Help with Whapapapa and Maori research

Question

I am starting on my daughter-in-law's tree and I am finding it very hard to get sources to support it. A lot of the people are not on the bdm index and aren't found in the usual records. Not helped by the fact there can be multiple versions of their names with english and maori versions as well as nicknames. Her father's side seems to be mainly Ngapuhi but she is also probably descended from Col Robert Henry Wynward who was acting govenor for Auckland province (his tree goes back to the 1500s). There is a possibility of a German immigrant ancestor. Her mother is Tainui and there are english surnames as well.

Do I put the tree on wikitree in the hope that other people might be able to connect in and grow it or alternatively do I not do anything because it is light on sources and is mainly based on family knowledge and other people's trees on My Heritage?

There could be some really interesting profiles as it is likely she is descended from Pomare II in which case there is a whakapapa back to Kupe. I believe another ancestor was a chieftan's daughter.

Allana

Answer 1

Family knowledge, including oral history, are valid sources.  I would include the information along with a description of where the information came from (although not specifically naming living people, for privacy reasons).

With an accurate description of the source, other readers can judge for themselves how much faith to put in the information.

If you have a whakapapa diagram, uploading a copy of that (obscuring details of living people for privacy) would be a good idea.

A little tip for looking up records in the NZ BDM index, you can put a single dot "." in the Surname field to search for any surname -- helps with finding records that may have been misspelt. Although as you will have found, many Māori births were not registered with the government.

Comments

For Ngāpuhi I've had some luck finding them on FamilySearch, and also Whakapapa.org.nz.  Good luck!

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To save having to explain why an officially recorded B/D/M is not available to include as a source, you might like to add this as needed -

note : Māori were not required to register births, deaths or marriages until 1913 when a measure for the Separate Registration of Māori Births and Deaths was introduced [https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/timeline N.Z. Government BDM Historical Records Timeline]

Answer 2

Hi Allan

With Wynyard in your whakapapa there is some connection with Sir Robert Wynyard as a family connection in Family Tree the LDS site.  Keep in mind with Ngapuhi as I am, and Tainui in that same area sometimes surnames were given to revere someone noteable., or as with Wynyard or Shortland or other they named their children as a surname of someone they respected as a colonial, this happened a lot with Ngapuhi and it seems from my research particularly with Sir Robert Wnynard unless of course there was illegitimacy which actually didnt happen in the majority of Ngapuhi at that time, it was quite a sacred thing, a relationship of husband and wife or partners, so illegitimacy wasnt common.  

Just keep this in mind.  This may explain why you also may not find 'Wynyard' in NZBDM as the surname may not actually be the father., also some names were anglicised ie Te Reo to that of English.  I say this from experience as some of my whakapapa has Wynyard but he was not actually a married descendant. Just named after.