Smith Family Reunion From Schmidt to Smith to Mete. Nevertheless, as the family proverb goes … ‘Nga Wharerau o Tetahi’ … it all boils down to the same thing. And so it did when 700 members of this family met in Nuhaka over the Easter period to honour their ancestors. From Dunedin to North Auckland they came 120 years later to the burial grounds of their forebears. Oh to know the thoughts of these great people if they were there in the flesh to witness such a scene Sleeping quarters were set up round the Manutai hall, the Nuhaka school, and Tanenui-a-rangi Marae in the valley. Johann Hacken Schmidt (John Jackson Smith) was born in Koenigsburg, Prussia, on 12 June 1811 and died two days before his 82nd birthday. As a young man he joined the Prussian army, but longed to go to sea, so made his way to England where he worked his passage to New Zealand as a cabin boy. In Nuhaka he married Tauarai Paraparakurekure, and they had 13 children: John, William, Tom Puru, Jimmy, Mary, Peter, Charles, Hera, Henrietta, William (II), Fred, George and Jimmy (II). The second William and Jimmy were named after their older brothers, the first William being captured and taken to Hawaii by the captain of a schooner, and the first Jimmy dying at sea when he became entangled in a rope as it was fed out. The family members became renowned in the Nuhaka area as boatbuilders and whalers. Along with his partner Peter Bartlett, John Smith built his own boats for whaling. This was the boom business of that period, the oil being used for lighting, and for beauty aids. Playing a whale was a painfully strenuous job, and the boats could be dragged upwards of 50 miles if the wrong spot was hit. This was the secret with whaling. Harpooning in the right area cut the playing time down to an hour. After a whale was tied to the boats they rowed back to Mahia, where a whaling station was set up. The women could see the boats from the hills, and the minute one was sighted they piled coal and wood onto the fire so the men were able to burn off their calluses as soon as they reached home. This enabled them to return to sea directly another whale was spotted from the lookout. John's wife Tauarai was descended from a long line of tohungas, one famous ancestor being Pita Koterowai, who owned a walking stick called Kahukura. His incantations would send Kahukura flying out to meet its victim. If it came back covered in blood, Pita knew it had done the evil deed he sent it out to do. However, he was converted to the Christian faith shortly before his death. Another ancestor, Tekauwaha, longed for a son to carry on his tohunga line, but instead he had a strong-willed daughter called Paku, who married against her father's wishes. Nevertheless, Surviving grandson Joe Smith of Nuhaka, seated in front with his wife Heni, is surrounded by great-grandchildren of Johann Hacken Schmidt