Princess Titaua Marama of Tahiti (1842–1898), also known as Tetuanui Reiaitera'iatea Titaua Salmon, was a Tahitian princess who traveled the 10,000 miles from Tahiti to Scotland in 1892.[1]

Titaua, photograph by Paul-Emile Miot, 1869-70

Early life

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She was born November 3, 1842, in Papetoai, Moorea, in the Society Islands, the daughter of Alexander Salmon and Princess Arrioehau.[2][3] Growing up as Chiefess of Haapiti, she met the author Robert Louis Stevenson and the painter Constance Gordon-Cumming when they visited the island.[1]

At the age of 14, in July 1859, she married Scottish merchant John Brander.[2][3] Together they had nine children.[4] Following Brander's death in 1877,[5][6] she married her second husband, George Darsie, in Tahiti in 1878.[7][8] Together she and Darsie had six children, five of whom died.[9]

Scotland

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In 1892 she moved with Darsie to Anstruther, Scotland.[1]

She died on 25 September 1898 in Anstruther,[10] after giving birth to her fifteenth child, who was known as Princess Paloma.[9] She is buried alongside Darsie at the Anstruther Parish Church.[11][10]

She is the subject of the book From the South Seas to the North Sea by British-American author Fiona J Mackintosh.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Blue plaque commemorates Anstruther's fascinating link to a South Seas princess". The Courier. 30 July 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  2. ^ a b Frank, Ben (2011-10-18). Scattered Tribe: Traveling the Diaspora from Cuba to India to Tahiti & Beyond. ISBN 9780762777471.
  3. ^ a b Tilburg, Joanne Van (2003). Among Stone Giants: The Life of Katherine Routledge and Her Remarkable Expedition to Easter Island. ISBN 9780743244800.
  4. ^ "SCOTTISH ASSOCIATION of FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETIES BULLETIN" (PDF). April 2013. p. 6. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  5. ^ Delsing, Riet (2015-05-31). Articulating Rapa Nui: Polynesian Cultural Politics in a Latin American Nation-State. ISBN 9780824854614.
  6. ^ Porteous, John Douglas (January 1981). The Modernization of Easter Island. ISBN 9780919838093.
  7. ^ Brown, Campbell; Wiggins, Steven (1992-12-15). St Andrews and Fife Walks. ISBN 9781845029326.
  8. ^ Stevenson, Stephanie (2004). Anstruther: A History. ISBN 9781904607441.
  9. ^ a b Rush, Christopher (July 1, 2010). A Twelvemonth and a Day. Canongate Books. ISBN 9781847675699 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ a b "Anstruther from the Gazetteer for Scotland".
  11. ^ "Anstruther Parish Church". 2017-07-04.
  12. ^ Mackintosh, Fiona J (2011). From the South Seas to the North Sea. ISBN 9780953653850.