For historians of early New Zealand and the Hokianga and his family descendants, Joseph Bryers the settler has long been an enigma. This book by Kenneth Baker, his great-great-grandson and based on in-depth research, outlines his birth in Flanders in what is now Belgium and of his family and life before Joseph arrived in New Zealand circa 1835. Joseph's very early life in New Zealand is recounted including the taking of Koho Katerina Whareumu as a wife and the birth and lives of his children.