Tokatake
Tokatake was the fifth uea of Abemama, Kuria and Aranuka in the Gilbert Islands. Tokatake inherited the role from his maternal uncle, Bauro, who had no children. After he died in 1935, his son, Tekinaiti, succeeded him.
Biography
Tokatake's mother, Rita, was the sister of Bauro, the fourth uea of Abemama, Kuria and Aranuka. Bauro and Rita were considered to have Ba n uea and Rang blood. Although Bauro had gone through a ceremony where his Rang blood was let out of his feet, Rita had not. Nevertheless, the importance of the social classes introduced by Baiteke, the second uea had diminished after Bauro became uea in 1891, and British rule over the Gilbert Islands began; Tokatake's father, Tebetinako, was of Aomata descent, the lowest landed class. One source describes Tokatake as an "illiterate despot".It is unclear when Tokatake became the fifth uea. Bauro, whose reign was described as brief and uneventful, was still uea by 1903. In 1908, Tokatake, now uea, married Agnes Dolores Murdoch, the half-Gilbertese daughter of George McGhee Murdoch, a Scotman who owned a trading post and a small estate on Kuria. Euronesians were held in high regard in the Gilbert Islands, and traders often married their Euronesian children into wealthy local families. Tokatake and Agnes had at least five children: Tekinaiti, Binatake, Taonamaina, Tiare, and Tiaon. When Tokatake died in 1935, Tekinaiti succeeded him after a short regency by Tokatake's brother, and only recorded sibling, Tabure.
Don Tokataake, the current uea, and Willie Tokataake, the speaker of the House of Assembly of Kiribati, are his descendants through Bauro Tokatake, the son of Tekinaiti.