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OBITUARY

MR THOMAS C. WILLIAMS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, May 10. Obituary: Mir Thomas Cbldham Williams, aged 86. Death Occurred this morning, after a .somewhat protracted illness. (The late. Mr Williams was the oldest white settler born in the Dominion. He was the fourth and fii'tli child of Archdeacon Henry Williams, who arrived 'at tlhe Bay cf Islands as far hack as 1823 on behalf of the Church Missionary Society. The Archdeacon of Waimate had not al-Tv-ays heeir a churchman. Prior to taking Orders he was an officer in tlie Navy, and it was probably his love of the .sea and foreign .lands which induced 'him afterwards to take up mis-' isionary work' in what was then the ' imost remote corner of the globe.

Tlie late Mr T. U. Williams wa.s ■ibo'ra' at-"Paihia (Bay of Islands) in 1825;, and, ; was (the second mernher of. the family'who was.; New Zealand- '] born. Together with his brothers',' he led a strenuous open-air life in the far north, growing into manhood in the midst of the frequent alarms of those unsettled times. How Ifar these times have now moved back on tlie page of (history may be judged from the fact that ib was Mr T. 0. Williams' eldest brother, Judge Edward W. Williams, j of the Native Land Court, who was | immediately concerned in obtaining fth'o isignatures to the treaty of Waitangi,, and Mr T. C. Williams himself was amongst those present at the isigning. of the Treaty. In 1815 Hekfi'is war broke out, and there was a troublous time for the settiers north of Auckland and round the) (Bay 'of Islandp. JLt is, however, re- ] lated that the Maoris of Heke's tribe I were reasonable, and even humane, as they declared that their trouble was the "red. coats" (the troops), and not with the settlers. It is even, said that the dlisaffected Maoris helped the setitlera to drive herds of cattle which ! they knew'were destined to feed the troops against Avliom they were fight--6ng, so that the enmity at ,the back of. tlhe struggle could not''hare been so very deep. ' ■.-■■-■ In 1865—after the close of. the Waiikato war—Mr Williams and two of Ife brothers'came to 'Wellington and took up a holding m the Wairarapa, which ']i.e named' "Bra.ncepeth" Estate. He also secured the Annedale station on the East Coast and the Lansdowne station near Masterton. His partners' in these properties were Messrs w. and H. H. Beetham (sons of the late Mr Wm. .Beetham, of Hutt), iwhose sister he married in 1858.

After "retiring from active station life in ithe Wairarapa, CVlr Wffiiams settled! in Wellington, and for many years resided in Hbbson Street. Of late years he lias regidled in Auckland Oity. Mx Williams was always regarded as a far-seeing, man of business, and bad rt'ibe (faculty cf knowing just when to (buy and cell. Hlis knowledge of New .Zealand lands was very extensive, i and, on one occasion., lie was engaged I as agpnt to represent the Ngatiraukawa a,nd Ngatito'a tribes in.,the action' taken to resist certain,lands- being ceded to . the iNgatiapa-ilangitane tribes, whom, the first-mentioned tribes (from Kawhia)., runder Te Rauiparaha, had vanquished in, war. In that action, Mir Fox (afterwards Sir Wiiu'ilaam.' Fox) appeared (for the drown.' -Of deceased's ten brothers and sisters, only two are now living—Mrs Dava'es, of Napier (mother cf Mr G. H. Davies, of Karori), who is 92 years cf age, and Mlrs Ludbrook, of

Gisborne (.now 80 years of age). Mrs iDav/'esi and the :late ' Judge Edward Williams and Archdeacon Samuel WHliams, formerly of Te Ante, were rthe only members of the family born in England. Deceased's other brothers, and .sisters were the Hon. H. Williams, M.L.C., iMir John WdlMams, Mr® Button, Mrs Hadfield, Mrs Hugh Carlton, and Mr John Williams. .Deceased leaves a widQW and thirteen children. Tllie fallowing are the names of the family in. the order in .which they were, born : Hugh George •(of Masterton); Ethel Alice (Mrs Arithu.r Russell, of Pa.lmerston North): Maud Mary Anne, Hilda Temple. Guy 'iColdham, Wyveirn Henry, EI fie Clare. Thomas G'wynn,? Bo.rsley, Eila Mabel, . Aflgar Tempi* (of Wellington), Una Mildred, Enid Giitha, and Erl Temple.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAG19120521.2.28

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10641, 21 May 1912, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
691

OBITUARY Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10641, 21 May 1912, Page 7

OBITUARY Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10641, 21 May 1912, Page 7

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