James Farrow ( 1800 – 3 November 1880) was a

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. In 2022, France produced 75% of t ...

and

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

trader known in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

as Hemi. He was the first white trader who permanently settled in

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

, New Zealand.

Early life

Born in London, England in 1800 to parents Catherine and Edward Farrow. Edward was a

whitesmith A whitesmith is a metalworker who does finishing work on iron and steel such as filing, lathing, burnishing or polishing. The term also refers to a person who works with "white" or light-coloured metals, and is sometimes used as a synonym for tinsm ...

, a person who makes articles out of metal, especially tin. His brother Daniel was also in the flax trading business. Farrow first came to New Zealand in 1825 in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, then in 1829 Farrow arrived in

was the first permanent trader in the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

. He obtained flax fibre for Australian merchants in exchange for muskets and gunpowder. Soon

Phillip Tapsell Phillip Tapsell, born Hans Homan Jensen Falk (1777/1791? – 6 or 7 August 1873) was a Danes, Danish mariner, whaler, and trader who settled in New Zealand. Tapsell first arrived in New Zealand at the Bay of Islands on the ''New Zealander'' on 26 ...

arrived in

Maketu Maketu is a small town on the Western Bay of Plenty coast in New Zealand. It is located roughly from Paengaroa, from Te Puke, from Tauranga, from Rotorua and from Whakatane. Maketu has an estuary from which the Kaituna River used to flow, ...

in late 1830 as a Flax trader for Te Arawa became his trading agent.

Later life

In 1861 Farrow married Anne Phillips. Farrow left Otumoetai before the

Waikato war The invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation ...

spread to Tauranga in 1864. He retired to Auckland, where he died at his residence in Dublin Street, Saint Marys Bay, on 3 November 1880 at the age of 80. His wife Anne died in 1882 and his brother Daniel in 1885.

References

1800s births 1880 deaths People from Tauranga New Zealand traders {{NewZealand-bio-stub