Community Contributed
Richard PROUSE (1789-1875)
Kete Horowhenua2020-03-23T16:50:33+00:00| Date of birth | 1789 |
| Date of death | 30/09/1875 |
| Mothers name | Mary HARDY |
| Spouses name | Mary Snowden KING |
| Mothers date of birth | 1750 |
| Spouses date of birth | 1785 |
| Mothers date of death | 1832 |
| Spouses date of death | 1870 |
| Fathers date of birth | 01/02/1732 |
| Fathers name | Richard PROUSE |
| Fathers place of birth | Aveton, Gifford, Devon, England. |
| Marriage date | 12/05/1816 |
| Parents date of marriage | 06/10/1780 |
| Place of marriage | Aveton Gifford, Devon, England. |
| Fathers date of death | 1816 |
| Siblings | Mary PROUSE (1781-?), William PROUSE (1784-?), , , |
| Children | Elizabeth PROUSE, Mary PROUSE, Sarah PROUSE, William PROUSE, Richard PROUSE, Susan OSBORNE (adopted), Thomas PROUSE |
| Buried where | Wainuiomata Cemetery, Wellington, New Zealand. |
| Places of relevance | , , , , |
| Place of birth | Aveton Gifford, Devon, England. |
| Place of death | Son's residence, Wainuiomata, Wellington, New Zealand. |
Excerpt from The Dominion 29 Jan 1964
By Cecil and Celia Manson
Deeply moved by the magnitude of the adventure to which he was committing himself and his family, Richard Prowse (sic), as he prayed for help, vowed that if he should prosper in the new and unknown country, he would build a church as a token of thanksgiving. He prospered and he built the church. The church still stands and Richard Prowse's descendants have multiplied greatly. Next month on February 8, a reunion of his descendants will be held at Wainuiomata in the same little church that Richard Prowse built in fulfilment of his vow. It is good that a newly developed centre like Wainuiomata should have a link with the past such as this. At the reunion next month the past will come vividly to life for older members of the family still remember the stories of many incidents passed on by word of mouth concerning the beginnings of the family in New Zealand.
Voyage Out
They remember the names of the original family, Richard and Mary, and the five children, Mary, Sarah, William, Richard and Thomas, and how they all left Plymouth on October 5, 1839, on the sailing ship Duke of Roxburgh with Captain James Thomson in command. There had been two dozen other married couples on board as well as 12 single men, 16 single women and 39 children. After the seemingly endless five-month voyage, the joy of the emigrants at sighting New Zealand had been sadly quenched. A vicious gale had struck them in Cook Strait and the popular captain had been ashed overboard and lost. The Prowse (sic) children used to recount to their children, and so on, down the generations, how the leader of the Wellington settlement, Colonel Wakefield, had restored confidence to the agitated and upset young mothers and families by boarding the ship at Wellington Heads and bringing her into port. It was cheering too, to find that two of the other four immigrant ships had already arrived and were anchored off Petone beach - Pito-one as they then called it.
A never-forgotten sight for the Prowse children was that of a whale and her calf coming into the harbour as their ship lay at anchor. Another was that of some embarrassed women passengers of the Duke of Roxburgh being carried from the beach by naked Maoris who had stripped off their mats as they entered the water. The ladies had been on shore for a visit, and anxious to get back on board for a church service, had accepted the Maoris' offer to take them through the surf to the waiting boats.
First Service
Always remembered, too, was the first church service held on shore. The Prowse children stood with their parents on Petone beach on that hot February morning, thankful for the shade of a grove of karaka trees. Maoris from the nearby pa and pakeha immigrants from the scattered tents and the waiting ships crowded together on the sand while the pious and fiery Presbyterian minister, the Rev. John Macfarlane, conducted the service. He was one of the shipload of Scots who had come on the Bengal Merchant. The Prowse family can still quote the order of that first service, which must have been indeed memorable under the circumstances. There was a prayer, followed by the "Old Hundredth". Then a Scripture reading was followed by the hymn "O God of Bethel, by Whose Hand..." Then came the sermon in which no doubt the Rev. Macfarlane would have given his powers of Scottish rhetoric full fling, and finally the singing of the Twenty-third Psalm.
The memory still remains, too, of the putting up of tents and shanties on the beach or in the nearby sandhills for temporary shelter, and of the kindness and eagerness to help of the Maori people. Ten years after the landing on the beach, Richard Prowse moved his family over the hill to the remote wilds of Wainuiomata, started his mill and founded his family home. They had been years or rewarding hard work shared with him by his three strong, young sons and he could feel prosperity ahead. He and the boys built themselves a house of pitsawn timber and there they established themselves. That house, built by Richard Prowse and his sons in 1850, is still occupied today by their descendants. It has been moved from its original site and altered and added to but the core of the house is the same. It is occupied and owned by Mr and Mrs Claude Burdan.
The Burdans were also among the first Wainuiomata settlers and the two families were joined through a Burdan son marrying a Prowse daughter. Another house was built before long for Richard's eldest son William. This house, too, still stands today and is occupied by Mr and Mrs Galbraith. The pitsawn timber, so carefully chosen and seasoned, is still in fine order. So is part of the school, which was built of timber pitsawn at the younger Richard's mill.
Sawmillers
Sawmilling was naturally a thing that Richard's sons knew a lot about; so did the sons of the younger Richard and later, these three, James, Richard and John, with a partner, John Wright, started sawmills at Levin and Otaki. They had a timber yard in Dixon Street, Wellington. The Weraroa mill was powered by a 25 horse-power engine, manufactured by S. Luke and Company of Wellington. This mill comprised a breaking-down frame, two saw benches and two planers, and the timber chiefly used was red pine, totara and matai.
The church which the first Richard Prowse built in fulfilment of his vow was finished in 1860, at the end of his second decade in the new country, and the end of his first decade in Wainuiomata valley. The first preacher at the church was Mr J. Watkin, a pioneer Methodist missionary who links this landmark of the valley with the first days of missionary work in New Zealand. Memories in the Prowse family cover the story of the Wainuiomata valley from its first occupation by white people to the present day.
A hundred years ago, the family remembers how, as a repercussion of the war that had then started between Maori and pakeha, there were some raids by Maoris on the pakeha farms in the valley and food was very scarce. Crushed wheat and rauriki for a while formed the main items of diet. Then there was the excitement of the discovery of gold in the valley, at the site of the present waterworks; but the excitement fizzled out because payable quantities were never found.
The Prowse family have been typical of many of the finest of our old families. Quietly, faithfully, steadily, they have forged ahead, helping lay the foundation of this country, unspectacular. Richard the second, for instance, formed the road over the Paekakariki hill. Richard the first, as well as building Wainuiomata's first church, also gave the site. Descendants of that first Richard Prowse are now scattered over New Zealand. The family here hope for a big gathering of them for the reunion. The secretary for the affair is Mrs W. Stewart, of 28 Parakai Street, Paraparaumu, who hopes that as many as possible will get in touch with her and that the little old church at Wainuiomata will be filled to overflowing at the service for this unique occasion.
Information about the children of Richard and Mary (nee King) Prouse:
| Elizabeth PROUSE |
b: 11/02/1817 Aveton, Gifford, Devon, England. |
| Mary PROUSE |
bp: 25/06/1820 m: 05/11/1840 Joseph HODGSON d: 13/07/1893 |
| Sarah PROUSE |
bp: 15/01/1826 Aveton, Gifford, Devon, England. |
| William PROUSE |
b: 4 Jan 1825 |
| Richard PROUSE |
bp: 4 Oct 1829 Aveton Gifford, Devon, England |
| Susan OSBORNE (adopted) |
bp: 14 Sep 1831 Aveton Gifford, Devon, England Mary Ellen EBDEN b: 01/12/1849 Susan Ann EDBEN Martha Elizabeth EBDEN |
| Thomas PROUSE |
bp: 5 Aug 1832 Aveton Gifford, Devon, England |
Another child |
born and died c1837 |