A Great Warrior's Peaceful Son.

Tamehana's father was that most vigorous and determined of warriors, Te Waharoa, the head of the Ngati-Haua tribe, a numerous clan which held the country between the Upper Waihou and the Waikato River, including the now rich farming districts of Matamata. From Te Aroha to the Maunga-tautari ranges and to the present site of Hamilton, Ngati-Haua were the people in possession.

Te Waharoa led his tribe in many a cannibal campaign, and his son, Tarapipipi, as a young man, marched in some of those fighting expeditions with gun and tomahawk. He possessed courage and determination, and as future events proved, diplomatic gifts. When the first white missionaries went to the Matamata country, just a century ago, the young chief gave thoughtful ear to them, and he adopted the new religion and declared that he would never fight again. Ever after he worked for peace among his people. He adopted the pakeha name of Wiremu Tamehana (William Thompson), a missionary suggestion: he learned to read and write and he became a great student of the translation of the Bible, hence the remarkable extent to which he used Scriptural quotations—always apt and to the point—in his letters to the Government on Maori affairs. He was a peacemaker and worker, and he was continually employed in settling feùds and in leading agricultural industry among his people.

About the origin of his pakeha name, there is some obscurity. It is uncertain who the William Thompson was whose name appealed to his missionary leaders and himself as a fitting name. The Maori spellings differ slightly; he himself usually spelled it “Tamihana,” but the customary Maori version of Thompson is “Tamehana,” so that form is adopted here and in the histories.