The 'Stricklands' from the Pacific.
My great great grandfather, Geoffrey George Strickland arrived and lived in the Cook Islands between 1850 and 1890. It is believed that his family had originally come from Westmoreland county in England. Geoffrey himself had travelled around a great deal before settling in the Cook Islands. He had worked in the goldmines in the Yukon and travelled down the west coast of the United States of America before eventually making his way down through to the pacific as a Whaler.
Geoffrey had two families in the Cook Islands. On the island of Mauke, he married Pira, the daughter of Nga'iringa and Orure. Geoffrey's wife Pira is a direct descendant of Uke Ariki, the foundation ancestor of Mauke (cc1200). Geoffrey and Pira had six children - James, Samuel Hosea, Minora and Teaupoto (twins), Teariki and Ngatamaine. Direct descendants from Samuel Hosea, Minora and Ngatamaine can be found on the islands of Pukapuka, Aitutaki, Rarotonga, Mangaia and outside of the Cooks to Aotearoa, Rotuma, Solomon islands, Australia and United States of America.
On the island of Aitutaki Geoffrey married Tapita, the daughter of Paerau and Pio. Through Pira's father, Paerau, who is a direct descendant of Te Urukura Ariki of Aitutaki (cc1350) therefore directly linking her ancestry to Te Tupu o Rongo right through to the most famous of all warriors Marouna I Te Tapuni Enua. This of course would make Tapita a direct descendant to the four foundational ancestors of Aitutaki. It has often been said that one is not truly an Aitutakiian unless one can trace back there ancestral genealogy to the original discoverer of Aitutaki, Ru-Tupuna (cc900), his brothers and their twenty four wives. Jeffrey had ten children to Tapita - George, Edward, Luisa, Mauariki, Alan, John who died as an infant, Ruamoana, Tipapa, Iti and John. It is through his Aitutakiian children that Jeffrey Strickland's descendants have spread not only within Aitutaki, Rarotonga, Mitiaro, and Maniiki but also Tahiti, Samoa and Niue.
The Geoffrey George Strickland family has been in the Pacific since the 1850s and continues to be a significant family in the Cook Islands and thePacific.
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