Whakapapa

James Roach and Marie Rangiherea are Mere Tuia’s maternal great grandparents.  James was born as James Roche in the Parish of Saint Mary's in Enniscorthy in the County of Wexford in Ireland in 1807 and was attested to serve in the British 58th Regiment in 1826.  He served with this regiment in New Zealand during the first land wars in the 1840s and received an honourable discharge in 1848 while stationed in Mangaroa (Upper Hutt region).   

Marie was born about 1830 either in the Rotorua district or possibly in Otaki.  Marie and her three siblings were raised in Otaki and Mangaroa in the Upper Hutt region.  Marie's iwi affiliations through her father Te Raturoa and mother Moewaru, were Ngāti Tuarā & Ngāti Kea, and Ngāti Raukawa.   

James and Marie married in Wellington in 1851 and they had four children.  James died of pulmonary tuberculosis in Upper Hutt in 1861.  Marie had three other children with different partners.  Her fifth child, Mere Makaora Roach, was fathered by Makaora Te Poria.  Mere Makaora Roach was Joseph Clark’s maternal grandmother.  Marie died in Otaki in 1875.

Mere Tuia’s maternal grandparents were Hemi/James Roach born in 1854 (the 2nd child of James and Marie), and Matanginui Meretuia Sharp born in 1829.  Matanginui was also known as Meretuia Eruini (Edwin) and Mary Margaret Sharp.  They had 8 children and raised their family in Otaki and Waikanae.  Hemi was of Irish/Maori descent and Matanginui was of English/Maori descent.  

Mere Tuia’s mother was Kararaina Pirihira Roach born in 1876, the second child of Hemi and Matanginui.  Kararaina was of Maori, English and Irish descent.  She had seven children: William the eldest born in 1894, followed by five children with partner Waka Rawiri/Davis, and Mere Tuia the youngest who was born in 1914.  Mere Tuia was registered as the child of her mother and her grandfather Hemi Roach.  

Mere Tuia’s father is unknown but Ann Vincent (the 2nd child of Joe and Mere) wrote in her 2003 “Dear Family” book that Mere Tuia’s “real” father may have been a Johnny Hall, an Englishman, who lived in Foxton.  However, this was not followed up.  Future research may finally determine the identity of Mere Tuia's father. 

For her first eight years of life Mere Tuia’s mother tongue was Maori.  She only started to learn English at the age of eight when she attended school for the first time in Waikanae 

in 1923. 

Mere Tuia was raised in Waikanae by her much loved mother and grandparents until she was 14 years old.  Her mother, Kararaina, tragically died in 1923 and her grandparents passed away a few years later - Matanginui in Waikanae in 1927 and Hemi in Palmerston North in 1928.  Mere Tuia then lived with the Bevan family in Otaki.

Thomas Bevan and Mary Beaven (no relation) were born within a 15 mile radius of each other in Whitchurch, Shropshire, England in the early 1800’s.  They married in Whitchurch in 1822.  Thomas and Mary are Joseph Clark’s paternal great grandparents.

After having 8 children, Thomas, Mary and children emigrated from England in 1840 to start a new life in New Zealand.  They boarded the ship Lady Nugent that departed from Gravesend, England in October 1840. The ship's journey was long and harrowing taking over 6 months.  Awful tragedy struck the family on the journey over when Mary, her new-born baby Nugent, and 13 year old son Henry all tragically died.  The ship finally arrived in New Zealand, berthing in Wellington in March 1841.  

On arrival, Thomas, who was a ropemaker, set up a rope walk at Te Aro in Wellington.  In 1844, Thomas and his two eldest sons moved their rope making business to Waikawa in the Horowhenua region. The four youngest children, including Joe's grandfather, William Bevan Senior, walked from Wellington to Waikawa the following year, making the week-long trek through dense bush and along the west coast beaches, under the care of their Māori guide Ropina Wareakaka. 

After a short period in Wellington, they eventually settled in the Waikawa/Manakau district in the Horowhenua region where Thomas ran a successful flax making business for many years.  In later years Thomas moved to Manakau, 8kms inland from Waikawa beach.  When rope making was no longer profitable, Thomas moved to Otaki and ran a retail store there for many years.  Thomas died at his residence in Otaki in 1881 aged 80.

William Bevan Senior married Ngapaki Miriana (Ani) Te Rei in Otaki in 1872.  Ngapaki was the daughter of Te Rei Te Hora originally from Kaimai/Tauranga area, and Makarena from Otaki.  Ngapaki’s iwi affiliations through her father and mother were: Ngati Kahu and Ngati Tukorehe.  William and Ngapaki had nine children and raised their family in Otaki.  Their third child and eldest son was William (Bill) Bevan junior, born in 1877 - Joseph Clark’s father.  

William (Bill) married Martha Isabell Clark in Otaki in 1902.   Martha was the daughter (9th child) of Mere Makaora Roach and Harry Clark.  Martha's iwi affiliations through her mother were Ngati Raukawa and Ngati Kea/Tuara.  Harry Clark was an Englishman from London.  Mere Makaora Roach was the daughter of Makaora Te Poria and Marie Rangiherea (Mere Tuia's great grandmother).  William (Bill) and Martha had five children and raised their family in Otaki.  Joseph Clark was their fourth child born in 1911.