Te Whare o Pito Haranui - The origins of Maruwharanui and his immediate family.

Sincere thanks to Jamie Tuta, Aunty Florence Amohia and Nathan Peri for manuscript contributions to this post.

Aroha Waetford was commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal to undergo research about Ngati Maru.  In her final report, she noted there was very little in the way of published material about the origins of Ngati Maru and even then, the three works consulted (by Percy Smith, Eddie Ngeru and Hone Pihama) were all in conflict with each other.   She mentioned all three in her work, but noticeably the account by Percy Smith, published as History and Traditions of the Maoris of the West Coast North Island of NewZealand Prior to 1840 (1910) appeared to be the most influential.

Unfortunately, Percy Smith's account is highly flawed.  His account centres around an inaccurate genealogical table by Judge Walter E. Gudgeon, that wrongfully claims that Maruwharanui was the son of Hotunui and Mihi Rawhiti.   Hone Pihama's version [recorded by Commissioner Robert Parris] stated that Mihi Rawhiti was the sister of Maruwharanui.  This version aligns with Ngati Maru versions.  Yet both Smith and Gudgeon's version has been the dominant version, standing unchallenged for over 100 years.   Tony Sole, reprinted Gudgeon's table in his publication, Ngati Ruanui : A History (2005) and it continues to influence readers today.

I was reminded of this in 2016, when a Kaumatua speaking on behalf of the Office of Treaty Settlements welcomed the Ngati Maru negotiations Team as "He uri no Tainui Waka" (Descendants of Tainui Waka).  I quietly cringed at the time, but afterward I mentioned that in Ngati Maru tribal sources (as opposed to published sources), a very different account of our origins could be found.  The Kaumatua smiled and said that in preparation for the day,  he had "GOOGLED" 😜 Ngati Maru (Taranaki) and read Smith's account.   From time to time, well-meaning people outside the tribe, need to access information about Ngati Maru.  They will search online, and they will find Smith, with all its flaws. This blog sets out to give the correct version of the "Origins of Ngati Maru", and for it to be online and widely available.

To be clear, Gudgeon's table is a fallacy, see post : Debunking Gudgeon's Table, for the finer details.  This post is merely to present the Ngati Maru version.

TE WHARE O PITO-HARANUI 

Maruwharanui, also known as Maru Haranui, was the son of Pito Haranui and Manuaea II.  Maru had a younger brother, Marukopiri, and two sisters, Mihi Rawhiti and Hinepango.  (See Table below)

The family had connections to the ancient people of Taranaki,.   Pito Haranui was a direct descendant of a tupuna, MONOA.   One whakapapa, shows Maruwharanui as having been born 19 generations after MONOA.  The lineage from Monoa down to Maruwharanui, is known as the Kahui-Maru.

Kahui Maru was the original identity of Maru Wharanui, so therefore it is our original identity, before the identity of Ngati Maru came into existence.  Connections can also be made to the Kahui-Tara, and Maruwharanui's Mother, Manauea II indicates a connection to Manauea I - of the Kahui-Mounga.

These earlier origins are covered in the blog : "Maru-Mohoao me Te Kahui Maru".    It is enough to say at this stage, that Maruwharanui's parents were Autochthones, a term that indicates that they were not Hawaiiki people, but were rather of the Ancient stock, or the "earlier tangata whenua".

Although Maruwharanui was NOT a descendant of Tainui Waka, this does not mean that we are not connected with the Tainui people.   In fact, there are whakapapa manuscripts that state that both of Maru Wharanui's sisters, Mihi Rawhiti and Hinepango were married to Hotunuku of the Tainui Waka.  This also means that Maruwharanui and his siblings were contemporaries of the Hawaiiki migrants.  Confirmation of the marriages of the sisters to Hotunuku are inserted below (slide 4).

Maruwharanui's Siblings

Slides from Tuta mss. and Kaipuke mss, labelled slide 1 and slide 2 respectively, confirm both the parents of Maruwharanui and the birth order of their four children. Slide 2 especially indicates this, by the phrase Maruwharanui to mua, followed by numbered siblings.   Slide 1 also uses numbered siblings immediately underneath the names Pito = Manauea.

Slide 1

Slide 2

Aside from the Tainui inter-marriages,  a further intermarriage occurred, this time with the Taakitimu Waka.   This is a reference to the well known union of Marukopiri and Hineue, the daughter of the famed explorer, Tamatea-Pokai-Whenua.  Tamatea himself had arrived in Aotearoa aboard the Taakitimu, according to some accounts, this waka was captained by his father, Rongokaako.  In another account the waka was captained by his Grandfather - Tamatea Ariki.    In any case, some  time after the Taakitimu arrival, Tamatea made expedition up the Whanganui River.  A number of place names are a direct result of Tamatea's travels.   Places such as Tangarakau (where Tamatea split wood), and Tangahoe (where Tamatea repaired his paddles) are the more well known ones in the Ngati Maru rohe.   

Tamatea's voyage up the Whanganui is often depicted as fleeting and then ending abruptly at Huka Falls.   Yet Tamatea was in the district long enough to not only marry Mahakiroa, but to have at least four children with her.   One of which was Hineue.  The Wahapa mss. shows the marriage between Marukopiri and Hineue, and one descent line. (See slide 3 - below)   John White, provides the names of a further three sons, Koautamaakiroa, Kahunui, and Apa, in his book Ancient Maori,  (see p.87).     For our purposes though, it is only the offspring of Marukopiri that are included in the Family table.  They were Ruataupo, Uenuku-Popoti [who is in the slide below, on the last line], Uenuku-Tutea and Tamatea Tahuhu.  They are considered as prominent ancestors of the people of the Middle Whanganui River, particularly at Manganui-o-te-Ao. 

Slide 3

As a side note, it is interesting to see in more recent Ngati Maru whakapapa, that Tutanuku Tume (a well known Maru spokesman who lived at the turn of the 20th Century) gave evidence in the land court, that his Father had a sister Mahakiroa.  Sadly this Mahakiroa died without descendants, and with her the reminder of the prominence of the original Mahakiroa has faded.    

Confirmation of Hine-Pango's marriage to Hotunuku, appears in Henare Keremeneta's manuscript.  Confirmation of Mihi-Rawhiti as an additional wife of the same Chief, is found in the Kaipuke manuscripts.  
    

Slide 4

Maruwharanui's Wife 

Maruwharanui wife was Monganui.   No specific information exists [to date] showing Monganui's origin, other than her name mentioned as  Maruwharanui's wife and the mother of his daughter, Te Reimatia.  

In Gudgeon's table, Hineawepara is recorded as a wife of Maruwharanui.  However, given Gudgeon's propensity to fabricate, accepting any tupuna name advanced by him should be with done with caution.  It would be prudent to require further evidence before according pride of place to anyone other than our lineal ancestress Monganui.    

Maruwharanui's Child - Te Reimatia

Te Reimatia, was the daughter of Maruwharanui and Monganui.  To date, all descent lines identified for the hapu and whanau of Ngati Maru pass through Te Reimatia solely.

Intermarriage with Aotea Waka - Te Reimatia and Tamatea-Kopiri

Te Reimatia married Tamatea-Kopiri, the son of Turanga-i-mua, who was in turn the son of Turi, of the Aotea Waka.    Slide 5 - from Wahapa mss. confirms this marriage, as well as providing the names of two of their sons.   The data in this slide has also been converted into table form. 

Slide 5

Slide 6

The Sons of Te Reimatia, Ancestors of Nga Hapu o Ngati Maru

The names of these sons as they appear in the table in slide 5, are (1) TUHUKUAO also referred to as HIKUAO, and (2) TAKAIWAHO also referred to as TUHEKEIWAHO.   Slide 6 is a confirmation from an independant source [Keremeneta] of the lineage from Tuhukuao.

In Tony Sole's work Ruanui, he presents a table that shows TAMANGAPO as an additional son of Te Reimatia and Tamatea Kopiri.  However, in the manuscript material, TAMANGAPO is named as a Grandson, the son of Tuhekeiwaho and his wife Waiti.  Slide 7 shows this.  At first the whakapapa is recorded as if TAMANGAPO is a son, then it has been corrected by the addition of Tuhekeiwaho in pencil.  This line has been highlighted in yellow.

Slide 7

Marukopiri's Children

To complete this blog and to have given reference to everyone who is included in the table Te Whare o Pito Haranui, we provide the source for the children of Marukopiri and his wife Hineue.   This was actually a whakapapa table derived from Native Land Court material.   In a scale of privledging, Manuscript sources or whakapapa books are privledged over versions recorded in the Court minute books.   Mainly because of the agenda/circumstances under which the data has been collected.

Thankfully, in some cases the land court data aligns with manuscript versions, and extra details can be gleaned from this resource.    In our manuscripts, the marriage between Marukopiri and Hineue is confirmed, as well as their daughter Rua Taupo and their son Uenuku Popoti [slide 3].   The whakapapa below, provides us with two further siblings, and given the alignment with other parts of the table, there is no reason to suspect the two additions as fabrication.    

The additional offspring of Marukopiri are Uenuku Tutea and Tamatea Te Huhu, which appear alongside Rua Taupo and Uenuku Popoti - already identified. 

See slide 8.  This is the evidence of Keepa Kumatia, used to claim the Waharangi Block.  The ancestors set up in the Court for Waharangi are contained in orange boxes.   It is interesting to note that they are in the case of two of these tupuna, they are 5th generation descendants of Marukopiri.  This supports the Ngati Maru assertion that Maruwharanui and his family were very early ancestors.   

Slide 8

We are Ngati Maru, we are the descendants of the Autochthone, Maru Wharanui, who was the eldest son of Pito-Haranui and Manauea II, of the Kahui Maru lineage.  We are descendants of Monoa, of the Ancients, who lived in the time of the Kahui Tara and the Kahui Mounga, and these are our true origins.

Tihe i Maru Ora !