Kōrero: Adoption

Ngātau Omahuru, the son of Te Karere and Hinewai Omahuru of Ngā Ruahine in Taranaki, was kidnapped by colonial forces in 1868 during the New Zealand wars, at the age of six. He spent three years in a Wellington hostel before he came to the attention of Premier William Fox and his wife Sarah. Though Ngātau's parents were still alive, the Foxes informally adopted the boy and renamed him William Fox. He became a law clerk and travelled back to Taranaki in 1878 on legal business. He was reunited with his family and later resettled there. He continued to remember Sarah Fox with great affection.