Mary Hunt

Biography contributed by Kathy Viney (great-great-granddaughter)

Mary was born in the winter of 1832 in the ancient parish town of Kingsdon in Somerset. She emigrated to New Zealand on the Arab with her parents, George and Ann Hill, and four siblings. The family disembarked at Petone in October 1841.

Two weeks before her 21st birthday, in November 1853, Mary married William Hunt who she had met in the Hutt Valley community, perhaps in the church. William, a baker, had followed the trade of his father. He was active in the Methodist church and at age 17 was asked to train for the ministry. He declined, and instead headed away to the Bendigo diggings in Victoria. William won little gold, but learned a lot about hard work before returning home to work in the bakery.

A family of twelve children followed between 1854 and 1878: not unusually for the time, Mary was regularly giving birth from her early twenties to her mid-forties. The eighth and ninth children were twins, Martin and Maurice. Mary's father-in-law, a widower, also lived with them until his death in 1871.

By the mid-1870s things were increasingly hard in the bakery trade. With land opening up in the Manawatu, William and Mary decided to make the break and invest in a new life on the land. Mary's sister, Charlotte, and her husband, Richard Pearce, had already purchased land in the Manawatu, which may have helped Mary with the decision.

The two eldest children, Charles and Mary Ellen, were left at the Hutt because they both had jobs there. Mary also left her aging parents, George and Ann Hill, in the Hutt, as well as her sister, Elizabeth. It was a huge decision, especially as William had no farming experience. Their willingness to take on land in a place unseen, possibly indicates how precarious their income had become.

The 100 mile journey (160km) from the Hutt to Taipo Bush, near modern day Rongotea, took nine days in a cart drawn by two horses. Tracks were rough. The travelled over the old hill road to Paekakariki, then up the coast to Scott's Ferry on the Rangitikei River. There were many rivers to cross, and on one occasion the water was so deep it almost swamped them out of the cart. They arrived at Scott's Ferry after dark, tired and hungry. At the accommodation house, Mrs Scott's bacon and eggs were greatly appreciated: her meals were well known up and down the coast.

Eventually they arrived at Campbelltown (now Rongotea), and were welcomed at the Pearce's farm. William was allotted 10 acres, and a four-room bush settler's house was home to them all. William got to work on his own block, and for others, working long hours to clear the land and learn farming. Mary had her hands full with seven children in the tiny, basic house.

1874 was a year of heartache. Her daughter, Mary Ellen, died at the Hutt, aged 18, and three months later, their eldest son, Charles, also died at 20. It is hard to comprehend what dealing with the grief of their loss on top of the hardships of daily life was like for Mary. She probably had little time to take stock. The following year, three of her children were first-day pupils at Waitohi School. But then tragedy again, when one of the six-year-old twins, Maurice, became seriously ill with typhoid fever. William rode to Foxton to get a doctor, but Maurice had died before the doctor could attend him.

The family were able to move to new land in 1877, when William purchased at auction 51 acres north of Rongotea. It was a hand-to-mouth struggle to survive while clearing stands of totara, rata, rimu and matai. They had to work hard or go to the wall, and William was a hard worker. On the new land, Mary coped for several years in another bush hut made of wooden slabs with a shingle roof.

By early 1880, William had built the family a much better house which they named 'Ringwood' after William's grandfather's birthplace on the Avon River in Hampshire. It was still no palace: lighting was by candles made from fat with hessian for a wick. The old camp oven brought up from the Hutt by cart was installed in the new house, and in daily use. But the farm gradually became productive, with Mary and William's ongoing good health and strength, as well as help from the growing children, ensuring its success.

Mary had a deep Christian faith. She and William were committed churchgoers and active in the wider community. The Hunts were foundation members of the Campbelltown Methodist Church, their home being used as a meeting place before other facilities could be acquired. The Christian example set by Mary and William has flowed through the generations with some descendants still worshipping at the combined Methodist-Presbyterian Church in Rongotea.

Mary is remembered as a good mother to her family of twelve. She was content to work in the home with few conveniences as we know today. She was tall, active, and energetic, and always keen to help others. She died of cancer in 1910, aged 77 years. After a funeral service at 'Ringwood', Mary was buried at the Rongotea Cemetery.

Sources

"The Hunt Family: 150 Years in New Zealand, 1840-1990" by Vera Hunt

"New Zealand, Civil Records Indexes, 1800-1896," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q24J-JB7D : accessed 1 October 2017), William Hunt and Mary Hill, 1853; citing Marriage, New Zealand, New Zealand, Wellington; registration number 1853/985.

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WarEarl-t1-body-d9-d11.html

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 19 September 2020), memorial page for Mary Hill Hunt (1832–21 May 1910), Find a Grave Memorial no. 174708921, citing Rongotea Cemetery, Rongotea, Manawatu District, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand ; Maintained by Daisy✿ (contributor 47104279) .

NZBDM: 1853/985 Mary Hill, William Hunt