Te Mihi Whanau Aotearoa

Te Mihi o Aotearoa

Ko Tapu te Ranga te maunga
Ko Raukawa te moana
Ko Ngati Hone te iwi Ingarangi
Ko Koru Rerangi te waka
Ko Hohepe (Matiu … Pita … Hami… Tio) toku ingoa

Translation of the Maori ‘Family Introduction’

The islet of Island Bay is my mountain
The waters of Cook Strait are my sea
I am from the Johnson Family of England
My ancestors travelled here by air
I am Joseph (Matthew … Peter … Sam…Theo) by name

The English Mihi

The crag at Beeston is my mountain
The waters of the Weaver are my sea
I am from the Johnson-Shorrocks-Darlington Family of Lancashire and Cheshire
We are local folk from long ages past
I am Keith (Matthew … Peter … Sam… Theo) by name

Comment

Looking at the family in retrospect, it is clear that we are descended, at least on my side, from a mixed set of wholly English ancestors (with links to the North West, Midlands, South West, East Anglia and London).

My paternal great grandfather Robert Edwin Shorrocks was born in Salford, Lancashire in 1854 (family, presumably, originally from Blackburn area) and his wife Fanny also hailed from Salford (born Fanny Eliza Mallinson 1856 - family originally from Rastrick, West Yorkshire). My paternal grandmother's father Charles D. Lubbock was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk c1851 and his wife Helen Rebecca Rayner was born in Finsbury, London c1861 (family originally from Cambridge).

My maternal great grandfather David Clarke was born in Weston Favell, Northampton in 1842 and his wife Sarah Kenyon was born in Oldham, Lancashire c1862. My maternal grandmother's father Joseph Salter was born in Upham, Hampshire, Wiltshire c1864 (family originally from Ottery St Mary, Devon), and his wife Mary Davis was born in Market Lavington, Wiltshire c1868.

Our connections with the North West of England are therefore the strongest through the Shorrocks and Kenyon links and our step-links to the Darlingtons. The Darlingtons are Cheshire farmers 'born and bred' ('Cheshire born and Cheshire bred; strong i'the arm and wik i'the yed' - wik means quick - not weak!). There are also farming connections through Joseph Salter (to Raxhayes Farm, Ottery St Mary) and George Kenyon, my Oldham great great great grandfather, who was a Lancashire farmer.

Most of the other families appear to have found employment in the 19th and early 20th Centuries in urban jobs, and the Shorrocks’ (Brushmanufacturing), Clarkes (Shoemaking and Accountancy), Lubbocks (Shipbuilding), and Kenyons (Cartage, Provisioning and Innkeeping) had their own businesses. Helen's father though was a 'Railway Engineer' (maybe loco driver?) with the SE Railway.

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"If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people.

To be born means that something which did not exist comes into existence. But the day we are "born" is not our beginning. It is a day of continuation. But that should not make us less happy when we celebrate our "Happy Continuation Day."

Since we are never born, how can we cease to be? This is what the Heart Sutra reveals to us. When we have a tangible experience of non-birth and non-death, we know ourselves beyond duality. The meditation on "no separate self" is one way to pass through the gate of birth and death.

Your hand proves that you have never been born and you will never die. The thread of life has never been interrupted from time without beginning until now. Previous generations, all the way back to single-celled beings, are present in your hand at this moment.

You can observe and experience this. Your hand is always available as a subject for meditation. ": 'Present Moment, Wonderful Moment' by Thich Nhat Hanh

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“Our descendants will understand many things which are hidden from us now.” :'Pre-historic Times, as Illustrated by Ancient Remains, and the Manners and Customs of Modern Savages', by John Lubbock published 1865.

(John Lubbock was a famous London Banker and Natural Scientist who shares a heritage with our family – through Keith’s grandmother Constance Maud Mary Johnson (nee Lubbock))