Maria (Boulton) Thoms (abt. 1820 - 1877)

Born about 1820 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of Joseph George Toms — married 26 Feb 1838 in Sydney, New South Wales

Descendants

Died 10 May 1877 at about age 57 in Te Awaiti, South Wairarapa District, Wellington, New Zealand

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Biography

"Although trading came to be much more important, some residual shore whaling continued during the first years of the infant colony. In 1843 the "Purrirua" station took 60 tuns, and 24 tuns and 25 cwt of baleen in 1844. These were the product of perhaps only two right whales in 1843 and one in 1844, very small returns for a season even if, as seems likely, the men were usually engaged on other activities and were in essence only whaler-men part-time and "on call". In 1845 Edward Boulton ran the station at 'Purirua' with 18 men in two boats but took only 18 tuns of oil and 15 cwt of baleen. In 1846, the Porirua station took even less, just a paltry 1 1/2 tuns, or under 400 gallons. By that time, whale bones and other whaling debris extended all along the shore from the whaling station to the streams at Plimmerton and Taupo pa...

From his humble beginnings, Thoms had become a wealthy man. As early as 25 November 1840, he had made out a document that begins In the name of God, Amen, I Joseph Toms, ... do make and publish ... my last Will ... . He left all his financial assets and his dwelling and its equipment to his second wife, Maria Boulton. He left a whaleboat and a larger schooner boat to his son George, a whaleboat to his son Thomas, and all his land at Sawyers Bay to his brother-in-law Thomas Boulton." ^[1]

"With a mixture of Päkehä and Ngäti Toa whalers, Thoms hunted the slow right whales that migrated through Cook Strait and past Porirua every year. One of these whalers was Te Ua Torikiriki, daughter of Nohorua. Thoms married Te Ua in c. 1830 and thus linked himself to Ngäti Toa (Wakefield 1845: vol.I, p.46; Millar 1971: 70; Boulton 1990). Some time after 1844, following the death of Te Ua, Thoms moved permanently over to his Te Awaiti whaling station in the Marlborough Sounds. It seems likely that at this time, with the whaling station at Paremata no longer active, the nearby pä was abandoned. ^[2]

Sources

1. ↑ 'Joseph Thoms: Sealer, Whaler and Trader of Porirua', by Rhys Richards;The Stockade; Volume 36; 2003, pp. 16-27 (quoting Wakefield 1845; Dieffenbach 1843; McNab 1913 p.298; Millar 1971; Richards 2002 p.25).
2. ↑ "Tuhinga: Records of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The journal of scholarship and mätauranga'; Number 26; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; Wellington, NZ; 2015."