  It would certainly seem that any indiscretions between Ella/Sarah and Charles Evans were smoothed over, forgiven or kept quiet.  And I wonder where the grave actually is?  It would be interesting to know if there was any marker or evidence still discernable.  Being buried a few yards from his father-in-law's door is an interesting final resting place for Charles Evans  to say the least.  It could be that Evans was known to Charles Cossill from when the Arctic was previously in port in 1856. In Petticoat Whalers  by Joan Druett, she notes that Sarah Gorsell was the daughter of a pilot from Mongonui. It could have been one of Charles Cossill's part-time occupations. There are many possibilities. But we now know there is another family grave on the island. 

Joan Druett confirms that the ship would have been on its way back to New Zealand anyway to refresh water and food provisions and to transship any oil that had been collected on the way. Consideration for Sarah may have been taken into account for the decision to return to Mongonui over any other port in New Zealand - or it could have been the preferred destination anyway. The Arctic was not planning to return to America for a while yet, and after the funeral, Sarah returned to America on February 2nd on the Jireh Swift which was heading homeward.  It's interesting that Sarah would leave her family once again to go to the other side of the world  when her husband was buried at her father's door. 

So, in the space of less than a year, Sarah had left (run away from?) home in Mongonui, stowed away on a whaling ship, returned to America, left America, returned to Mongonui and then returned to America. What a year! What a gal!  

I wonder why she did that? 

What happened next? 

(Note: there does not appear to have been any indication of a child at this stage.)

Click here for the rest of my research on Sarah Cossill's life. 

- Part 2 

- Part 3

- Part 4 

Ella /Sarah CossillTimeline: 

1836 - Sarah Cossill born 

1838 - Sarah Cossell baptised (unconfirmed)

1856 - sometime in January: Arctic calls into and sails from Mongonui. Charles A Evans is first mate. Sarah probably stows away. 

 (February 20: Arctic may have called in to Mongonui - no evidence) 

- March 12: Charles A Evans and Sarah Cossell marry on board Arctic 

- sometime before May 23: Arctic  returns to Fairhaven - with Sarah 

- May 23: Charles A Evans and Sarah Corsell's marriage announced in the Boston Courier

- May 27: Charles A Evans and Sarah Corsell's marriage announced in the Salem Gazette

- May 29: Charles A Evans and Sarah Corsell's marriage notice published in New London Weekly Chronicle. 

- July 22: Arctic leaves Fairhaven under command of Charles A Evans, accompanied by Sarah. 

- October 29 - Charles A Evans dies onboard the Arctic, Indian Ocean

1857

- January 22 - Arctic arrives in Mongonui 

- January 24 - Charles A Evans buried on Paewhenua Island

- February 2 - Sarah Evans departs for New Bedford on the Jireh Swift 

- February 5 - Arctic departs Mongonui for whaling grounds  - 

- 1861 - Arctic returns to Fairhaven MA under command of Evans' second in command, Peter Beedman (aka Butman). 

Other sources and references: 

Massachusetts Newspapers, 1704-1974

The Evening Standard - 1893-02-08
Publication title: The Evening Standard
Publication place: New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States
Date: Feb 8 1893
Page: 7

WHALERS AT MONGONUI, NEW ZEALAND, JANUARY 31. (1856, February 15). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 4. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12980558

Charles A Evans,  found in "The Directory of Whaling Masters" (p122) 

Captain: Charles A Evans, Year:1856,  Ship: Arctic, Port: Fairhaven Massachusetts. 

 Charles A Evans found in "History of American Whale Fisheries from its earliest inception to the year 1876" by Alexander Starbuck (pp 538 - 539)

 Ira Lakey defendant in assault case, reported in the Boston Post, 31 May 1856 and the  Boston Courier, 2nd June, 1856. (Massachusetts Newspapers 1704 - 1974). 

Petticoat Whalers - Whaling Wives at Sea 1820 - 1920 by Joan Druett (1991) Book is out of print but copies available on bookselling sites. 

Hen Frigates - Passion and Peril, Nineteenth-Century Women at Sea by Joan Druett (1998) 

Charles and Pourewa Cossill: What we know - and don't know - so far (Part 3)

 This is Part 3 of my investigation and research into the lives and times of Pourewa and Charles Cossill and their family.  Check out the previous few posts to find Part 1 and Part 2, or click on the Cossill label to the right.  Please feel free to suggest corrections  or question anything I've written - it's a work in progress. (See email option to the right, or leave a message in the comments at the end.) 

The earliest official documented evidence we have of Charles and Pourewa is their marriage record in the Waimate Parish register:

Copy from Nga Uri o Pourewa by Nigel Cooper. Pourewa and Charles' marriage registration.

Charles Cossell of the Waimate Parish and Pourewa of the Parish of Waihou were married in this church by (blank) with consent of (blank) this 20th day of October in the year One thousand eight hundred and thirty six by me William Williams. The witnesses' names were Piripi Toki Rewehi and Eruera Wana (as transcribed by Neva Clarke McKenna in her book "Mangonui, gateway to the Far North").

What can be inferred from Charles and Pourewa's marriage registration is that both Charles and Pourewa were each of the age of consent and were illiterate, as they did not sign their names.  Surely, if Charles and Pourewa could have written their names with any degree of accuracy they would have - as did the two witnesses. They each marked the paper with a cross. I'm particularly impressed by Pourewa's mark which appears firm and bold, although lacking in control or mastery. Charles' mark is neater and more precisely placed, possibly showing a better mastery of a writing implement - perhaps used previously for keeping tally of items. (Pure speculation.)

It is interesting to note that both the witnesses have a mastery of handwriting which indicates they were literate to some degree and probably students at the mission school, as suggested by Neva Clarke McKenna in her book Mangonui Gateway to the Far North. Some degree of literacy amongst Maori was not uncommon pre-1840, as missionaries established schools to teach Maori scripture-based reading and writing from as early as 1816. Pourewa, therefore, may not have been in a situation where she had access to this learning, and Charles - like many early English and European arrivals to New Zealand - was most likely to have come from a labouring background, far removed from access to (or use for) education.

A similar signature of witness Euruera Wana (aka Wina / Wananga) appears on the Turanga copy of the Treaty of Waitangi (known as the East Coast Sheet). 

Witnesses' signatures on Charles and Pourewa's marriage certificate. 
Piripi Tohi ...? and Eruera Wana, 1836 

Eruera Wana signature on East Coast Sheet of Treaty of Waitangi,1840

According to Treaty analysis, Eruera Wana is believed to have been a Ngapuhi rangatira visiting Turanga (now Gisborne) at the time of the Treaty signing. There were close connections between Ngapuhi (Northland) and Ngati Porou (East Coast), and it appears that Eruera was based on the East Coast from at least 1840 to help advance Christian teaching at Uawa (Tolaga Bay) until at least the arrival of CMS Missionary Charles Baker in 1843. He could have followed William Williams there, as the missionary was clearly known to him from Waimate.  It would appear most likely that this was the same Eruera Wana. 

I could find no similar evidence of the other witness, Piripi Toki Rewehi. I couldn't find one single online reference to him or his last name until I played around with re-transcribing his name and searching Papers Past. I found a place called Rewehi in Kaipara (very obscure as only 2 mentions and once as a first name many years later) and then I found references to a Philip/Piripi Tohi at Waimate during the 1830s. Neva Clarke McKenna had transcribed the signatures for her book, but on closer inspection of the marriage register copy, it is quite probable that what she had read as a "k" is actually an "h", and in that case, I found our other witness.

There was a Piripi/Philip Tohi -  an orphan, redeemed slave and stable boy -  living with CMS missionary Richard Davis and his wife at Waimate Mission. Davis had helped establish the Waimate farm in 1831. Also based at Waimate was the Rev William Yate from 1832 until 1834, when he returned to England, ostensibly to bring back his sister. While he was away, information about Yate's relationship with a crew member on the ship he was travelling on reached the CMS in Australia. In the resulting scandal and investigation, sworn affidavits were provided from young Maori men in New Zealand, giving explicit details of encounters Yate had had with them while they in his care and tutelage. Piripi Tohu's evidence was one of four given by young Maori men in New Zealand to missionaries Richard Davis, William Williams and George Clarke. The affidavits were sent to the CMS in New South Wales, and Yate was consequently sent back to England in disgrace.

So our ancestors were clearly in the presence of interesting people who have made their names in New Zealand history - one way or another. 

William Williams 

Fun Fact 1: William Williams (1800 - 1878) completed a surgical apprenticeship before training with the Church Missionary Society in order to come to New Zealand to join his older brother and CMS leader Henry Williams. He arrived in 1826 and spent much time travelling as well as teaching, being the mission doctor, and translating the Scriptures into Maori language. Williams was based at Waimate between May 1835 and 31st 

December 1839, where he ran a boarding school for the sons of missionaries. Maori also attended school at Waimate.

William Williams and his family left to set up a mission at Turanga (Gisborne) on the East Coast at the end of 1839, just missing being present for the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Consequently, although recognised as the most skillful speaker and translator of Maori language, he was unfortunately not available to help with the formulation of the Maori version of the Treaty of Waitangi . . . with consequences that resonate to this day.

 

Fun Fact 2: Charles Darwin visited Waimate mission in 1835.

Notes: 

Memoirs of Richard Davis  

What Ever Happened to Poor Mr Yate by Judith Binney NZJH 09.02.02 

 from Dictionary of New Zealand Biography: 

George Clarke 

Henry Williams 

William Williams  

William Yate

 

Charles and Pourewa Cossill: What we know - and don't know - so far (Part 2)

This is part 2 of the story of Charles and Pourewa Cossill. You can find Part 1 here. 

In the absence of any further confirmed facts or information about Charles and Pourewa, I have researched as much local history  as I could find. This can at least help place their lives in the context of the time and place in which they lived. 

So, where does this place Charles and Pourewa's story with the known and speculated facts?  How could they have met? 

We know that all available evidence suggests that Pourewa was taken captive from her home area  in the Waikato some time from about 1820 during Hongi Hika's campaign against southern tribes. It is most likely that she was a child, and she would have been taken to Northland to the Bay of Islands area. Hongi Hika's  drive to provide supplies and services to visiting ships meant that over 4000 captives were taken to the north of New Zealand  by the 1820s.  Captives were invariably women and children and were used to carry out  menial tasks for the conquering tribe -  as forced labour in gardens, for dressing flax, and for  providing a range of sexual hospitality services to visiting sailors.  Captive labour could also have been provided by local chiefs to work with European entrepreneurs in the extraction industries, especially for heavy work like dragging spars to waiting vessels. 

There seems to have been a range of circumstances that captives could find themselves in, ranging from precarious to comparatively secure. It was was not uncommon for some captives to become loyal and life-long servants or even marriage partners within the tribe - all depending on their circumstances, rank, and possibly their luck.  They could also be used as food if supplies were short, or could be dispatched swiftly for a variety of reasons beyond their control. A high-born captive woman had a greater chance of survival, and could have been taken as a secondary wife by a conquering chief, thereby  strengthening his right over her land or connections to her tribe.  Once taken, a captive lost their mana and, as such, served useful purposes doing jobs or activities that no other members of the tribe could do without risk of breaching the associated tapu.  Even so, for the captives, there were degrees of being without mana and degrees of being in breach of tapu: women were treated differently to men, and higher-born captives were of greater value than commoners. In general, captives were unlikely to escape to return home, as they could have been killed if caught and could likely have been rejected by their own people for having lost their mana through capture. 

The rapidly changing nature of Maori society during this period, however, meant that captives' circumstances, opportunities and prospects may not always have followed their traditional expectations. The  cost and availability of resources to feed and maintain such a large number of captives in this period of time eventually had a direct relationship to their usefulness and length of captivity.  While the missionaries may have taken the credit for "redeeming"  captives and securing the release of many others through an increasing Maori uptake of Christianity, the simple economics of the cost of keeping an oversupply of labour  could have been a more significant factor in the peak of captive labour being reached by the 1840s. 

In the absence of available European women, many visiting sealers, whalers, traders and labourers took Maori women to be temporary or permanent partners depending on the length of their stay in New Zealand. Temporary relationships tended to be monogamous and affectionate in nature, but undoubtedly, a sex trade existed and may even have provided the context for some of the longer-term relationships to establish. The availability and designation of women for either function was controlled by Maori leaders, ultimately to benefit their access to European goods.   If the Maori woman was well-connected within the local tribe, a suitable European man could gain access to the use of her lands and the chief's protection, and in return,  the chief secured regular access to European goods - especially much desired muskets, and he increased his superiority over other chiefs.  Such relationships between higher ranked Maori women and  European men of perceived value usually involved careful negotiation and required the man's ongoing obligation to the tribe. Chiefs would have been only interested in arranging a formal alliance with a European of some benefit to his purposes. Such marriages could be accommodated within Maori customs while including recognisable elements of western civil practices. 

 Sex was more likely to have been treated as a commodity when the woman was not of chiefly rank  or of any strategic value - a position entirely suitable for captive females. There is no evidence of prostitution in pre-European New Zealand, although entrepreneurial chiefs were quick to capitalise on the supply and demand opportunities presented by the increasingly frequent visits of  shiploads of sex-starved sailors - mostly centred around Kororareka in the Bay of Islands. This "sexual hospitality" was viewed quite differently by all parties involved. Missionaries and European and English observers with high ideals of morality viewed any such transactions as prostitution, whereas within Maori culture, gift exchange was an established part of negotiating a relationship. But undoubtedly, payments in kind were received by the girls and women visiting the ships, and part or all of the rewards were returned to the chief for the benefit of the entire community. I'm not sure the sailors thought too much about it either way. 

 Missionaries were not initially in favour of inter-racial marriages, and Henry Williams refused to formalise such unions, especially if the woman was unbaptised. He opposed Philip Tapsell's first marriage to a Maori woman (who promptly left her new husband on the day of their marriage), but later he changed his opinion and performed the ceremony for Tapsell's third marriage to a Maori woman. Samuel Marsden, however,  believed that lawful marriage was of the highest importance in leading Maori towards Christian civilisation. 

While visiting northern settlements during the 1830s, Englishman Edward Markham observed that arrangements between interracial couples seemed to be for pragmatic reasons - although sentiment was also apparent, and that women would suffer incredible persecution for the men they live with. (I can find no elaboration on that  or examples - but it could fit the context of Pourewa's alleged refusal of Hone Heke as mentioned in Nancy Wake's biography by Peter Fitzsimmons.)

Ideas to ponder:

- Charles Cossill worked in the extractive industries - most likely kauri spars - in the Hokianga area and around Taipa at some stage in the early 1830s. Could he have met Pourewa here?  Might she have been involved in wider range of interactions between Maori providers of food or labour to the bushmen, labourers and sailors involved in the kauri spar industry? 

 - There would have been no advantage to a chief in negotiating a marriage alliance between a woman of  rank and a common labourer.  This suggests  that Pourewa's marriage to Charles (seemingly a common labourer of no strategic value to any chief)  was most likely outside of any kind of negotiated arrangement possibilities described above.  A  possible clue from their son Richard Cossill's obituary is "... while in the north, the adventurous sailor [Charles] fell in love with a native lady".  It is clear that their descendants believed the marriage was based on a love match. In the context of the times, though, necessity, pragmatism, and a lack of other options could well have induced affection in most relationships in the colonial era. 

- Was Pourewa actually living at Waimate as a servant or worker? The Davises had many Maori as part of their domestic community, including freed slaves who worked on the farm or as part of the household staff. Education was part of the civilising process. If  she was there, Pourewa would most likely have had access to the school - which included Maori females - run by missionary Richard Davis's wife Mary, and she would probably have learned  to write her name to some degree. The fact that she could not write her name could indicate she wasn't part of the Waimate Mission community. 

- Were Charles and Pourewa married  on site at the Waimate church, or elsewhere by William Williams when he was off-site visiting the outer areas of the Bay of Islands and beyond? The register is obviously from the Waimate parish, but the ceremony could have taken place anywhere, including their home if Charles and Pourewa were already living together. Living together outside of marriage, surely, would not have been sanctioned on the Mission grounds. To be married in the church, would they each have been living in close proximity to Waimate? The witnesses were both from the Waimate mission though, so were either travelling with William Williams around the district or it could indicate that Charles and Pourewa were in close proximity to the mission. 

- It is unlikely that Charles would have been part of the Waimate mission establishment. He wasn't in their target market.

- It is unlikely - given Pourewa's status - that she would have been assigned for sexual hospitality duties, especially with a common labourer or sailor - but it does create another option to consider how she and Charles could have met. 

- Pourewa's first child Sarah (previously believed to have been called Ella)  was born in 1836. If so, given the October date of the marriage, Pourewa must have been significantly pregnant, or the child was already born before the marriage. Just a thought: was Sarah even Charles' daughter? 

- If Pourewa was on site at Waimate, how would she have met Charles, and would she have had the opportunity to know him well enough to create Sarah?

- Polygamous chiefs newly converted to Christianity "put aside" surplus wives as part of their adherence to the Ten Commandments. Could Pourewa have been a surplus wife? Is it possible that Sarah may not have even been Charles' child?

- There is no evidence to indicate that Charles and Pourewa had any ongoing connection to, or affiliation with, any marae, hapu or iwi. The family appear to have lived and been raised as colonial settlers. This is further evidence that the marriage was not one strategically negotiated by a chief. How much of Pourewa's story did she tell her children, and how much of her Maori culture did she take with her into her marriage? It seems as if she rejected or relinquished - either by choice or Charles' insistence - any Maori heritage, culture or connection. It could well be that Pourewa was disconnected from her own culture, after many years away from her home and any family connections. 

- How much control over her own life and decisions did Pourewa have? Was she independent enough to make her own choice of Charles? Nancy Wake's story of Hone Heke fancying Pourewa for himself and being outraged when she chose Charles instead seems to be the only evidence - albeit anecdotal - of Pourewa's pre-marriage existence anywhere.  This story must have come from Nancy Wake's mother Ella Rosieur, or possibly her grandmother Maggie (Granny) Rosieur and  could have even been told when they visited the family back in New Zealand.  It would confirm that Pourewa was recognised as a person of rank.  Whatever truth is in the anecdote, it does prove that Pourewa's rank and story - however much of it she shared with her children -  was a point of pride for at least three subsequent generations. 

I seem to have posed more questions than I answered. I am happy to be challenged on any of my comments or speculations - teasing out the possibilities and the impossibilities may help us get closer to the facts. 

Sources : 

- Ngā uri o Pourewa : a Pākehā family discovers its Māori ancestry by Nigel Cooper, 2005 

- Mangonui Gateway to the Far North by Neva Clarke McKenna, 1990. 

- New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages Online (NZBDM) 

- Papers Past 

- My Heritage 

- Ancestry.com 

- New Zealand: the first British arrivals, 1769-1839 - Jock Phillips 

- Ranulph Dacre and Patuone's Topknot  (Stout Centre Review March1995)

- TOITU TE WHENUA E Only the land remains, constant and enduring.  Muriwhenua Land Claim (Wai-45) A Preliminary Report on the Historical Evidence Barry Rigby and John Koning Waitangi Tribunal Division 4 December 1989

- INTERMARRIAGE: ITS ROLE AND IMPORTANCE WITHIN EARLY NEW ZEALAND SHORE WHALING STATIONS. A thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in History at Massey University, Emily V. Owen (2007) 

- Transcription of the Biography of Stephen Wrathall (1779 -1872)

 - Whakawhanaungatanga Using DNA, Part 1 of 3: It's Complicated (Easy to find links to Parts 2 and 3 from here). Can thoroughly recommend this.

- Muriwhenua Land Report (1997) 

- The New Zealand timber and flax trade, 1769-1840 

Ngati Porou Leadership - Rapata Wahawaha and the politics of conflict - Monty Soutar thesis, Massey University, Palmerston North (2000) pp 155 - 160. 

Hargreaves, R. P. “Waimate: Pioneer New Zealand Farm.” Agricultural History, vol. 36, no. 1, 1962, pp. 38–45. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3740396.

Marriage in Early New Zealand (from  Matters of the Heart: A History of Interracial Marriage in New Zealand, by Angela Wanhalla) 

What's in a Name? The Unknown Origins of the Cossill Surname

This is a post-script to Charles Cossill - What we know - and don't know - so far (Part 1)

We know that there have been several variants of Charles Cossill's surname and that he was illiterate  - at least until the time of signing his marriage registration with an x. He probably had no idea how it could have been spelled or looked when written down. We also know that there is no known ancestry information for Charles under the name Cossill, so it was most likely a clerk or other person adding Charles' name to a list somewhere who decided how it could be spelled - which accounts for the variants of Cossill in the early days of his story in New Zealand. 

 For that reason, it could well have been something like Castle, Cassell, or even Cowsill or Causwell or similar, although I can find no evidence of our Charles anywhere under those versions.  Still, we can presume that Cossill and variants was and still is a rare surname. 

According to forebears.io  (2014 information), the surname Cossill is the 1,544,715th most frequently used surname in the world.  It is most prevalent in New Zealand, then Australia,  with one found in England, which is a clear indication that it wasn't the version of the name Charles was born under. 

There is no known meaning of the surname listed, and the site suggests that approximately only 134 people in the world were using this surname as of 2014. I'm not sure where they get their data from, and it could be under-representative if taken from internet- only available information.  Use the following information as a guide only, though it could help us get closer to the original version of Charles name. Or it could be a total red herring! 

Interestingly, the site's only other year of data (1880) gives the existence of one single Cossill in the entire world - in the United States of America.  Again, not sure where they get their data from, and it can only be taken as a guide. 

Variants of Cossill: 

Cossil  is the 11, 742,229th most frequent surname in the world, with 2 known users - in the USA. 

Cosill is the 14,316,765th most frequent surname, with 1 user in the USA. 

Cossell is the 1,070,546th most frequent surname, with 232 users: 194 in the USA, 22 in England, 14 in Australia, and 1 each in Canada and Germany. 

Similar names - also with no known meaning and a similar low frequency of users - include: Cassill, Coussill, Coshill, Cussill, Costle, Corsell, Cozel  and Coscill. 

Cassell, by comparison, has a greater frequency (34,057th) and is derived from a geographical locality "at the castle" either as a resident or worker within.

Castle: similarly has an even higher frequency (11,550th) and has the same origin as Cassell. 

There could be other surname sites with more information, and I'll also go back and trawl through Ancestry.com and My Heritage lists to look for more likely contenders to consider as possibilities or to eliminate. 

 

I have found evidence of Causill and Cussil  from Suffolk in ancestry.com records, but no connections to Charles,  and nowhere near Rattlesden. 

 Finding Charles' ancestry and origins is certainly like looking for a needle in a haystack. 

Below are some links to Papers Past articles or other official records  and documents which show variants of the spelling of Cossill when referring to Charles or likely members of his family or descendants. It seems to have taken some time to settle into its present version.

 

Cossil (c.early 1830s) Reference in Stephen Wrathall's biography, Ch. 13. 

Charles Cosell (1836) Marriage to Pourewa (marriage registration) 

Murilla Cossell (1857) Marriage to Marquis Thomas Beldon (NZBDM reference 1857/1017) 

Mary Cosell (1857) Likely to be Charles daughter, although does presume that she is literate. 

Mary Cossell (1858) Passenger from Auckland to Mangonui 

Mary Copel (1858) Marriage to Michael Bucket (NZBDM reference 1858/1329) 

Charles Cossell (1858) Petition to Governor from residents of Bay of Islands - signed November 1857) 

Richard Cossell (1865) Paewhenua Island - electoral attestation. 

Joseph Cossill (1876) Mangonui School Prize list 

Margaret Cossill (1893) Marriage to James Graham Johnson (NZBDM reference 1893/1011) 

Charles Cossill and Pourewa - What we know and don't know - so far (Part 1 - revised)

Charles Cossill and Pourewa (later known as Margaret) are the ancestors of hundreds of descendants around the world. You may well be one of them. If you are interested in connecting with other Charles and Pourewa descendants, feel free to request membership of the (private) Charles and Pourewa Cossill Descendants - All Facebook page.

Charles and Pourewa's grave and memorial (1994) 

Pourewa's ancestry and her marriage to Charles have been well researched by Cousin Nigel Cooper in his book Ngā uri o Pourewa: a Pākehā family discovers its Māori ancestry - an updated sequel to Ngāti Māhanga - a Pākehā family search for their Māori ancestry. I continue to express my gratitude for his tireless efforts over many years to search for and share the facts and details we now know about our mutual ancestors. Just about everything we know about Pourewa can be traced back to Nigel's research. The books are no longer in print, but copies may be accessible through libraries or second-hand book traders. They are well worth having, and an update with new information is being planned by Nigel. If you have anything at all you would like to contribute, including family anecdotes, photos and family tree information, please contact me via the email tab on this page. It would be great to have all branches of the family covered.

Charles' ancestry and his life before he came to New Zealand is obscure, and it has been difficult to discover anything verifiable.

The purpose of this post is to gather what is known about Charles - with evidence - and to separate out what has been perpetuated as fact but has no supporting evidence. It may be that someone has relevant information or evidence, and it would be so wonderful if this came to light. Family stories and anecdotes are valuable clues, but we have very few of them to work with. They may not be entirely reliable, as versions can change over time, and facts could have been altered or never shared with following generations. But they are a start!

In the meantime, it may be possible to learn more about the life and times of Charles, Pourewa and their family by placing them in the context of histories and publications of the times. Any speculation will be clearly identified as such, and this post will be edited and updated if new facts come to light. I am happy to be proved wrong or challenged on any of my information, as it can only help to get to the real story of our ancestors.

This post focuses on the "where?", "when?" "what?", and "who with?" of Charles in the early days of his arrival in New Zealand. His life with Pourewa and family will be the focus of the next post.

In Richard Cossill's obituary (November 1931), it states that his father Charles was from Suffolk. Charles must have told his family this, as it's unlikely they would know from any other source. Most online family tree and research records state that Charles was born in Rattlesden, Suffolk, either in 1800, 1808 or 1810. I would love to know where the Rattlesden information came from and who added it first, as they might have the evidence to prove this.

Location of Rattlesden, Suffolk

I have searched all available online births for Rattlesden and Suffolk - and for Charles Cossill and variants of its spelling - and can find no record to support or confirm this. Neither can I find any evidence of any Cossills - or variants - in Rattlesden or Suffolk births, deaths and marriage records in the relevant time frame - or with any hint of a connection to our Charles' ancestry. I even searched Australian shipping lists, and Australian convict lists  beginning with the letters C, K and G, supposing Charles came to New Zealand from Australia - but no luck. 

Fun fact: Henry Rosieur, the husband of Charles and Pourewa's daughter Maggie, was born in Stowmarket, Suffolk, about 8 kilometres from Rattlesden. 

Richard's obituary also notes that Charles was a sailor. It's possible he did leave England as a sailor, but it could be that it was a means to an end, and once he was on land, sailing was for getting from A to B, as he seems to have been very much land based from what information we have. There would have been work on sailing vessels had he been a mariner by choice. It is difficult to imagine that he was a sea captain - as has been suggested in some information - as we can safely assume he was illiterate from his not being able to write his name on his marriage registration. Literacy must surely be a prerequisite to be a sea captain.

Also in his obituary, there's a brief nod towards Richard's Māori ancestry with a romanticised mention of Charles falling in love with a native lady. It is interesting to note that even after 95 years since the marriage (1836 - 1931), the family (who must have contributed the information for the obituary) were still well aware of the historical significance of the marriage, including that Bishop William Williams officiated - even though he didn't become a bishop until later. This must have been a commonly known story within the family - and must have been retold with a certain amount of pride by either one or both of Charles and Pourewa for it to have endured and been considered as worthy of inclusion in their son's obituary nearly 100 years later. 

I have also looked for clues in DNA matches through Ancestry.com and My Heritage. The great news is, it's fairly easy to identify DNA matches with other descendants of Charles and Pourewa. The exciting news is that some of them were never aware of this side of their ancestry, and it's been wonderful being able to contact them and share information. The bad news is that I can find no obvious connections or clues to either Charles' or Pourewa's ancestry - yet.

Note: If you are a Charles and Pourewa descendant and have had your DNA tested, note that you may well show high cM matches with many other people with varying degrees of Polynesian ancestry with no connection to New Zealand or likely connection with Pourewa. This is more to do with the limitations of the methods used to measure and analyse data and to recognise and use data from smaller ethnic populations. Because of the limited number of Māori arrivals to New Zealand over time - and the country's geographical isolation - as well as the limited and isolated nature of their homeland population - it is overwhelmingly likely that any one with Māori /Polynesian ancestry had an individual ancestor multiple times. This is not able to be accommodated in DNA testing at present, the upshot being that some of the results can be skewed. There's a whole lot more science behind that if you want to investigate more.

Neva Clarke McKenna, in her book Mangonui - Gateway to the Far North, writes that it was thought that Charles came from Suffolk, England, and she probably used Richard's obituary as a reference. She includes variants of the spelling of Cossill from other sources: Cossall, Cossell, and even Copele. 

Fun Fact Update: information recently shared has evidence that Charles and Pourewa's daughter Mary (Buchet's) maiden name was given as Copel on her marriage certificate, even though Cossel was recorded on her intention to marry. Similarly another daughter Margaret (Rosieur) used Copell as her maiden name on her intention to marry and her marriage certificate, even though her mother's name is given as Margaret Cossell giving permission and witnessing the marriage. 

Richard Cossill's obituary states that Charles came to New Zealand on a brig to load spars at Hokianga for the Imperial Government.

McKenna also writes that Charles Cossill arrived in New Zealand in 1831 or 1832 on Captain Ranulph Dacre's schooner The Darling captained by John Skelton. I'm not sure where she got the information that Charles was on board, but it must be available somewhere - probably in the sources listed in her bibliography. Captain Ranulph Dacre had visited the Hokianga in 1827 to take a load of spars, first on the Surrey and later his own vessel the Lucy Ann. There are records of 11 (unnamed) sawyers permanently settled at Mangamuka by 1834, attached to the shipbuilding yards at Horeke (Hokianga Harbour). Elsewhere it is recorded that in 1831, Dacre had a contract to supply 100 spars to the Admiralty. Skelton bought land on Dacre's behalf at Mongonui and Mercury Bay, but the entire company fled when attacked by Māori. Subsequently, Dacre organised Gordon D Browne to complete the contract. If Charles was with Dacre's group he would have had to have been in Australia already, and would have returned, as indicated, with the entire company. If he was in Browne's group, he still would have left from Australia, but may have stayed on in New Zealand afterwards.

Captain Ranulph Dacre

It is possible that Charles could have come to New Zealand several times before he finally settled here. There is still more research needed to get a concise timeline of events and movements.

Timber export sites 1829 - 39 (From Logging Native Forests - Encyclopedia of NZ)

The online biography of Stephen Wrathall (senior) gives us some of the only recorded evidence of Charles Cossill and an enticing insight into who he might have been. Wrathall's account doesn't entirely match dates, events, locations and details in family trees, nor other records and published information. It was written by descendants transcribing his diary but still gives us a few names, places and contexts to work with. Wrathall's story also reads as if he was a major player in the founding of pre-colonial enterprise in several places in Australia and New Zealand, but it is difficult to find corroborating evidence. There are few dates included in the biography, and some are wildly inaccurate, but shipping records place the Wrathall family arriving in Hobart, Tasmania, from England in April 1831. Neva Clarke McKenna notes, however, that Stephen Wrathall was a member of Ranulph Dacre's party arriving in New Zealand on the Darling in the early 1830s to collect spars. (Wrathall's biography doesn't mention this.) Again - more research is necessary to tease the facts from the fiction.

Note: Read the comments at the end of this blog for a suggestion that Wrathall's book was a work of fiction - which explains the significant inaccuracies. Still, it gives names of real people who were there in the early years of European contact. It was still useful to read the fictional biography, as I discovered more facts by trying to verify the details than if I had ignored it completely.  I leave my findings as written below and alert readers to be wary of using any of Wrathall's story as fact. Still, it remains a jolly good yarn. 

McKenna also states that the group of sawyers sent to Taipa in 1831 set up  sawmills and married Māori girls. This certainly could be a likely context for Charles and Pourewa meeting - although it doesn't quite fit with the version of all Dacre's men packing up and returning to Australia after being attacked by Māori. McKenna may not have had access to Wrathall's biography - or was aware of it and discounted it -  as it does not appear in her bibliography.


Taipa, Mangonui and Paewhenua Island

According to his story, at some stage in the early to mid 1830s, Wrathall Senior with two of his sons, Stephen Junior and John, set out for New Zealand on the schooner Mary Ann to bring goods to trade with Māori. Anchoring at Doubtless Bay, he saw immediate opportunities in the tall kauri trees which grew right down to the water's edge. Inexplicably, this is dated in his diary as November 8th 1812 - when, clearly he was still in England. He arranged with local chief Pawai to "buy" land at Taipa in exchange for goods which he had brought with him for the express purpose of establishing an ongoing relationship of mutual benefit with the chief. I can find no other reference to Pawai in online records apart from a single mention in Papers Past in relation to a group of Māori disgruntled with a land sale in Manganui [sic] attributed to him. His name does not appear on the Treaty of Waitangi,

The story continues that having established a base at Taipa, and gaining further access to land, Wrathall senior sent the captain of the Mary Ann back to Australia to bring back more goods, equipment and personnel to set up his timber milling operation. According to his dairy, Wrathall requested the captain bring back Berghan, Beldon, Flavell, Snowden, Rosieur, and Downes. He also arranged for his head pitman, Cossil [sic], to come back and bring with him four 10-foot heavy plate saws, twelve 8-foot and ten 6-foot medium plate saws, and 12 crosscut saws ranging from 7 to 10 feet. It was Cossil's job to see that suitable men were engaged to come to New Zealand. It is clear that the afore-mentioned men were already known to, and probably employed by, Wrathall in Australia. Only surnames are used, but it likely that the Cossill mentioned is based on our Charles Cossil. This is where it gets interesting, though, and the timeline goes awry - Henry Rosieur was in born 1826, UK and married Charles and Pourewa's daughter Margaret (Maggie) (born 1843). Rosieur's name is not mentioned again? Similarly, the aforementioned Belden may be based on Thomas Marquis Beldon (born USA between 1830 and 1840) who married Charles and Pourewa's daughter Murilla. Again, there are many parts of Wrathall's story that don't add up, so any information taken from it would need some extra evidence for verification.

According to Wrathall, he and his sons remained behind in Taipa to set up their establishment in preparation for the arrival of the workers. Thirty-eight days later the captain returned with the order fulfilled, and with help of local Māori, everything was unloaded and everyone was settled in. Work began the next day, and continued uninterrupted. Wrathall employed enough "native" men to man the pits under Cossil's supervision, while Flavell and Snowden were placed in charge of bush felling and rafting operations. Cossil paired each Māori with an expert and soon all were proficient. Such was the quality and quantity of the timber that the makeshift huts and store rooms were replaced with wooden structures and shelving. Pawai visited and, according to the biography, was impressed with the results and was "pleased to know that [his men] were doing the work to the satisfaction of Wrathall's foreman" (our Charles). Pawai and Wrathall negotiated further land at nearby Orutu (Oruru) (about 800 acres) in exchange for goods and services (including the erection of buildings for Pawai). Wrathall decided to use the land for pasture and returned to Australia to make arrangements to bring more goods - and cattle - back to New Zealand.

Note also the degree of responsibility and leadership that Cossil appears to have had. Surely he would need to be literate to carry out Wrathall's expectations? This doesn't fit with the simple cross on his eventual marriage registration.

According to the biography, Wrathall exhorted his sons Stephen and John to maintain good relations with Pawai and the natives. He foresaw significant entrepreneurial opportunities for himself and his family by being amongst the first to establish trade and land acquisition. Even so, his biography portrays him as an honourable man of integrity who insisted on open, honest and fair dealings with Māori and all his workers, and who may have exploited the natural resources but not his workers. It seems he certainly understood how to keep his customers satisfied.

ACcording to the story, Cossil, as foreman, was left with various instructions and was entrusted to continue the enterprise in Wrathall's absence, including having another load of flitched timber ready for the return of the Mary Ann. Pawai had promised to send more men to help if needed, and Wrathall had secured his protection of the establishment during his absence.

Wrathall duly returned with cattle, sheep and horses, much to the amazement of the local Māori who had never seen such like before, and son John was charged with establishing the farm at Orutu (Oruru). And so a booming trade began - with no money in circulation - with Māori being able to absorb all the goods brought from Australia on the return trip from delivering timber.

Such was the mutual benefit that Pawai and Wrathall saw in securing a long-term relationship with each other, that Pawai offered Stephen Wrathall Junior a high-born woman, Marae Inototo (some variant spelling), as a wife - which he accepted. The marriage took place in 1833 according to Wrathall family tree details, some include Rawene as a location. If the marriage was formalised by a minister of the church, it would easily pre-date Charles and Pourewa's record-holding interracial marriage status. The biography suggests that this happened in the early 1820s which is clearly wrong, and also that their first-born child, Anne (born 1835 according to Wrathall family trees) was the first European child born in New Zealand - totally ignoring her Māori heritage through her mother, let alone the numerous missionary children of 100% English parentage born well before this.

This brings it up to about the time of Charles and Pourewa's marriage in 1836. 

Although the biography does not mention the Treaty of Waitangi, it certainly alludes to its inevitability and its aftermath. This helps place the events in their chronological context - which, again - is out of kilter with the few dates that are given. The consequences of the Treaty certainly had an impact on the Wrathalls as their land had to be surveyed and ownership verified. According to the story, Stephen junior's cattle farm at Orutu (called Pawai block and misspelled Parawai Block, and which seems to have increased in acreage since its original purchase) was reduced to 1500 acres of the original 10,000 acres, but he was allowed to pay grazing rights for the remainder.

The pre-Treaty currency of barter was replaced with the coin of the realm, and Wrathall, according to his story, was then able to pay his workers in both kind and coin. As town sections became available in Mangonui, Wrathalls bought up several of them and built the Donnybrook Hotel on one of them in 1842. Wrathall wrote that he put Flavell, one of his original bushmen, in charge of running it, with enough credits from his Taipa bush work to pay a two-thirds deposit. The hotel was to become famous - or infamous - and well patronised by locals and visitors alike. Similarly, Wrathall started one of his sawyers, Downes, in a hotel called "The Donkey's Nest" in Whangaroa. The story states that Cossil was set up with a cottage and an area on the island at the headwaters of the Mangonui Harbour and the balance of 700 pounds in cash. This is Paewhenua Island where Pourewa is buried, so there is clearly some recognised proof of the early connection between the Cossills and the island - but Wrathall's part has yet to be validated. Snowden was given two bush areas, one in Whangaroa and one at Oruaiti Stoney Creek plus 200 pounds cash. Berghan was given a block of land at Taipa Heads and an area at Pararanui, with 100 pounds cash settlement. All the above-mentioned land had gradually fallen into the hands of Wrathall senior as the results of advances of provisions to Pawai under the bartering system.

The story states that the original party of sawyers and bush hands had all married Māori women and were all living in the Whangaroa and Mangonui districts - with numerous offspring all well known to subsequent settlers. This is a credible explanation for where Charles and Pourewa could have first met, although there are other factors still to consider. Wrathall decided it was time to take stock of, and wind up, his businesses and had Mr Beldon, his chief clerk, organise the paperwork so that he could leave his two sons financially independent in New Zealand and return to live out his last years in Australia.

On the evening prior to Wrathall's departure, an almighty farewell dinner was held at the Donnybrook Hotel. No doubt Charles would have attended this, as it is noted that Downes of the Donkey's Nest and other leading citizens and friends as well as three Nga Puhi chiefs were present for this reunion. Apparently the party lasted for three days even though Wrathall left for Australia after the first night, and that it was an event remembered for many years to follow.

Fun Fact: Sarah (Sally Wells) who married Charles and Pourewa's son Richard Cossill, was the sister of Elizabeth Wells who married Stephen Wrathall III, son of Stephen Wrathall and Marae Inototo, and grandson of Stephen Wrathall I who employed Charles Cossil at Mangonui.

Timeline of some relevant and verified dates:

Includes random and unconnected information as discovered.

- 1827 Ranulph Dacre takes his first load of spars from the Hokianga Harbour (after reconnaissance visit in 1825)

- 1831 European settlement begins in Taipa, with Ranulph Dacre bringing schooner Darling to Taipa river mouth to load spars. Stephen Wrathall was one of the crew  and was first white settler in Taipa, although was moved off by Ngapuhi.  (Charles Cossill presumably part of Dacre's party.) [Mangonui Sewerage Report, 1988, p.23, 3.5]

- 1832 Dacre opened large scale trading operation at Hokianga.

- 1836: (October 20) Charles and Pourewa married in Waimate Parish by William Williams

Late 1830s, Pororua and Kiwa, Ngapuhi chiefs, granted Butler, a former whaling captain, use of the Paewhenua Island and Pukakawa blocks in Mangonui harbour.

- 1839: by 1839, at least 11 resident sawyers living at Mangonui.

This is clearly a work in progress and will be edited, amended or extended as new information arises. Hopefully, it will help us get to know a little bit more about Charles and Pourewa and the world they lived in.

Sources:

- Ngāti Māhanga - a Pākehā family search for their Māori ancestry by Nigel Cooper (1990)

- Ngā uri o Pourewa : a Pākehā family discovers its Māori ancestry by Nigel Cooper (2005) 

- Mangonui Gateway to the Far North by Neva Clarke McKenna (1990)

- New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages Online (NZBDM) 

- Papers Past 

- My Heritage 

- Ancestry.com 

- New Zealand: the first British arrivals, 1769-1839 - Jock Phillips 

- Ranulph Dacre and Patuone's Topknot - Frank Rogers. (Stout Centre Review March1995)

- TOITU TE WHENUA E Only the land remains, constant and enduring.  Muriwhenua Land Claim (Wai-45) A Preliminary Report on the Historical Evidence Barry Rigby and John Koning Waitangi Tribunal Division 4 December 1989

- INTERMARRIAGE:  ITS ROLE AND IMPORTANCE WITHIN EARLY NEW ZEALAND SHORE WHALING STATIONS. A thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in History at Massey University, Emily V. Owen (2007). This can be found on Google Search but links don't work for downloaded documents

- Transcription of the Biography of Stephen Wrathall (1779 -1872)

 - Whakawhanaungatanga Using DNA, Part 1 of 3: It's Complicated (Easy to find links to Parts 2 and 3 from here). Can thoroughly recommend this, and I know the person presenting the webinar. 

- Muriwhenua Land Report (1997) 

-  Marriage in Early New Zealand (from  Matters of the Heart: A History of Interracial Marriage in New Zealand, by Angela Wanhalla) 

- The New Zealand Timber and Flax Trade 1769 - 1840 by Roger Phillip Wigglesworth (1981)

- Logging Native Forests  - Encyclopedia of NZ - summary of information covering this period.

- Mangonui Sewerage Report, Waitangi Tribunal (1988)