Whakapapa

The Genealogy and Stories of the Barrett Family

John Henry Barrett was born in 1840 on Kapiti Island. His father Richard (Dicky) Barrett, was a commercial whaler and dealer and his mother was Kararaina Hinehou who as a girl, lived at the Tairutu swamp now known as the Kaiapoi Pa just North of Woodend, North Canterbury.

In 1831, Ngati Toa chief Te Rauparaha came south to Kaiapoi with 600 warriors and attacked, ransacked and slaughtered many of the inhabitants of Kaiapoi Pa. Kararaina Hinehou along with others were captured and taken back to Kapiti Island.

When the laws of the land and colonisation became established as well as Te Rauparaha’s conversion to christianity, Kararaina and others were released from Kapiti and returned South with her son John Henry Barrett and lived at the Taieri Maori Reserve. There are no records of her death, but it is known that she died in that area and that Taieri is still in the family.

John Henry Barrett also known as Hone Parete, left Taieri at the age of 20 and went to Kaiapoi in 1860. he married Louisa Hunter who was born in 1848 at Whenua Hou Codfish Island, at Riverton when she was 25 years old. She was the daughter of Captain John Hunter of the Whaler “Sirius” and he was a half caste Red Indian from Vancouver, Canada.

John and Louisa had 11 children, the fourth one being William Daniel Barrett who married Tini Weepu from Te Tai Poutini in 1902. They had 4 children, the youngest being Metapere Ngawini Barrett.

This genealogy shows the lineage from Metapere Ngawini Barrett down to us today.

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