I was put onto another Genealogy website www.genesreunited.co.uk and it is fantastic. I had to pay $20 for a six month registration but it allowed me to upload the family tree I've been
working on and then it threw up matches with other people's trees.
I've had difficulty finding Sutherlands so I've cast my net to include the entire extended whanau - including Allan's family.
The upshot is that I've found cousins! Cousin Beryl from Australia replied. Her and my mother are second cousins - they share a great-grandmother - Catherine Gibbons was born in Oxfordshire, England and married Charles Edward Edwards, a gold miner, in Australia in 1868. He had found a huge gold nugget and married her that year.
Cousin Nick from England replied - we share a great-great-great-grandfather.
Allan's Cousin Christopher also replied - his father is Allan's great grandfather's brother
They're fairly distant as far as relations go, but it does mean that I have other sources of information about all these lines.
Needless to say, it might be a little early to start planning family reunions.
Tuesday 31 July 2007
Thursday 26 July 2007
Where to now?
I seem to have hit a brick wall with regards to William Morrison SUTHERLAND and I don't know where to go now without physically travelling to Sydney and tracking down Robert and Christina's grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Outside the WPHC files, without going to Tonga (hmm, there's a thought...) information about Tongan govt servants seems to be sketchy.
My father tells me that Neomai MAHE was a lady in waiting to Queen Salote and on the Queen's visit to New Zealand, Neomai accompanied her. That's one thing I can look up.
I've done all the Sutherland sisters and brothers - There doesn't seem to be a lot about William Morrison's brother Robert apart from the information on his passport application -
BUT James, the eldest brother, is still elusive. He didn't go to Australia with his family, yet he doesn't seem to have remained in Scotland. There is no record of his death in Scotland. Perhaps he went to Canada or the United States. I think that might be the next thing to search for.
The other thing to do - and this might just require a trip to sydney - is to find out about Robert SUTHERLAND's business.
...watch this space
Outside the WPHC files, without going to Tonga (hmm, there's a thought...) information about Tongan govt servants seems to be sketchy.
My father tells me that Neomai MAHE was a lady in waiting to Queen Salote and on the Queen's visit to New Zealand, Neomai accompanied her. That's one thing I can look up.
I've done all the Sutherland sisters and brothers - There doesn't seem to be a lot about William Morrison's brother Robert apart from the information on his passport application -
BUT James, the eldest brother, is still elusive. He didn't go to Australia with his family, yet he doesn't seem to have remained in Scotland. There is no record of his death in Scotland. Perhaps he went to Canada or the United States. I think that might be the next thing to search for.
The other thing to do - and this might just require a trip to sydney - is to find out about Robert SUTHERLAND's business.
...watch this space
Tuesday 17 July 2007
Probate
I've taken a bit of time to get back to the blog. I've spent some of that time going through the Archives of the Western Pacific High Commission at Auckland University Library.
The collection contains 600 linear metres of documents covering the period 1877-1978.
The WPHC was originally established to control the activities of the European traders and settlers, in particular the more unruly and illegal activities relating to labour, but over time its grew to include general administrative functions in the New Hebrides, Gilbert Is and Solomon Is covering health, taxation, communications, land policy and public works.
Solomon Is records from the WPHC were sent to Honiara, and Gilbert and Ellice Is material to Kiribati and Tuvalu, the remainder - the records of the Western Pacific High Commission, the British Commissioner and Consul to Tonga, and the New Hebrides British Service- were sent to Auckland University.
I knew William Morrison SUTHERLAND was a Tongan government servant, so I was particularly interested in Registers of Service and Personal files, as well as appointments of officials. I looked through quite a few other files and was about to give up before I found Case files Probate Jurisdiction. William Morrison SUTHERLAND's file was the first I came across.
Probate Jurisdictions are interesting documents in that they can tell a lot about the personal affairs of the deceased .
William must have died while he was away from home, because the Probate lists his home as Nukulofa, but he died at Haabai. Financially he was comfortably off. His estate passed to Neomai and contained:
Leasehold land and buildings situated at Nukulofa and Leased from His Majesty the King of Tonga under Lease registered No. 284. value 270 pounds
American Phaeton, Horse and Harness 25 pounds
Piano 20 pounds
Double bedstead and fittings 8 pounds
2 single beds and fittings 8 pounds
Iron cash safe 5 pounds
10 assorted tables 3 pounds 15 sh
2 chests of drawers 3 pounds
3 planters lounge chairs 3 pounds
3 stretcher beds 1.10
2 clocks 1.15
6 austrian bentwood chairs 1.10
1 rocker 1.5
kitchen utensils 15 pounds
Cash 9.7
Salary due from Tongan Govt 6.0
a total value of 382.2.0
I wonder what he was doing in Haabai. He seems to have been with Frank Wall, a trader, who is also a joint executor of his will - and is listed as witness to his burial.
When I started this, I had this romantic notion that my great grandfather had perhaps jumped ship and was making his was as an island trader, travelling around, buying and selling goods. The truth is, I'm afraid, a little more prosaic. But it's quite nice, really, to think of this scottish gentleman living quite comfortably in the pacific with his Tongan wife and six children.
It's also a little sad to think that he died so suddenly at such a young age - 46 - And away from home.
The collection contains 600 linear metres of documents covering the period 1877-1978.
The WPHC was originally established to control the activities of the European traders and settlers, in particular the more unruly and illegal activities relating to labour, but over time its grew to include general administrative functions in the New Hebrides, Gilbert Is and Solomon Is covering health, taxation, communications, land policy and public works.
Solomon Is records from the WPHC were sent to Honiara, and Gilbert and Ellice Is material to Kiribati and Tuvalu, the remainder - the records of the Western Pacific High Commission, the British Commissioner and Consul to Tonga, and the New Hebrides British Service- were sent to Auckland University.
I knew William Morrison SUTHERLAND was a Tongan government servant, so I was particularly interested in Registers of Service and Personal files, as well as appointments of officials. I looked through quite a few other files and was about to give up before I found Case files Probate Jurisdiction. William Morrison SUTHERLAND's file was the first I came across.
Probate Jurisdictions are interesting documents in that they can tell a lot about the personal affairs of the deceased .
William must have died while he was away from home, because the Probate lists his home as Nukulofa, but he died at Haabai. Financially he was comfortably off. His estate passed to Neomai and contained:
Leasehold land and buildings situated at Nukulofa and Leased from His Majesty the King of Tonga under Lease registered No. 284. value 270 pounds
American Phaeton, Horse and Harness 25 pounds
Piano 20 pounds
Double bedstead and fittings 8 pounds
2 single beds and fittings 8 pounds
Iron cash safe 5 pounds
10 assorted tables 3 pounds 15 sh
2 chests of drawers 3 pounds
3 planters lounge chairs 3 pounds
3 stretcher beds 1.10
2 clocks 1.15
6 austrian bentwood chairs 1.10
1 rocker 1.5
kitchen utensils 15 pounds
Cash 9.7
Salary due from Tongan Govt 6.0
a total value of 382.2.0
I wonder what he was doing in Haabai. He seems to have been with Frank Wall, a trader, who is also a joint executor of his will - and is listed as witness to his burial.
When I started this, I had this romantic notion that my great grandfather had perhaps jumped ship and was making his was as an island trader, travelling around, buying and selling goods. The truth is, I'm afraid, a little more prosaic. But it's quite nice, really, to think of this scottish gentleman living quite comfortably in the pacific with his Tongan wife and six children.
It's also a little sad to think that he died so suddenly at such a young age - 46 - And away from home.
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