Before Missionaries had arrived on the island, his father was married to a Mangaian woman and had a son named Tavita.

After the event of Christianity Numangatini married a Rarotongan woman in a church wedding ceremony.

The Missionaries didn't recognize Tavita as rightful heir, on the excuse that he was not born in church wedlock.

On the death of Numangatini, in 1878, a district chief installed No'oroa as ariki on the grounds that he was of senior descent, and full Mangaian.

King John met Queen Victoria requesting that land in Mangaia continue the traditional chiefly ruling system and as such be independent of British land courts, whilst remaining within the British Cook Islands protectorate.