Te Aho o te rangi Wharepu.
Because as I had said I wasn't having any luck finding this tūpuna and his whakapapa I had to then find all of the Te Aho's in Tainui at around the same time. There were heaps and searches became difficult and eventually frustrating. As months passed and I had given up about 10 times. I eventually managed to gather 3 strong contenders. and only one of them could be the one I was searching for.
TE AHO O TE RANGI 01- the young warrior.
Pei te Hurinui Jones spoke of a warrior called Te Aho o te rangi who chased Te Rauparaha out of the king country. he was eventually turned on and slain in a creek, where he was left to die. He was young and he couldn't have been our tūpuna as he apparently didn't have any children or wasn't married. .
TE AHO O TE RANGI 02- "ol the same em pakeha"
The most famous of the Te Aho's was "Wharepu" painted by goldie and who lived to be 99 years old.
his whakapapa is recited as he is the great uncle of Potatau and not his son, He is only 9 years younger than Pōtatau and despite pōtatau being the man, I doubt that he was the man at 9 years old. Wharepu also served in the battle of Rangiriri in 1863. King Tāwhiāo had not long been made king of 3 years and this was before the war that Te Aho was supposedly had been held captive at Kawau Island so I'm saying that he couldn't be the Te Aho that we came from. "This is one of the first times that the wairua of this search seemed troubled but strangely right. I didn't want to accuse the kīngitanga of hiding our whakapapa."
TE AHO MOANA 03 "
I had not heard of this Te Aho, There isn't much mention of him through a lot of the records I had been through but I still had to rule him out if he was our tūpuna He was the Chief of Ngāti Nāho.
The records I had found about Te Ahomoana came from the book Aotea, which it spoke about a man who jointly sold Oioroa a huge block of land from Raglan to Kāwhia
Now the Aotea book speaks of a Te Ahomoana who was the chief of Ngāti Naho and when he died he transferred his mana to his nephew Wiremu Te Mōrehu Maipapa Te Wheoro, and he was also a Major in the Army and a Politician later in his life he was known as Rēhu short for Te Morehu could this be where my tupuna Te Morehu got his name from, Could Nanny Whia have named Nana Oti after her uncle.
Months had eventually passed when I felt that I couldn't leave my search until I had finished it. I was drawn back to this search after having read a book of speeches from our lady Te Ārikinui Te Ātairangikāhu where she wrote a speech to read at the Māori women welfare league hui at Tūrangawāewāe Marae in 96 or 98 I don't remember the year but the speech started with her speaking of gathering together the muka" flax strands' and set about to weave her basket. While she spoke in detail of how she was to weave her basket making references to the struggles of women and said all the things she wanted to share to the ladies of the league, it was truly awesome how the analogy of making this basket fit in with her message. I took a message from that when she said that a basket is not a basket unless it fulfills its purpose so it is important to finish it. her message was along the lines of "As I near the end of my basket I must be reminded of it's purpose and that will allow me to finish it well and properly"."That is the message that brought me back to my journey.
Just through frustration of not having any more leads to help me again. I looked at my Tūpuna on the wall and growled to him.
E Te Morehu korerongia mai nga ingoa o tou whakapapa, Ki te kore au i te mohio, kihai aku tamariki me aku mokopuna e mohio. Ka ngaro atu koutou" as if it was my duty to growl.
But that was.
Te Morehu tell me the names of your whakapapa if I don't know then my kids and my moko's won't know and you will all be lost,
Te Aho o Te Rangi Wharepu was born as Matenga Paerata. He was also known as Toko a Rangi, Matenga Matenga, Te Matenga Uere and Mohi Hokianga. He was from the Patukoraha/Te Paatu tribe. He spent time with Ngati Mahuta in Kawhia.
ReplyDeleteTe Matenga Paerata was a descendant of one of the great leaders of Te Rarawa - Te Reinga. Te Reinga had supreme authority over the people and land area. He married Pare the daughter of Waimirirangi. I descendant from their son Ruawaha. Ruawaha had a sister called Kea whom Te Matenga Paerata descends from. Kea had Tataia, Tataia had Hine Te Kai, Hine Te Kai had Pununga, Pununga had Mako, Mako had Te Tini, Te Tini had Nere or Uere, Nere or Uere had Te Matenga Paerata. If you want to confirm that whakapapa check the Maori land records for Northland. Also the Ngati Kahu Portrait of a Sovereign Nation book - talks about him.
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