Individual Details

Marriage

At St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland.
Officiating Minister: Rev Father M O'HARA
Bride's aged given as 17 years. Marriage with permission of bride's
father, James COLEMOSS.
One record has the date of the marriage at 16 October 1857
Groom reported as having resided in Auckland just 3 days.
One record has bride's aged as 17 years.

Residence

Took up a rugged piece of land in Coromandel, possibly as his
re-emption land on military discharge. He called it "Kereta" and earnt
a living felling trees.
With his wife, he saw his days out here. Life was, at times, fraught
with great difficulties. When their son, Martin, fell over a cliff and
fractured his skull, William Keiran FOSTER had to row the lad to
Coromandel to secure medical help.

Death

At "Tiki", the home of his son-in-law, J G MORRIS.
Cause of Death: About a fortnight before his death, he got an attack
of paralysis, and was during the whole time unconscious.
Age given at death: 79 years.

Emigration

Came out with the 58th Regiment to assist in the Maori War.

Occupation

Felled timber for the Kauri Timber Company, which was very hard work.

Residence

He was given a block of land at the top of Queen Street, Auckland,
which he subsequently sold after his marriage in 1857.

Military Unit

With his regiment, he was in a number of engagements during the Maori
War, for which he holds the New Zealand Medal.

Alt Spelling

The name FOSTER was apparently pronounced as FORSTER by the man
himself. This may have been the Irish way of saying the name or simply
how it sounded with an Irish accent. Joyce BARTON, Terry O'SULLIVAN,
and Shirley KENDALL, probably amongst many other family members,
searched long and hard for any entries spelled FORSTER but none were
found. Eventually, it was decided that that was the correct
pronunciation for those early days but the compiler (Shirley KENDALL)
believes it has become truly FOSTER in the twentieth century.