Mary Smith ( nee Harty)

Arrival in New Zealand

Mary  Harty was born in  Cobh, County Cork, Ireland circa 1853. Her parents were James Harty, a gardener and Ellen McCarty. From 1849 until 1920, Cobh was known as Queenstown, in honour of a visit by Queen Victoria.

Mary sailed on the Carnatic to New Zealand at the age of 18 in November 1873, arriving in March 1874 in Port Chalmers. Her occupation was listed as servant.

Marriage

Milton (Tokomairiro)

Within a year of arrival in New Zealand, Mary married Joseph Smith, who was 15 years her senior, on 5th February 1875, in Tokomairiro, now Milton.

Joseph Smith, was an interesting character, who according to his obituary, was born 5th February 1838 in Nantucket, America. He joined the whaling ship Franklin at the age of 18 and was shipped wrecked of the coast of Pitt Island in the Chathams. After six weeks, the crew was picked up by the Esther and taken to Wellington. Joseph then worked as cook on the Esther for 18 months before buying a few acres of land in Inch Clutha. Whilst various birth certificates of Joseph and Mary's children and Joseph's death certificate record him as having being born in Nantucket, birth records in Nantucket and crew lists for the Franklin do not record a Joseph Smith. Interestingly, his son, also Joseph, when applying for an American passport in 1919, lists his father's birth place as Scotland. Mary's husband's early life remains very much a mystery.

The discovery of gold at Gabriel's Gully  saw Joseph staking a claim with some partners near the foot of Commissioner's Hill. Although, they had some success, Joseph returned to Inch Clutha. 

Inch Clutha 

Mary and Joseph had a small farm at Inch Clutha. Inch Clutha, a  flat island of  approximately 10 kilometres  long and 3 kilometres wide, while fertile, was prone to flooding. The large flood of 1878,  meant that Joseph and Mary decided to move to Wangaloa.

Wangaloa

Wangaloa is a small coastal settlement, close to the mining town of Kaitangata and located to the north  of the Clutha River mouth.   Joseph leased about 50 acres of Education Reserve at Wangaloa which he farmed. He also worked several seams of coal, supplying local farmers with fuel. Joseph and  Mary had eight children at Wangaloa.

Kaitangata

Kaitangata, the closest town to Wangaloa, started with the opening of the coal mine in 1862. Mary and Joseph had not been long in Wangaloa, when  on 21 February 1879,  the lives of 34 miners were lost in an underground explosion in the Kaitangata Mining Disaster.

Suffrage Petition

In 1893, Mary Smith of Wangaloa signed the Women's Suffrage Petition, resulting in New Zealand being the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote. Her four daughters were too young at the time to sign. 

Children 

Mary and Joseph had eight children:

1. Phoebe, born 18 May 1879, Wangaloa. Married John Gibson Scott, 2 February 1904, Wangaloa. Died 9 June 1955, Mataura. Phoebe and John farmed at Ferndale, near Mataura. They had eight children.
2. Mary (Minnie), married Joseph Trimble, 10 November 1909, Papatoetoe.
3. Joseph, born 28 April 1882, Wangaloa. Married Germaine, 15 September 1919, San Francisco. Died 5 August 1970, Vallejo, California. Joseph emigrated to America in 1910. He enlisted in the US army during World War 1, serving for two years with the 18th Engineers in France where he met Germaine. He worked at the Mare Island Naval shipyard, Vallejo, California as an operating engineer for more than 28 years. The couple had no children.
4. Katherine, married William Morgan
5. Annie Ellen, born 1885, married 1)Chalmers 2(Mitchell)
6. Peter, born 3 March 1887 Kaitangata, married V D Smith, died 3 July 1957, Kaitangata/Dunedin. Peter served for two years in the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces First Battalion  in World War 1. He was a teamster at the time of enlistment.
7. Margaret, married Alexander Brown, 28 June 1927 Dunedin. She received a gold watch and chain in 1913 from the residents of Wangaloa for her services in delivering mail between Wangaloa and Kaitangata, Lived in Paretai, Clutha and Balclutha  in her later life.
8. William, died 9 April  1915, Masterton. He was a prominent member of the Wairarapa Caledonian Society and Pipe Band and considered one of the leading pipers of the district. He had no children.

Later life

Joseph Smith died 9 December 1912 at Wangaloa. Mary donated a portrait of her husband to the Otago Early Settlers Museum in 1919. Mary saw at least two of her sons enlist during World War 1; Joseph as part of the American Forces and Peter as part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. Both returned from the war. Mary died in Paretai at the home of her daughter, Margaret Brown, in her 83rd year on 14 February 1936. Joseph and Mary are buried in Kaitangata.