Macnish David Raglan Waikato Nz 1807 1863

By edmondsallan December 9, 2010 1038 views 0 comments

edmondsallan -Hello - We have to cover the unknown as well as the well known .
Interpreter, labourer, bricklayer, farmer, Pakeha-Maori
David MacNish, whose surname was sometimes spelled McNish, was baptised on 23 December 1807 in the village of Twynholm, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland, the third child and younger son of the merchant Robert McNish and his wife, Marrion McMillan. In 1827 he fell out with his father over an unavenged slur on his mother by a third party. His adventuring spirit led him to India on a shooting holiday. The lure of gold attracted him to Australia, then New Zealand. He left his ship at the Bay of Islands and proceeded south to Whaingaroa (Raglan Harbour). There, in the mid 1830s, David MacNish entered into a common law marriage with Te Ani (later baptised Katerena), daughter of Te Moanaroa of Ngati Tahinga.

According to one family tradition, the relationship began when David MacNish, a keen sportsman, beat the local champion wrestler in a Maori sports event. The loser's sister, Te Ani, admired the feat. 'Kapai te Pakeha' (The Pakeha is very good), she exclaimed, and a relationship developed between the pair. Another version is that the local people arranged MacNish's marriage to Te Ani in order to retain for the family the prestige and advantages that came from having a Pakeha resident among them. The couple settled with Ngati Tahinga at Waikorea, between Whaingaroa and the mouth of the Waikato River; after 1845 they moved to Te Horea, on the northern side of Whaingaroa. David and Te Ani had seven children, all of whom changed the spelling of their surname to McNeish.

David MacNish became fluent in the Maori language. He briefly acted as government interpreter in Auckland in 1844. The explorer-artist G. F. Angas noted that, 'The Government interpreter is also married to a native woman, the daughter of Tepene, or Stephen, whose native name is Moanaroa…. She has proved herself an excellent wife, and has several children whom she keeps remarkably neat and clean, and sends daily to school in Auckland, where they receive an English education.' MacNish worked as an interpreter at the Raglan resident magistrate's court in 1860. In addition he worked as a labourer and bricklayer. In 1863 he cultivated land near the Raglan township as a 'sufferance' occupier according to the communal Maori custom.

In the late 1850s David MacNish's family in Galloway sent out a shipment of costly merchandise, but MacNish told the captain to return the whole cargo to Scotland. Thus this early Pakeha-Maori settler continued to cut himself off from his Scottish heritage and merged into the life of Ngati Tahinga, among whom he died at Te Horea on 10 April 1863. Till we meet again - Regards - edmondsallan

Related Surnames:
MACNISH

No comments yet.