Letter from Edward Marsh Williams to Henry Jacobs, Dean of Christchurch, [1900]

Edward Marsh Williams (1818-1909) was the eldest son of Archdeacon Henry Williams and Marianne Coldham. Edward immigrated to New Zealand with his family in 1823 when he was just five years old. In 1834 he returned to England to be educated, but after a serious bout of ill health returned to farm at Pakaraka. Edward is remembered as a brilliant Maori linguist, expert in the Ngapuhi dialect, having become familiar with Te Reo Maori from a young age. He used this skill to assist his father in translating the Te Tiriti o Waitangi - Treaty of Waitangi into Te Reo Maori. In 1841 Edward became director of the Australia and New Zealand Bank Ltd, later he would become Resident Magistrate for the Bay of Islands, and then Judge of the Native Land Court before retiring in the 1880's.

[Further reading: Faith and Farming - The legacy of Henry Williams and William Williams. pg. 22-23]