Births and Deaths in Tonga

I received an email from Mr Lausii of the Registrar General's office in Tonga - Ooooh! my first overseas correspondence!!! The only records they had were for William Morrison Sutherland (Death) (so that's actually his name - I can stop searching scotlands people for other names with those initials) and the birth of Donald Gordon Sutherland (my grandfather). William Morrison Sutherland died on 6 May 1915. That's quite sad because if my records are correct, he would have died relatively young (I still have to establish a link between the Robert and Christina Sutherland tribe and the Tongans, but I'm more and more convinced I've got the right ones). If my records are correct, Morrison was born about 1870, which would make him 45 at his death - not by any account "a ripe old age".

I got the death certificates of both Robert and Christina Sutherland from the New South Wales Registry. Theycame by post and in their envelopes look very much like Bonus Bonds letters so both times I had a brief moment when I thought I'd won Bonus Bonds. This was almost like winning without the financial boost: I got a little bit more of a picture of this family (Please please, I hope I can establish that link)

Robert died aged 91 on 3 September 1916, which meant that he outlived William Morrison by over a year. He was survived by Annie (Scott) 55, Georgina 44, Robert 39, and Tina (Valentine)37. 3 males and 2 females pre-deceased him.

His occupation was listed as Importer and Indent Agent (retired) so he must have continued the business he had in Leith when he arrived in Australia - I'm wondering now, firstly, did he continue to work for the company he had been involved with in Leith? Further, was Robert and William Morrison's trading in Tonga related to their father's work in Australia? - Hmm - food for thought...and another avenue to explore.

Christina died on July 31 1922 aged 88 years, survived by the same four.

Mr Lausii gave me the telephone number of the Registrar General in the Solomon Islands where Tongan records are held. I rang them and and spoke to a very helpful Mr Pelu, who found the entry for William Morrison's death and is going to send me a copy. This should be the document that establishes the link.

A little bit of new information

I've had an email from the NZSOG Pacific Islands Interest Group co-ordinator, Christine Liava'a, who has been able to provide me with a little bit more information. I'm finding Family research to be an inch by inch process. Every scrap of information gets pored over and fit into this huge jigsaw to build up the picture just a tiny bit more.

Christine has given me some snippets about some of the Tongan Sutherlands - some that I already have, some that builds on what I've got.

One of the names Christine has given me is Robert Sutherland, aged 44, born 26 May 1876 in Edinburgh, Scotland, who applied for a passport to travel to New Zealand in 1920. His occupation is listed as "accountant". I'm pretty sure I've come across a young Robert in one of the Scotland censuses listed as a Trainee Clerk - No - I've just looked back at my notes and it's not Robert at all - James aged 14 is listed in 1871 as a trainee clerk. Robert wasn't born until 1876.

Now here's a bit more of the story I haven't written down yet and it's probably time to do so:
The Robert/Christina Sutherland family left Scotland on the Ben Cruachan in 1883. They were unassisted immigrants, so they at least had the funds to pay for passage to Australia for the whole family.

The passenger list has:
[source: Index of Inward Passenger Lists for Briish Foreign and NZ Ports - PROArchives. Public Record Office, Victoria, Fiche420 pg2]
Mr R Sutherland aged 41
Master R 7
Miss E 4
Miss K 15
Mast W 13
Miss C 18
Miss G 9
Miss A 20
Mrs 42

The initials all match up and the ages almost match up - except for Mr R, who seems to have miraculously lost 10 years and Mrs, who is 4 years younger.

I did a bit more of a search around the Australian records and found Ann Sutherland, who married Richard Holden in Newtown in 1891. I also found deaths f0r Christina, who died in 1922 in St Leonards, Sydney and Robert, who died in 1916, St Leonards. I took a punt and paid the outrageous sum of $50 to get death certificates for these two. I suspect that all they'll do is support my hunch that these are my South Leith Christina and Robrt - I'm still trying to find the vital piece of evidence linking them to William Morrison Sutherland of Tonga.

One thought:If Robert the Accountant from Tonga is the son of Christina and Robert, then he must have been schooled in Australia.

Other information I've got from Christine refers to:
William Morrison Jnr, who applied for a british passport to travel to New Zealand for school and later work. He is 17.
Christina Middlemas Sutherland applied for a passport 9/3/22 aged 23 born 5 jan 1899 married ? Edwards Died 27 June 1976 Middlemore Hospital Auckland - somehow connected to Clive Edwards of Tonga
Robert Sutherland, accountant, aged 44 applied for a passport in 1920
Georgina Mary Sutherland attnded school at Hilltop School, Newmrket Auckland 1910s-20s, married Arthur Henry Frost 1930, 3 children 1=George - Divorce 1933
Georgina and her mother, Mrs Sutherland, are mentioned in Dorothy Ferguson's Teaching in Tonga 1927-1930.
Walter Stringer died young

I've also got a couple of references to shipping arrivals - Mr Sutherland, Scholar, aged 17 arrived Auckland from Nukualofa on Navua 24 feb 1920 and G Sutherland, female aged 12, scholar, arrived Auckland from Nukualofa on Talune 02 April 1918.

I seem to have collected all sorts of information on sundry other family members but Morrison remains a slippery customer.

Other possibilities

It occurred to me that W M Sutherland's name might not be William Morrison at all. I asked my mum how we actually knew his name was William Morrison, and she said "Well, we just know". I can't really argue with that.

I've emailed a guy at the University of Australia in Canberra. I know they hold a Pacific Manuscripts collection and that that contains church and Justice Department Records from Tonga for the time WM was there. I haven't heard back from him yet - (I wish people would at least confirm that they've got your email!!!).

I've also written to the Department of Justice in Tonga - snail mail - So I'm not expecting a reply in too much of a hurry.

Apparently the University of Auckland holds manuscripts from Tonga - all to do with the colonial government keeping tabs on immigration. At the time there were a large number of ship jumpers and other itinerants who made a living from beachcombing and trading around the islands. This sounds promising because Dad said that WM and his brother Robert were traders. Actually this does fit if I think about the birthplaces of WM's children. They were born in a number of quite disparate locations around Tonga - The older two were born in Namuka, William Morrison Jnr was born in Lifuka (wherever that is - I should look at a map), Walter Stringer was born in Niuafo'ou and the youngest were born Nukulofa.

Anyway, I digress - The Librarian in charge of the Collection at AUT is away until 19 February so I'll have to wait til then to go up and spend some time there. I'm looking forward to getting back in amongst some old documents again.

In the meantime, I can't keep away from this. I've spent God knows how long searching Scotlands People for possible clues in the families of the various Sutherlands/Morrisons/Middlemas's. There are, not surprisingly, an awful lot of Sutherlands in Scotland. Lybster, where Robert Sutherland (1827) was born, has the highest concentration of Sutherlands and Sinclairs in the British Isles. There are records of Sutherlands marrying Sutherlands and Sinclairs marrying Sinclairs. But this doesn't necessarily mean they're marrying their cousins. I think the origin of Sutherland is clan/district-based - so anyone from the Shire of Sutherland would have taken that name - in the same way that a number of English were named for their occupation ("Smith", as in blacksmith, for instance).

The closest to William Morrison Sutherland I found was Walter Morrison Sutherland (1871) - a sailor from Aberdeen - whose son was Walter - Yay!!! I thought this might be it! - a few things kind of worked. Mother's name Mary ne Pirie (maiden name doesn't fit but Aunty Georgie's middle name is Mary - and perhaps Walter Snr's mother's maiden name was Middlemas - actually it was Morrison) And anyway Walter Jnr grew up, became a butcher and settled with Mary McLeod in Aberdeen. He's still there in 1901 when my man was well and truly ensconced in Tonga.

Oh well ... back to the search engines tomorrow

Christina Middlemas and Robert Sutherland

After searching for just about every combination of every name I have, I've come across a Christina Middlemas. This is quite exciting because not only does the name correspond with Grandpa's sister but she is married to Robert Sutherland.

They were married on 13 December 1854 at St Cuthberts, South Leith, Midlothian [source: statutory marriages 692/02 0185]

Christina and Robert had 9 children:
James 1857
Thomas 1859
Ann 1862
Christina 1865
Catherine 1867
William 20/5/1870 leith
Georgina 1873
Robert 1873
Eliza 1879

Robert was born in Lybster, Caithness to James (9 March 1801) and Catherine (1801). James was a Cooper, making barrels, probably for the herring industry.

James and Catherine were married on 5 February 1823 in Latheron.

Robert was one of 8 children: [source 1841 census]
Betty (1830) David (1826) Davidson (1832) James (1839) Janet (1834) Margaret (1826), Robert (1827) and William (1836). There were other children - Catherine (1831), Elizabeth(1829), Elizabeth (1837) and John (1835) but I think they may have died.

As a young man (21 years old), Robert worked as a sailmaker. In the 1851 Census, he is lodging at 70 Tolbooth Wynd, Leith with Mr and Mrs Swan.

Christina was the daughter of Thomas Middlemas (1811), a Joiner/Cabinetmaker, who is described on Christina's marriage record as a furniture dealer; and Ann (1816) nee Simpson, the daughter of George Simpson, a Blacksmith.

Christina was the eldest of 4 children: Christina (1834), Alexander (1836), George (11/11/1838), and Euphemia (1840). In 1841 they lived at 35 North Richmond Street Edinburgh.

Robert was living in Dundee when he married Christina. They married in South Leith, but James was born in Dundee. They moved back to Leith, where Thomas was born in 1859.

In 1861 Robert and Christina are in the Census as living in Crown Street, Leith, with James and Thomas.

By 1871, they had moved to 5 Eastfield(?) or Smithfield(?) Cottage, Eastfield - (I can't find this on any maps). Robert has put his occupation as agent for roperie company - I assume this is the Edinburgh Roperie and Sailmakers. James is now 14 and an apprentice clerk. The other children are at school or infants. They have one servant - an Elizabeth Young aged 19.

- I feel quite heartened that they are doing okay for themselves. I think I would have been quite disappointed if they were unskilled labourers living in a tenement -

1881 - ten years later, they're at No 1 Smiths Place. Thomas and James have left home and Ann is working as a teacher. Robert's occupation is listed as a Commission Agent (I'm thinking still working for the roperie. Elizabeth McKenzie (15) is their servant.

The 1891 Census has nothing on them - So I guess they've emigrated. It's back to the search engines to try and find them on shipping lists.

Of course, all this is moot until I can find a link between this family and William Morrison Sutherland of Tonga. There are some similarities - mainly the name thing - but I can't find any mention in any of the lines of the name Morrison. Given that W M went by Morrison, I would have thought that there'd at least be someone with Morrison somewhere in their name.

Internet Resources

I Googled the name William Morrison Sutherland and had 3 hits:

• the first is my query on http://www.cousinconnect.com/ which is a site for posting genealogy enquries. I posted my message ages ago and haven't had a response. I don't know if anyone else has had any luck with theirs.
• the other is a reference to published work by William Morrison Sutherland which seem to be concerned with economic development in the South Pacific. It's definitely not my guy but although we're possibly related in some way, I don't think I'll bother him at this stage.
• The third is an Australian parliamentary hansard transcript referring to SES remuneration - mmmm... interesting (not)

I've subscribed to http://www.ancestry.co.uk/, which is a fantastic website. It costs but I think it's worth it. There are various options but I paid 79 pounds sterling which gives me a year of access to the British component - it costs nearly 200 pounds sterling to access worldwide records. It has monthly and pay-per-view options as well. I've actually used it a lot for researching other lines of my family, as well as my partner's family.

Its best feature is the UK census collection which includes censuses for England and Wales from 1841 to 1901 and Scotland for 1841 to 1861, as well as Irish Parish and Probate records, English BMD indexes, British telephone books and the Pallot Marriage Index which lists marriages in English from 1780-1837.

http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ is a site which is essential for searching for Scottish rellies. It has census information from 1841-1901, Statutory Registers (Births1855-1906, deaths 1855-1956 and marriages 1855-1956); Old Parish Registers - births and baptisms, and Banns and Marriages from 1553 up to 1854; and Wills and Testaments from 1513 to 1901.

Searches on Scotlands People cost nothing but you need to buy credits to view search results and digital images of original documents. It 5 credits is the equivalent of 1GBP.

The other site I've been using a lot is http://www.familysearch.org/ . This site is administered by the Church of the Latterday Saints. Mormons have a duty to research their ancestry and the LDS respositories contain genealogical information on millions of families. There are Family History Centres all over the world which has the information on microfiche but I've only ever searched online so I don't know at this point what extra info I could get at a centre. I did go to our nearest centre but it looked decidedly deserted.

Searching for Sutherland

My grandfather was born in Tonga. His father was a Scotsman. My grandmother was half Yugoslav and my Mum is Australian. At last count my ancestry consisted of Scots-Tongan-Yugoslav-Maori-English-Irish. My nephew is half Japanese - so he must be even more confused about his lineage!

I've spent quite a lot of time finding information about lost relatives and working out where they came from. I know my Yugoslav great grandfather came to New Zealand to dig kauri gum in Northland. His wife was Mary Peters, whose mother, as far as I know, was a Maori woman and whose father was also Yugoslav.

I know why that side of my family came to New Zealand - it's not terribly exciting - Hundreds of Young men came from the Dalmatia Coast to New Zealand to seek their fortunes. Many of them married local women. I'm sure there are lots of stories to be told. But what I'm really interested in is why and how my great grandfather on the otherleft Scotland and ended up in Tonga.

I could understand if my great grandfather had left Scotland and emigrated to, say, New Zealand, or Australia, The United States or Canada. But my G-Grandfather settled in Tonga and I have this almost overwhelming need to find out why - not so much why he left Scotland but what his life was like before he left - what he found in Tonga - and what did he do there?

I also wanted to keep track of what I found. As I regaled a friend with my ideas about tracking my gg, she said it sounded like a great story and that I should write it down. So here goes. This is the first in what will be my research journal.

First Things First

"They" say you should start with what you know. When I came to think about it, I don't know much about my grandfather's family. I know that my Grandfather's name was Donald Gordon Sutherland and he was born in Nukalofa, Tonga on 14 February 1909, the youngest of six children. I found this in a bible that had been presented to W M Sutherland (presumably my great grandfather) by Mrs B C Burt in 1894.

In the back of the bible is entered the marriage of W M Sutherland and Naomi Mahe 16 November 1897. On another page is a list of Births:

Christina Middlemas - 5 Jan 1899 - Namuka
Robert - 3 February 1901 - Namuka
William Morrison - 9 June 1902 - Lifuka? (I couldn't quite read this)
Walter Stringer - 10 July 1904 - Nuiafu'ou
Georgina Mary - 18 March 1906
Donald Gordon - 14 February 1909 - Nukalofa

Other things I know are:

Donald came to New Zealand and married Stella Matutinovich. They had my Dad - William Gordon Sutherland and they divorced. Grandpa married someone called Nana Ell (I never met her) but I don't think they stayed together. He died in 1986 in Tolaga Bay on the East Cape of New Zealand.

I remember Auntie Georgie being a very elegant lady. my brother boarded with her when he began his chef training in Auckland. She used to boil his underwear.

My GG's name was probably William Morrison and I believe he went by the name of Morrison.

William Morrison's brother, whose name, I believe, was Robert, was in Tonga at the same time.

They both married Tongan women and they may have been Traders.

That's all I know. It's not much is it?