About Hannah King Letheridge

(1) Hannah King Letheridge nee Hansen formerly Clapham Hannah married George Clapham, Captain of a whaler in 1837. They settled at Kerikeri until 1845 when they went to Sydney. George remained a captain and often sailed to the Navigator Islands out of Sydney. George died and Hannah remarried to Jeremiah Letheridge in Sydney and they returned to New Zealand. She had a son and two daughters to George. The two elder children died in Sydney and the younger returned with her mother to New Zealand.

Claim that a Mrs Letheridge, daughter of Thomas Hanson, was born at Oihi 11 January 1816, and thus the first Pakeha born in New Zealand. There is evidence that it was Dinah Hall, who was baptised in the Bay of islands in 1819.

Q. Was Hannah King Letheridge the first European female to be born in N.Z.? A. No. For many years, there was speculation and confusion surrounding Hannah who was born 11th January 1817 at Oihi, the eldest child of Thomas Hansen Jnr and his wife Elizabeth. The birth was recorded in the private diary of William Hall, one of the three original missionaries.

The first female birth was Dinah Carruthers Hall, at the Rangihoua mission station, the second child of William and Dinah Hall. A seven year old Dinah was sent back to New South Wales for her schooling and never returned. So, the slightly younger Hannah Hansen grew up in the settlement as the oldest female child and as the years passed and memories of Dinah faded, Hannah herself was probably led to believe that she was indeed the first white girl to be born in New Zealand.

Hannah married twice and died not far from her original birthplace at the grand old age of 90 years. She was buried in the Russell cemetery and the headstone contains the mistaken reference to her being the 'first white woman born in New Zealand'. It also states that she was born in January 1816 and that she was 91 years of age.

Modern methods of research have proved to be more accurate than family memoirs and it is a fact that she was just 90 years old. Her parents were married at Parramatta by Rev. Samuel Marsden on 25th December 1815. Thomas Hansen took his 16 year old bride back to the Bay of Islands on the Active which left Port Jackson on 24th January 1816.

In spite of her gravestone and the claims made in the excerpts below, Hannah was the second white woman born in New Zealand. Dinah Hall, the daughter of the missionary William Hall, had been born first, though she left New Zealand at the age of seven and went to Australia, from where she never returned. Hannah can be said to be the first white woman born in New Zealand and to have spent her life here.

Mrs. Hannah King Letheridge, who resides near Russell, and is said to be the oldest living white woman born in New Zealand, was born at Oihi, Bay of Islands, in 1815, and is the daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Hansen, whose father brought the first missionaries from Sydney to New Zealand in 1814, per brig “Active.” Mrs. Letheridge's father was associated with the Rev. Samuel Marsden and the early missionaries, and was highly respected by the natives, who in times of tribal warfare protected his family from molestation. It was no uncommon thing for Mrs. Letheridge to be an eye-witness of the cannibalism of the Maoris, who, after a fight, brought captives to their feasting ground on the beach adjoining the residence of the Hansens, and there killed and cooked their victims. Mrs. Letheridge resided at Oihi till 1830, when she went to live at a native settlement called Koutu. Her first husband was the late Captain Clapham, to whom she was married in 1837. They bought land in Kerikeri, where they lived peaceably till Heke's war broke out and put the whole country in a blaze. Captain Clapham returned to Sydney with his wife and for many years was a successful whaler, but he was lost with his ship in 1855. Two years later his widow was married in Sydney to Mr. Jeremiah Letheridge, who purchased a large piece of land at Purerua, which he farmed up to the time of his death in 1881, when Mrs. Letheridge removed to her present residence. For a woman of her years, Mrs. Letheridge is remarkably active. She does all her own work, and a well-kept kitchen garden bears evidence to her industry.

(Thanks to New Zealand Electronic Text Centre at http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc02Cycl-t1-body1-d2-d16-d6.html)

Hannah King Lethridge, called Louisa after her mother's youngest sister, Louisa Greenway, is claimed to be the first European female born in New Zealand.

(Thanks to http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Muscat/23512.detail) (Note: I am assuming here that Louisa was Hannah's middle name, though I have not seen it recorded anywhere else.)

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Hannah King Letheridge

Hannah King Hansen was born at Hohi on January 11th 1817. She was named after her aunt, Hannah King. Hannah was baptised by Rev Samuel Marsden in 1819. Amongst those baptised at the same time were her brother Thomas, cousins John and Jane King, and Dinah Hall, the first European girl born in New Zealand.

Dinah moved back to Australia as a young girl and never returned. This led to the misunderstanding regarding Hannah being the first white woman to be born in New Zealand. While Hannah was the second girl, unlike Dinah Hall, she was to live most of her life in New Zealand. Like her brothers and sisters, Hannah was brought up in a bi-lingual and bi-cultural community with English as their first language, but also being fluent in Te Reo Māori. Hannah never attended school despite living close to the mission school at Hohi, and later at Te Puna. The mission school was only for Māori children and the children of the missionaries. Because the Hansen children fitted neither category, they were denied access to the school. Consequently, they all grew up illiterate other than being able to sign their names in just a few cases.

As a young girl, Hannah would have no doubt helped her mother with the many household chores and assisted looking after her 10 brothers and sisters who were born between 1818 and 1834. The experience of looking after her siblings would have no doubt helped Hannah secure a position as nursemaid or housemaid at the Busby’s residence at Waitangi in 1834 when Hannah was aged 17. Hannah was married three years later by Rev Henry Williams to Captain George Clapham, a whaler. Her uncle, John King, and cousin Philip were witnesses. In 1838, George purchased 200 acres from Chief Temara at Okura, near Kerikeri. A house was built here for Hannah and their new- born baby Maryann. Two other children were later born; Thomas in 1841 and Hannah in 1844. In addition to farming his land, George also continued to trade around the Bay of Islands in his schooner the Jane.

With the outbreak of warfare and sacking of Kororareka in 1845, George decided to take his family to safety, first to Auckland, and then on to Sydney. The years that were spent in Sydney proved to be tragic for Hannah. In 1848, her husband George was killed along with the rest of the crew of the British Sovereign in Vanuatu. Her infant grand-daughter, Maryann Jones, died a decade later, followed by her own son Thomas Clapham who drowned in Sydney harbour after falling from a wharf. . Soon after the death of George Clapham, Hannah had married Jeremiah Letheridge. In 1862, Jeremiah fell on hard times and the decision was made to return to New Zealand. Accompanying them was Hannah’s remaining child, Hannah and her husband, George Mountain. Together they settled on the Purerua Peninsula, close to Te Puna where her father Thomas Hansen was still living. However, Jeremiah did not live long after arriving in New Zealand; he died in 1867, leaving Hannah a widow for a second time. Hannah Letheridge lived the rest of her long life on the Purerua Peninsula, finally dying in 1907 aged 90 years. She was buried in the Russell cemetery.

Researched by Kath Hansen. Written by Eric Hansen