Rev. John Thomas King

One of the first three Missionaries to New Zealand.

After five years in the convict colony, 20 year old Hannah Hansen entered into matrimony with a trainee missionary, John King. John had been living and working in Parramatta during the previous two years. They were married by Mr Marsden in his church of St John's on 10th November 1812 and the following year, he baptized their first child, Philip Hansen King.

John King had been a shoemaker back in Oxfordshire where he was born in 1787. He had learned his trade from his own father before deciding to become a missionary in the South Pacific. After further training in rope making and flax dressing, King and one other recruit named William Hall sailed off with Samuel Marsden in the convict ship Ann, bound for New South Wales and eventually, the proposed mission in New Zealand.

John King and Hannah Hansen family Arrived: 22nd December 1814 Country of origin:  Area in New Zealand: Rangihoua, Bay of Islands. Source: 

Captain Dillon was not available to take a missionary party to the Bay of Islands and so Marsden asked his neighbour Captain Thomas Hansen to take them. Hannah Hansen had married John King the year before. It was decided that the King family including their first born son, Philip would be true missionaries and were to concentrate their efforts to this goal. Going with them was Captain Hansens only other child, a son named Thomas also. Thomas went back to Sydney and brought back a young bride. Together the two families raised a brood of children. The Kings were well off in comparison to the Hansens, being backed by the CMS society whereas the Hansens had to fend for themselves.

They settled at Rangihoua, a neatly laid out native plantation and whare's dominated by a conical hill fort with a population of around 200 souls.

John and Hannah's second child was born and not without comments from Maori about her noise during the labour which they found amusing. Thomas Holloway King 20th February 1815, died of consumption aged 3yrs 9 months. John Wheeler King 1816 never married. Jane Holloway King born 1818 married Rev. Richard Davis in 1855, it was the Rev's third marriage. William Spencer King born 1819 married Susan Elizabeth Terry in Auckalnd 1860. Joseph King born 1820 died aged 3 years. Samuel Leigh King born 1822 died aged 49 in 1871. James King born 1825 married Mary Eliza Baker of Russell, she died in 1860. He died in1877. Hannah King born 1827 died 1886. Sarah King born 1829 dued 1889 and is buried beside her sister at Waimate North. Mary King born 1831, lived 10 days. Elizabeth Marsden King born 1837 married James Alfred Bedggood. It was his second marriage, his first being to Margaretta Davis, eight child of Rev Richard Davis and his first wife.

(Thanks to biography of Marsden in the Dicitonary of NZ Biographies)

Our First Wool Clip.

Wool has its ups and downs, and our sheep-station owners would be mighty glad of the price our very first clip from New Zealand fetched in Sydney. That was more than a century ago. Few people, perhaps, would have imagined our greatest staple industry was so old. It is, in fact, a hundred and twelve years since the first little flock was landed at the Bay of Islands by that vigorous shepherd of souls and sheep, the Rev. Samuel Marsden. These sheep, from Parramatta in New South Wales, were put ashore at Te Puna, the early mission station in the Bay. The Rev. John King, one of Marsden's missionaries, who arrived in 1814, was the first shearer. That was in 1824, when the first few sheep landed in 1818 had increased considerably. The clip was eleven bags. The wool was shipped to Sydney, where it was sold for half-a-crown a pound.

(Thanks to The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 3 (July 1, 1930))

One of the first three Missionaries to New Zealand