Te Rangihīroa signed the Cook Strait (Henry Williams) sheet of the Treaty of Waitangi on 4 June 1840 at Motungārara, a small island off the southern tip of Kāpiti Island. He was a rangatira (chief) of the Ngāti te Maunu and Ngāti Mutunga hapū (subtribes) of Ngāti Toa. Te Rangihīroa occupied Motungārara with Te Hiko, the son of his brother Te Pēhi Kupe.
Te Rangihīroa’s parents were Toitoi and Waipunahau, and his grandparents were Pikauterangi and Te Kahurangi. He married Pohe and in 1793 they had a daughter named Metapere Wai-punahau, who married the whaler George Stubbs and had two sons, Wiremu Te Kakakura Parata and Hēmi Mātenga. Pohe was a wahine rangatira (woman of rank) from Te Āti Awa. She was killed by Kāwana Te Hākeke at Ngahuruhuru, beside the Waikanae River. Te Rangihīroa was buried at Waiorua Bay, at the northern end of Kāpiti Island.