Tena koutou te Whanau Whanui.
 My name is Sharon Cooper and this site is for the whanau of ASHLEY RUTENE KIWARA COOPER AND  PUAO TE ATATU aka DAWN COOPER nee TURIPA and our extended whanau.

PLEASE SIGN THE GUEST BOOK WHEN YOU VISIT THE SITE - KIA ORA TE WHANAU WHANUI

Much of the information on this site has been sourced from the whakapapa book written by  TeWhaioranga Rongopopoia IRAIA aka NAWAKA and Rangiwhakanewa IRAIA aka NAWAKA (our grandmother  and her brother), Te Whakapapa o Kuramihirangi GILBERT nee TURIPA, nga pukapuka whakapapa a  tera o matou koroua a Tiare TAOHO, Mum, Aunty Naomi, Aunty Lucy TAKUTA and from other whanau;  On our fathers side of the family information has come from Dad, Aunty Polly WIHONE, Uncle  Bully COOPER, Aunty Mei TIPOKI, memoirs of Uncle Wi RANGIUAIA aka William COOPER and varous  whanau members. I have acknowledged all those people who have contributed to 'filling in the  gaps' or 'connecting the dots' in SOURCES though I would like to mention them here also as  without their input our whakapapa would be sadly lacking. Cousins Judith BROOKING, Nicola BRADY  and Bryce KIRINIHI, Ora SHERIDAN, Emma BENSON, Karon GUTSELL-TURIPA, Anthony GILBERT, Maria  TUAPAWA-MARTIN, Peter COOK, Jo GURNICK, Tom HOLLIS, Myrtle KEIL, Aronwy EDWARDS, Matthew  WALKER and Chris O'SULLIVAN.
 Research is ongoing to verify information.

Inside of every whanau there are stories that dont quite jell but become a part of the fabric  of that family and we are no different. 
 When my dad was laying in state at our home in Frasertown Rd in 1987 a kuia and her party came  to tangi for him. A few months later I heard Whina Cooper had come to his tangi as she was our  relation through her husband. We are NOT related to Whina or her husband and NO she did not  come to Dads tangi. Whinas husband was William Turakiuta COOPER originally from the Rakaipaka  Muriwai area.The kuia who came to tangi to my father was in fact my nanny Niwa, an aunt of my  mothers.
 It is imperative that these discrepancies are cleared up in order for us all to move on and not  be weighed down by inaccurate korero.

A week or two before he died my dads brother Bully called in at my house in Wairoa. He had been  visiting all his mauiui whanau around the North Island and I assumed I was only on his list as  my dad hadnt finished work at the time uncle reached Wairoa. Anyway, long story short he gave  me a whakapapa to look after. I wasnt all that fussed about this at the age I was then and put  the whakapapa to the side referring to it only when I wanted some info from it. In about 2009  (the need to know me and where I fit in the greater scheme of things had been growing within me  for a few years by now) I came apon a genealogy website and got chatting with a man who I soon  learned was the husband of my cousin about several times removed. His name was Bryce KIRINIHI  and his wife was Nicole Brady the gt gtgranddaughter of Wi Maki CAMPBELL. He queried the  whakapapa I had from Uncle Bully and after swapping information it became obvious the whakapapa  I had been given was faulty.The information did not match the evidence. Thank you Bryce and  Nicole. 
 I am not saying that those who have and adhere to the whakapapa they have, must change, but  what I am saying is that I have to follow the evidence and therefore the whakapapa that is  supported by that evidence. Kia Ora.

Another family story that has no factual base is the one that says we are related to royalty.  As far as the research I have carried out this has no basis though there may be a link to  the gentry through the ASHLEY COOPER whanau but research is ongoing to verify or negate info.

The following is from the CHRISTIAN side of our whanau where there has been a long held belief  that we descend from Fletcher CHRITIAN of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. After much research by  cousin Emma BENSON the bottom line is NO we are not related. The dates and timelines do not  fit. Once again I am not asking anyone to change long held beliefs but I follow the evidence  and make decisions based on that evidence.

The whakapapa on this site belongs to us all and thanks to those of our whanau who add their  info to the site. 
 Thank you all

Kia Ora koutou Te Whanau Whanui mo o koutou mahi tino nunui. Sadly we have lost touch with a lot of our whanau, but no matter how distant our ties seem,  when you actually see it down on paper, its only a blink of an eye - we all have our common  tipuna. We can all work together to bring us back together (even if only in this forum in many  cases) and Im sure our kuia and koroua will be buzzing.

To many people whakapapa/geneology is just alot of names, and in a way it is but those names  belong/ed to people....the people whose genes have contributed to making us all the unique  individuals we are today. Just remember, one day we too, will only be a name but our genes will  go on in our children and mokopuna, on into eternity.

To know where we are going, we must know where we have been and who we are - we've all heard  that before I am sure. Our whakapapa is an integral part of that journey.

He aha te mea nui o te ao - HE TANGATA, HE TANGATA, HE TANGATA.

*If you have a story to tell about yourself or  some one in the whanau, go to the STORIES  menu  and tell your story. Stories become a big part of the whanau history and can be passed on to  the future. I have put some stories up and they are especially for our mokopuna who will never  know our whanau the way we knew them but every day we live our life, stories are happening  around usand history is being made. Not huge stuff but important whanau stuff, so get them down  on the site. It may be the only way we can ever know one another.