Henry Edmonds 1849 to 1863

edmondsallan -- good morning all - Henry Edmonds was the apple of his mother's eye in his younger days and she forgave him many times , for his youthful pranks His Father - John - did not see him that way at all . Henry , suffered a few stock whip hits from his father ,when he susposed to be working & doing chores but instead had cunningly gone walk about. In his younger days " Henry " seem to be a person with Two faces . One was the poker stare , " I am the king -" offical look and stance , and great organizer , great worker --- & the other , he loved to act , mimicking other official peoples actions, drink with his brothers & friends , and like them, chase the keri keri maidens. In fact a perfectly natural young man growing up . Believe it or not he also was very honest . At the age of ( 23 )1854 he and his father had a very very serious argument . Henry lost his temper , & punched his father , Hurting him quite seriously at the time . Henry carried his father into their home & with his mother & other members of the family assisted John Samuel Edmonds to get better . Henry was very attentive to his father , so the story goes , while he was getting better . Little did he know , that his father was just getting angrier & angrier . One morning later on , Henry , went to take in his fathers breakfast & his father was waiting for him with a . wooden batten.------ Yes reader our " Religious preacher " Had a hell of a temper " He went to strike Henry with it , Henry managed to evade it by pushing his angry father , back onto the bed . Henry packed his ruck sack ,said good bye to his mother & family . Thats how " Henry " left his family home . He kept regular contact with his mother & family , in many ways . " John " his father & " Henry " never spoke to each other again , for years . Like " Arthur " one of his older Brothers , he lived rough at times & worked at all sorts work . Late he became very friendly to a maori girl, called " Kareana " ( believed to have come from Paihia " )& living with her at Paihia . By now he was aged( 31 )1862. Then tragity struck . Several of them , girls and boys , all mates ( ??? ) were out fishing, & gathering shell fish .something they all enjoyed & had done many times in the same safe place. " Kareana " who had dived down several times , failed to surface . Her brothers dived down ,
( Henry because of his childhood injury,was not a good swimmer ). they found her being held back by a huge spread out, lump of Kelp , which had caught on the rocks below. They thought she must of panicked , as she was very experinced in the sea .About 14 months later, just after the memorial stone was placed . Henry went walk about for over a year. None of the family know where he went or what he did during that time & he never spoke about it either .Next thing his close family knew about him , he was chasing a young " Ann Kemp " . whom he married .
Henry had changed completely to being a serious thinking man.All his party tricks & acting had gone . He became a great family man All of his children & grand children spoke highly of him . The rest of his life's story is in the " Reunion " book . What a life he had . A childhood injury gave him a limp for life, He was as child made to work very hard . His father was to severe on dishing out punishment to his children . He punched his father- after provocation, said goodbye to all that he loved & his security . Then one day he fell in love , real love. Tragity smacked him down again in life , as if he had not endured enough in a very short term . Then when he married Ann Kemp , in 1866 -- the goody goodies , who know everything ,just for the hell of it , made the first stages of his marriage , pretty hard to take . Later on , around 188I, henry &his family were living in the Edmonds homestead . I have learn't something , even in my old age , in my research of " Henry " and that is ." No matter what -- keep trying - one day you will have the happiness you deserve " Today , their may be some one out among us who we have no idea about , that is experiencing the harsher side of life. If it's you I hope this true story helps you make way towards the happiness you deserve . " - till we next we meet - regards - edmondsallan