TAITE, Te Paea/Paia née Pitiroi
Born c1885; died 22 November 1918; buried 25 November 1918; age 33
Researching this life has been greatly enriched by drawing on Māori family information. Relying on official records for key life events for Māori is not fruitful where those events took place before 1911 for marriages or 1913 for births and deaths as it was only then that New Zealand introduced civil registration for Māori (i).
Rehina Te Paea TAITE née PITIROI was born in Rotorua in 1885 to Pitiroi MOHI and his wife Hiraina Mohi née GRACE. Her father supported his family by labouring and then farming in the Taupo area where the family made its home.
At 27 Te Paea married a 38-year-old widower from Tokaanu, recorded as Wi Kepa te RIU on the marriage record and as Riu te Taite on her death record (also known as Taite te POPO, 1878-1936) (ii). He was the son of Wiremu Te Riu (iii), a labourer, who died in 1914 and Te Kahui Kerehi Te HEUHEU. The Te Heuheu family are paramount chiefs of Ngati Tuwharetoa, whose rohe includes Lake Taupo, and the central plateau mountains of Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe. Te Kahui's portrait was painted by Gottfried Lindauer and is in the collection of the Auckland Mueseum http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/am_library-paintinganddrawings-1780 (iv).
Wi Kepa te Riu/Taite te Popo had been widowed in 1914, the same year his father died. His first wife was Te Raina Matenga TAPENE from Taumarunui with whom he had had three children: a daughter, Ripeka and two sons, Werahiko and Tateriki.
By 6 July 1915, when his marriage took place with Te Paea at the Roman Catholic church at Waihi (located at the south end of Lake Taupo), Riu was farming.
Their marriage was celebrated by Father Adrian Langerwerf, a recently arrived Dutch priest who recorded that the event took place under section 191(1)(b) of the Native Land Act 1909. It enabled those officiating to do so under the Marriage Act 1908 without complying with the other requirements of that Act where both marriage partners identified as Māori (v).
Father Adrian ministered from 1905 to the people of Waihi Village and the Tokaanu area, where a school and convent were established and run by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. He spoke fluent Māori, built strong networks in the community and worked hard to encourage income generation from Māori land assets.
By 1919, thanks to dairy farming, butter production, timber milling, and especially hydro-electric power production, ‘in contrast to most of rural New Zealand, every home in Waihi village is said to have had electricity, a flush toilet and running water’ (vi).
Te Paea Taite gave birth to two daughters in their first 3 years of marriage: Makarita, born in 1916, (later Mrs Rongo Paerata, buried at Mokai Marae urupa, Taupo), Makuini, born in 1917 (later Mrs George Lewis, buried at Pukawa Marae urupa, Taupo), and a son, Shay Taite, born on 4 August 1918 (vii). In that year Riu te Taite was working on the SS Mapourika, a coastal trading vessel plying between various New Zealand ports (viii).
At the time of the influenza epidemic Te Paea was living and helping at the Te Heuheu family’s large residence in Queens Drive, Lyall Bay, Tongariro House, where the whānau hosted many important visitors and transacted much of their political business looking after Māori land and advocating for their wider interests in and outside Parliament.
Also living at Tongariro House was Te Hehe TAMAIRA, the husband of Te Rihi Te Heuheu. Te Hehe became ill on 18 November, possibly earlier than Te Paea. He was nursed and died at home some 5 days after her.
Te Paea was taken to the largest of Wellington’s temporary hospitals, at Wellington College, which had 105 beds. She died there on 22 November 1918 but her burial in Karori Cemetery did not take place until 25 November. Constraints limiting public gathering, in a bid to contain the spread of influenza, mean it was unlikely a traditional tāngihāngā could have been held to farewell her.
Research for this story revealed that a disinterment licence was issued sometime in 1956 (ix) but it is unknown when her remains were returned to the Waihi Village Cemetery where she is now thought to rest (x).
At the time of her death, her husband Taite te Popo was reportedly in England on Tuwharetoa business (xi). The family recalls that he was put into quarantine for a time on his return.
Their children spent some time in an orphanage or hospital.
The late kuia Kaa Rakaupai related the story (Waihi Village, Tokaanu c.2003. She was first cousin to Shay and his sisters) of the time when Ngati Tuwharetoa kaumatua heard that Te Paea had passed away and that her children were in an orphanage/hospital. Kaa who was a young girl at the time travelled with the kaumatua to Wellington with the intention of collecting these children and bring them home to Tuwharetoa rohe. On arrival they were shocked to see so many orphans and because of her youth and keen eyesight she was told to fetch the two girls which seemed an easy task. However, because Shay was still a baby she had difficulty locating him amongst the other babies and the tohu the kaumatua told her to use to identify him was the whanau trait of having big eyes. One by one she held-up babies for the old kaumatua to inspect and since Shay had the ‘big eyes’ they gave their approval. At that time kui Pura Kiore had also learned about the mokopuna in Wellington and travelled by horse from Tokorangi, Halcombe a distance of 98 miles. On arrival Pura collected Shay and returned home with him in tow and both on horseback. (xii)
Te Paea’s children were then whāngaied to different families, Shay spent his early life in Halcombe, Manawatu with Te Pura Kiore and remained in that area. His older sisters spent time in Taumarunui and at the Pukawa mission home of their grandmother Te Kahui Grace.
Te Paea’s widower married for a third time to Rangipango Hekenui PINE (Ngati Apa, Rangitikei rohe) from Moawhango, with whom he had one son, Tarei or Charlie Taite (xiii). In 1936 Taite te Popo died and was buried at the Moawhango Marae urupa near Taihape.
Te Paea’s father Pitiroi Mohi served among the original members of the Tuwharetoa Trust Board which was established in 1926 to advance the interests and assets of the tribe.
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson with warm thanks for the vital input of Lou Chase, a descendant of Te Paea’s son, Shay Taite, who raised him
(i) BDM website https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
(ii) See ‘Bay of Plenty Times’, 1 August 1933 reporting a large gathering at Mokai at which Te Paea’s daughter, Makarita married Rongonui Paerata, the grandson of Te Heuheu Tukino.
(iii) Wiremu Te Riu may have been Ngati Raukawa ki te tonga although another korero says that Wiremu Te Riu came from Kahungunu rohe. Ngati Tuwharetoa kaumatua provided this latter information to Wiremu Te Riu’s grandson Shay when he was a young man. (Source: Lou Chase 31 August 2018 email.)
(iv) In 1885 Te Kahui Te Heuheu married Laurence Marshall GRACE (MP for Tauranga 1885-1887) with whom she had further children.
(v) Perhaps this provided for fewer notice provisions applying to European marriage and enabled more focus on customary Māori practice?
(vi) Source: https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3l4/langerwerf-adrian-cornelius accessed on 28 August 2018.
(vii) BDM gives this birth date for William Torohaere Taite on his 1991 death record. The name Shay is said to have come from the Irish doctor who delivered him. Information from family sources on https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/soldier/william-taite though a list of those qualified to practise medicine in New Zealand 1840 to 1930 on https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/external/WrightSt-Clair-HistoriaNuncVivat.pdf does not throw light on anyone named Chay, Shay, or Shea registered to do so.
(viii) Source: records of Professor Geoffrey Rice in compiling ‘Black November’ 1988.
(ix) Email dated 3 October 2018 from Brent Palmer, Service Delivery Manager, Karori Cemetery.
(x) https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/soldier/william-taite
(xi) Ibid
(xii) Source: Lou Chase 31 August 2018 email.
(xiii) https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/soldier/charles-taite
Born c1885; died 22 November 1918; buried 25 November 1918; age 33
Researching this life has been greatly enriched by drawing on Māori family information. Relying on official records for key life events for Māori is not fruitful where those events took place before 1911 for marriages or 1913 for births and deaths as it was only then that New Zealand introduced civil registration for Māori (i).
Rehina Te Paea TAITE née PITIROI was born in Rotorua in 1885 to Pitiroi MOHI and his wife Hiraina Mohi née GRACE. Her father supported his family by labouring and then farming in the Taupo area where the family made its home.
At 27 Te Paea married a 38-year-old widower from Tokaanu, recorded as Wi Kepa te RIU on the marriage record and as Riu te Taite on her death record (also known as Taite te POPO, 1878-1936) (ii). He was the son of Wiremu Te Riu (iii), a labourer, who died in 1914 and Te Kahui Kerehi Te HEUHEU. The Te Heuheu family are paramount chiefs of Ngati Tuwharetoa, whose rohe includes Lake Taupo, and the central plateau mountains of Ruapehu, Tongariro and Ngauruhoe. Te Kahui's portrait was painted by Gottfried Lindauer and is in the collection of the Auckland Mueseum http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collection/object/am_library-paintinganddrawings-1780 (iv).
Wi Kepa te Riu/Taite te Popo had been widowed in 1914, the same year his father died. His first wife was Te Raina Matenga TAPENE from Taumarunui with whom he had had three children: a daughter, Ripeka and two sons, Werahiko and Tateriki.
By 6 July 1915, when his marriage took place with Te Paea at the Roman Catholic church at Waihi (located at the south end of Lake Taupo), Riu was farming.
Their marriage was celebrated by Father Adrian Langerwerf, a recently arrived Dutch priest who recorded that the event took place under section 191(1)(b) of the Native Land Act 1909. It enabled those officiating to do so under the Marriage Act 1908 without complying with the other requirements of that Act where both marriage partners identified as Māori (v).
Father Adrian ministered from 1905 to the people of Waihi Village and the Tokaanu area, where a school and convent were established and run by the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. He spoke fluent Māori, built strong networks in the community and worked hard to encourage income generation from Māori land assets.
By 1919, thanks to dairy farming, butter production, timber milling, and especially hydro-electric power production, ‘in contrast to most of rural New Zealand, every home in Waihi village is said to have had electricity, a flush toilet and running water’ (vi).
Te Paea Taite gave birth to two daughters in their first 3 years of marriage: Makarita, born in 1916, (later Mrs Rongo Paerata, buried at Mokai Marae urupa, Taupo), Makuini, born in 1917 (later Mrs George Lewis, buried at Pukawa Marae urupa, Taupo), and a son, Shay Taite, born on 4 August 1918 (vii). In that year Riu te Taite was working on the SS Mapourika, a coastal trading vessel plying between various New Zealand ports (viii).
At the time of the influenza epidemic Te Paea was living and helping at the Te Heuheu family’s large residence in Queens Drive, Lyall Bay, Tongariro House, where the whānau hosted many important visitors and transacted much of their political business looking after Māori land and advocating for their wider interests in and outside Parliament.
Also living at Tongariro House was Te Hehe TAMAIRA, the husband of Te Rihi Te Heuheu. Te Hehe became ill on 18 November, possibly earlier than Te Paea. He was nursed and died at home some 5 days after her.
Te Paea was taken to the largest of Wellington’s temporary hospitals, at Wellington College, which had 105 beds. She died there on 22 November 1918 but her burial in Karori Cemetery did not take place until 25 November. Constraints limiting public gathering, in a bid to contain the spread of influenza, mean it was unlikely a traditional tāngihāngā could have been held to farewell her.
Research for this story revealed that a disinterment licence was issued sometime in 1956 (ix) but it is unknown when her remains were returned to the Waihi Village Cemetery where she is now thought to rest (x).
At the time of her death, her husband Taite te Popo was reportedly in England on Tuwharetoa business (xi). The family recalls that he was put into quarantine for a time on his return.
Their children spent some time in an orphanage or hospital.
The late kuia Kaa Rakaupai related the story (Waihi Village, Tokaanu c.2003. She was first cousin to Shay and his sisters) of the time when Ngati Tuwharetoa kaumatua heard that Te Paea had passed away and that her children were in an orphanage/hospital. Kaa who was a young girl at the time travelled with the kaumatua to Wellington with the intention of collecting these children and bring them home to Tuwharetoa rohe. On arrival they were shocked to see so many orphans and because of her youth and keen eyesight she was told to fetch the two girls which seemed an easy task. However, because Shay was still a baby she had difficulty locating him amongst the other babies and the tohu the kaumatua told her to use to identify him was the whanau trait of having big eyes. One by one she held-up babies for the old kaumatua to inspect and since Shay had the ‘big eyes’ they gave their approval. At that time kui Pura Kiore had also learned about the mokopuna in Wellington and travelled by horse from Tokorangi, Halcombe a distance of 98 miles. On arrival Pura collected Shay and returned home with him in tow and both on horseback. (xii)
Te Paea’s children were then whāngaied to different families, Shay spent his early life in Halcombe, Manawatu with Te Pura Kiore and remained in that area. His older sisters spent time in Taumarunui and at the Pukawa mission home of their grandmother Te Kahui Grace.
Te Paea’s widower married for a third time to Rangipango Hekenui PINE (Ngati Apa, Rangitikei rohe) from Moawhango, with whom he had one son, Tarei or Charlie Taite (xiii). In 1936 Taite te Popo died and was buried at the Moawhango Marae urupa near Taihape.
Te Paea’s father Pitiroi Mohi served among the original members of the Tuwharetoa Trust Board which was established in 1926 to advance the interests and assets of the tribe.
Researched and written by Jenny Robertson with warm thanks for the vital input of Lou Chase, a descendant of Te Paea’s son, Shay Taite, who raised him
(i) BDM website https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
(ii) See ‘Bay of Plenty Times’, 1 August 1933 reporting a large gathering at Mokai at which Te Paea’s daughter, Makarita married Rongonui Paerata, the grandson of Te Heuheu Tukino.
(iii) Wiremu Te Riu may have been Ngati Raukawa ki te tonga although another korero says that Wiremu Te Riu came from Kahungunu rohe. Ngati Tuwharetoa kaumatua provided this latter information to Wiremu Te Riu’s grandson Shay when he was a young man. (Source: Lou Chase 31 August 2018 email.)
(iv) In 1885 Te Kahui Te Heuheu married Laurence Marshall GRACE (MP for Tauranga 1885-1887) with whom she had further children.
(v) Perhaps this provided for fewer notice provisions applying to European marriage and enabled more focus on customary Māori practice?
(vi) Source: https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3l4/langerwerf-adrian-cornelius accessed on 28 August 2018.
(vii) BDM gives this birth date for William Torohaere Taite on his 1991 death record. The name Shay is said to have come from the Irish doctor who delivered him. Information from family sources on https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/soldier/william-taite though a list of those qualified to practise medicine in New Zealand 1840 to 1930 on https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/external/WrightSt-Clair-HistoriaNuncVivat.pdf does not throw light on anyone named Chay, Shay, or Shea registered to do so.
(viii) Source: records of Professor Geoffrey Rice in compiling ‘Black November’ 1988.
(ix) Email dated 3 October 2018 from Brent Palmer, Service Delivery Manager, Karori Cemetery.
(x) https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/soldier/william-taite
(xi) Ibid
(xii) Source: Lou Chase 31 August 2018 email.
(xiii) https://28maoribattalion.org.nz/soldier/charles-taite
1918 grave site of Te Paea Taite in Public2, plot 323 I,
later disinterred and taken to Waihi Village near Lake Taupo
later disinterred and taken to Waihi Village near Lake Taupo