According to the book "Cannibal Island" by H E L
Priday,
a missionary named
MacFarlane in Lifou married "the daughter of an Irishman named
Hennessey to a native chief named Aima. Noumea made out that trader
Hennessey "sold"his daughter to the chief for a house and a load of copra. Garnier, who visited the island about 1866, says: 'a minor chief of Lifou had, through the good offices of the Protestant missionary, M. Mac-F..., asked in marriage a poor
English girl, Miss Mary H..., whose parents handed her over in exchange for a house and a quantity of yams. Later the "sellers" sought through the French courts to have this union annulled, asking for the return of their daughter; but she was so attached to her husband that she refused to leave him. For his part, the chief was much taken with Miss Mary, of whom he was proud and whom he treated perfectly well.'
Mary had two sons by her chief, and lived with him for several years. Until his dying day old
Hennessey, who settled in Noumea, denied that he had "sold"his daughter. Mary came to New Caledonia at a later date and took up with a
German named Schwob; and her third husband was an Algerian
Jew named Meyerdahn. She finally died in Noumea during a plague epidemic.
.....................
This book was published in 1944.
Your spelling of the husband's name- Waehnya, is probably the correct form for Aima.
No dates are given in the book, but there might be court records available that would show the request for an annulment.
