Barrett Richard 1808 1828 Taranaki Nz

edmondsallan - Hello - I thought we could throw the barbie in the car and head down to Taranaki , have a cook up ,look at the scenery - Magnificent !! - and come home again . I spent 3 weeks researching in this area and came up with some excellent Ancestral History . I gave all the research to " old faithful " to sort out - gets angry when I do that to her even though one of her programs is made for it . Thats why many times she can supply me with material at speed . ( I know she is listening !!! sssshh - ) I saw her flick her light . Let us head into " Taranaki " where our fore fathers landed back in 960 AD.
Barrett, Richard
Trader, whaler, interpreter, hotel owner --- Richard (Dicky) Barrett's date and place of birth, and his parents' names, are unknown, however I think we can estimate when he was born with reasonable accuracy It is possible that he was born in Durham or London, in England, in 1808. His colourful, readable journal and his connection in Durham with the family of William Fox, later premier of New Zealand, throw doubt on the assumption that he lacked education and polish. He sailed from Rotherhithe at the age of 16 as a crewmember on a trading ship.

After four years' trading in the Pacific, Barrett had become mate and shareholder in the 60 ton schooner Adventure , which in 1828 he and Captain Jacky Love brought to New Zealand, expecting less commercial competition than elsewhere. Their trading was typical - clothes and blankets, muskets and powder, tobacco, razors and rum, barley and corn, loaded in Sydney, were discharged into their storehouses at Kororareka (Russell), Queen Charlotte Sound and Port Nicholson (Wellington). The goods were bartered for pigs, flax and potatoes, which were sold in Sydney.

Barrett's connection with Te Ati Awa of Taranaki began when two canoes paddled by 40 warriors and commanded by the Te Ati Awa leaders Honiana Te Puni-kokopu and Te Wharepouri, expressly on the lookout for a trader on the Sydney run, intercepted the Adventure near Cook Strait on its second trans-Tasman voyage. Fearing their traditional enemies, Waikato, Te Ati Awa considered that their survival depended on an association with Europeans who could supply arms. Barrett, fluent and fearless and a shrewd trader, keen to expand his connections, inspected flax and pigs at Ngamotu, at present day New Plymouth, and Te Ati Awa, pressing for a trading post permanently occupied by Pakeha to ensure both prosperity and preservation, presented Maori wives to him and Love. In 1828 Barrett married Wakaiwa Rawinia (Lavinia), or Rangi, grand-daughter of Tautara, niece of Te Puni and sister of Te Wharepouri. A Christian marriage service was performed at Ngamotu on 28 March 1841, when the Wesleyan missionary Charles Creed first visited Taranaki. we might follow this fella - he looks interesting I wonder who his descendants are ??? might look at that to . Till we meet again - Regards -edmondsallan