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By April 1908 Rua had seven wives, fulfilling, as he said, the vision of Isaiah 4:1. Ultimately he married 12 women. They came from Tuhoe, and from Ngati Raka, who lived mingled with Tuhoe. With his first wife, Pinepine, from Ngati Kuri of Ruatahuna, he had (according to their eldest grandson) 17 children. She was known as 'our Holy Mother', because she had shared the vision on the mountain. Rua's other wives were Pehirangi (Rehe) Kanuehi of Hamua from Ruatoki; Te Akakura (Patu) Ru of Ngati Rongo, who came from the Ruatoki chiefly line of descent and was known to his followers as the 'Queen of Sheba' – she to whom King Solomon gave all her desires; Te Aue (Kiritiatia) Heurea of Ngati Koura from Ruatahuna; Mihiroa (Tatai) Te Kaawa, of Ngati Kuri from Ruatahuna; and Wairimu (Martha Vercoe), a part-Maori of Hamua hapu. Whirimako (Teo) Ereatara of Hamua, Ngapera Rini of Te Mahurehure from Ruatoki, Kiha (Te Hororoa) Tahu of Te Whanau-a-Pani from Ruatoki, Waereti Irohia of Ngati Raka from Te Waimana, and Te Aomakarani (Meri) Wi Kamaua, also of Ngati Raka, soon joined the others. His last and youngest wife was Piimia (Te Atawhai) Onekawa of Upokorehe, another tribe living with Tuhoe. She married him after his return from his prison sentence in 1918.
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