Earlier Hacken had taken his young son William out fishing and on one certain trip, a hook became imbedded in his his palm and because of the distance they were away from the shore Hacken had to cut the hook out of his son’s hand.

During one of William’s trips to Wairoa, he became lost and Hacken could not find him anywhere.  However, he was aware that there was a schooner in port and it had sailed away laden with its cargo. Hacken and his brothers searched for him but had no luck in finding him anywhere. He realized then, that because of the love his son had for boats and the sea, he came to the conclusion that he had sailed off on the schooner.

Time passed slowly for the Smith family because the loss of a son and brother weighed heavily upon their minds.

Some time later Raiha, daughter of Tom Smith or William’s niece, and her husband Oranoa Te Ngaio, decided to go to Hawaii to live.  Tom, before his daughter and her husband left for Hawaii, casually said to them to keep an eye out for his long lost brother. The only clues that he gave her as to his identification was that he and William looked alike and he had a large scar in his right palm, the result of the crude operation after the fish hook incident.

After spending some time in Hawaii and as fate would have it, Raiha came face to face with her long lost uncle who at first denied his kinship, but when challenged about the scar, which he reluctantly showed when opening his right hand, William meekly admitted that he was the long lost brother.

William then related to his niece his life since boarding the schooner in Wairoa.  He said that the captain of the boat treated him like his very own son and after returning to Hawaii he sold the schooner, bought themselves a home and they lived a happy life.  He also changed his name to William Parker to reflect the captain’s surname and married a Hawaiian girl Emalina Kalili and became deeply entrenched in the islands customs and lifestyle.

William pleaded with his niece Raiha to let bygones be bygones because he had no intention of returning home to New Zealand.  He also indicated to her that even though he had missed his family and homeland, the kindness of his adopted family and new wife being Hawaiian had surely mellowed him.

There was a very moving scene between uncle and niece before the Te Ngaios returned home to relate to her whanau the meeting with their Uncle William Smith now William Parker.

Information provided by Hori Harvey, son of George and Sarah Harvey                                      

Extract from email Hori Harvey 06.01.2006;

"The biographical sketches on each of those above were actually provided for our family by my mother but her brother Riki Smith actually compiled most of the information for our use. ....I would appreciate it if Uncle Riki could be identified together with my mother as being the compilers of these biographies".