Picking it all Up Again - The Sutherlands in Sydney

It has been many many years since I last blogged about my ancestors.  But I have not stopped adding to my family tree and now I have a bit more time on my hands - children left home, retired, etc etc, I can devote a lot more time to the project.

I spent this afternoon idly Googling my 2xGGrandfather  Robert Sutherland, Merchant, NSW and came across the following entries in Trove, the digitised newspaper collection from the National Library of Australia

The most relevant entries included:

some notices re bankruptcy:

15 May 1894  in the NSW Government Gazette
[Notice under Section 11 of the Bankruptcy Act, 1887]
In the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Re Robert Sutherland, trading as Sutherland, Son, & Co. of No. 5, King Street, Sydney, also of Raglan Street, Mossman's Bay, near Sydney, general importer and manufacturers agent.
.....

30 August 1894 in The Australian Star
Bankruptcy Court:
In re Robert Sutherland, Manufacturers' Agent, Mosman's Bay.  Mr Giblin, the official assignee, expressed the opinion that this was the case of an honourable man seeking the protection of the court.  The certificate was ordered to issue.

[I don't think the bankruptcy affected Robert too adversely - The business seems to have still been operating in King Street in 1900 and the family home in Raglan Street was rather nice so the family were not destitute by any means]

and some family notices:
Died November 1884 at 80 Victoria Street of Typhoid - James aged 27 years
Married December 1884 at 80 Victoria Street, Annie Dillworth-Simpson to John Scott, son of John Scott of Bruntsfield Cescent, Edinburgh.
Married October 1885 Christina Middlemas Dickson, second daughter of Robert Sutherland to  Frank Weston Syer
 Sad to find the next entry
Died April 1886 Christina Middlemas Dickson Syer, aged 21 years
Died September 14 1887 at Lawson, Thomas Middlemas aged 29 Years - Son of Robert Sutherland

Just to put this in context....

Robert Sutherland was born in 1826 in Lybster, a village on the east coast of Caithness in Northern Scotland.   He was a sailmaker by trade, and went on to work as an agent for a roperie company and later a commission agent.  he spent some time in Dundee (possibly during his apprenticeship) then moved to Edinburgh where he married Christina Middlemas.  They had nine children:
James (1857-1884)
Thomas Middlemas (1859-1887)
Annie Dilworth Simpson(1862-)
Christina Middlemas Dickson (1865-1886)
Catherine (1867-)
William Morrison (1869-1915)*
Georgina Alexandrina McIntosh (1871-1927)
Robert (1877-)
Eliza (1879-)

The family left Scotland in 1883 on the ss Ben Cruachan and settled in Sydney, where Robert ran his general importing and manufacturers agent business, Sutherland, Son & Co.

* My Great Grandfather was William Morrison Sutherland.  He was a government clerk in Tonga, married to Naeomai Mahe, a high-born Tongan woman.




The above information is covered in more depth in previous posts.   I've managed to put together a fairly substantial family tree over the years and I'm currently pondering how to proceed...Bear with me... I'll think of something

Welcome Back

I don't know what's happened to the time - over a year has past and although I've been doing a little bit of research - I've really just been tinkering and nothing substantial has come of it.

My NY Resolutions for 2009 are to:

Work on the family history in depth
Write up my blogs faithfully.

watch this space......

Disappearing Acts

I've been thinking about James Sutherland (1857), whom I seem to lose in 1883 when the rest of the Sutherland family emigrated to Australia. I wonder whether he perhaps died on board ship. It's possible, as deaths did occur on the emigrant ships and I can't think of anything else that would have happened to him.

There is no record of him marrying
There is no death record
I can't find anything in any of the gazettes.

And now I can't find the record for Ben Cruachan, the ship they travelled on.

Hmm - a mystery

The Ned Kelly Connection

My father always used to make a joke about my mother's uncle having been shot through the letterbox by Ned Kelly at Glenrowan.

I think he was alluding to the uncle having been postmaster or something at Glenrowan during the Ned Kelly business.

I never thought too much about it until I came across a Robert GIBBONS on the list of hostages at Glenrowan. I found another couple of entries for Robert Gibbons - He married Margaret Liddle in Glenrowan in 1871 and their daughter, Ellen Gibbons was born on 31/1/1875 (died 9/2/1875) in Wangaratta - near Glenrowan. I still didn't think too much about it because Robert wasn't a name that came up on any of my family lists.

However... Because I have a couple of fairly tight deadlines, I've spent today doing family history research - ah! there's nothing like procrastination for wasting time!. Anyway, I came across an old post on the Rootsweb board. The message asked for information about Robert Gibbons who was born in Buckinghamshire in about 1846 and died in Australia in 1914. Apparently Robert's father was John Thomas Gibbons and his mother was Eliza Susan something. The message then went on to say that John Thomas Gibbons had been married twice - the other time to Emma Hatche(?) and that Robert and his Step sister Ellen were buried in the same plot.

My 3xg grandmother - Catherine Gibbons - was the daughter of John Thomas Gibbons and Emma Hatch. Their children were:
John 1832 - died in infancy
John Thomas 1835-1897
Emma 1836-
Mary Ann 1836-1895
Ellen 1839 -1909
Catherine 1846-1930
Julindar 1850-died in infancy

Robert Gibbons, is therefore something of a mystery. The 1841 census shows John Thomas(1811), grocer, and Emma (1811), along with John Thomas(1835), Mary (1836) and Ellen(1839) living at High Street, Eton. Catherine is born in 1846 in Oxfordshire, Julindar is born in 1850 in Australia. Robert Gibbons was supposedly born in Buckinghamshire in 1843, so the dates just don't stack up. My guess is that the Ellen referred to in the Rootsweb post is actually the infant daughter, but I'd have to confirm that.

hmmm... watch this space.

Cousins for Africa

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.

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

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.

William Morrison Sutherland

Mr Pelu has finally come through - well, actually, he didn't. I gave up waiting and phoned again. I talked to a very helpful lady who found the my g-grandfather's death certificate and promised to send it that day. It arrived a week later.

This is very exciting because it provides the link between him and the Edinburgh/Sydney Sutherlands and gives me something more to search on.

My Great-grandfather - William Morrison SUTHERLAND died aged 46 years of Heart Failure in Lifuka, Haapai, Tonga on 9 April 1915. He worked from the Tongan Government (a civil servant!) and he had been in Tonga 19 years when he died. He married Neomai Mahe in Namuka, Haapai, when he was 28 years old.

This means:
He arrived in Tonga in 1896 aged 27 (I'd always thought he's arrived as a young man). He married in 1897.
My family bible was given to him by Mrs Burt in 1894, so that must have been given in Sydney.

Where to from here?
I'm really interested now in what he did there. I had thought he was a merchant - particularly as his father was an importer and I had an idea that this was all a family importing/trading operation.

I guess it's back to the Western Pacific High Commission Archives to try and find something about Tongan Govt Civil Servants.

Thomas M Sutherland and Others in NSW

Although this information needs to be cross-referenced to my Sutherlands, these are records I found in the NSW registry - linked through the NZSOG website.

Thomas M SUTHERLAND(1858)
died 1887 Penrith
married Maria O'SHEA Paddington 1875 (ref: 1428/1875)
children:
Rose (1876)
Clara (1877)
Agnes (1881)
Maria (1884)
Robert George (1879)

Christina (1865)
married Frank SYER 1885
died 1886 St Leonards (ref 6104/1886)
no children *Christina died only a year after marriage. I think she may have died in childbirth

Annie Dilworth Simpson SUTHERLAND (1865)
married John SCOTT 1884 Sydney (ref 1865/1884)
died 1965 (ref 37282/1965) *parents entered as Thomas/Maria
children:
John (1885) Ashfield
Robert S (1893) Burwood

Lina Lindsay SUTHERLAND (1879) *On earlier records as Eliza
married David VALANTINE 1903
died 1952 Mosman (ref 3249/1952)

Georgina M SUTHERLAND(1873)
died 1927 Mosman (ref 19848/1927)
* I don't think she married

What happened to James and Thomas?

I know that Robert, Christina and the children - except for James and Thomas - went to Australia on the Ben Cruachan in 1883. James would have been about 26 and Thomas about 23. They weren't on the passenger list and I haven't been able to find them in the Scotland census for 1881. So what happened to them is a bit of a mystery.

There are a couple of James whose ages fit in the census - one is an Advocate's clerk (a law clerk) but he is listed as born in Orkney (my James was born in Dundee and while we can apply a little license, I think Orkney is just a little too far out of the way).

The other is a Plumber. A sensible trade but unlikely since my James trained as a clerk. Just on the off-chance I checked this James' marriage record - he's married to Susan - and the parents don't match.

Thomas doesn't appear in the marriage records at all.

One thought was that they both died. In the 19th century Scottish city this is a possibility and it would make my search a little easier. But while the mortality rate was high, it would have been unusual two young men who had reached adulthood to just die - particularly young men from a middle class family - the mortality rate tended to be higher among children and the poor. Besides, I've searched the Death register on www.Scotlandspeople.gov.uk and they don't show up at all.

Which just leaves emigration. They're not in the UK Census, so I guess that they didn't just head south. I haven't looked at LDS for the United States and Canada - the prospect of trawling through all those names seems rather daunting.

I spent this afternoon looking at http://mariners.records.nsw.gov.au in particular, Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters. There are a lot of Sutherlands but one that looked like a possibility was James Sutherland 35, of Scotland, who was a crewmember (storekeeper) on the Talune which sailed from Hobart to Sydney.

hmmm. I shall have to go away and think about what I can do with this information. Any suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

A Link for Old Leithians

I haven't been on for ages - a long story involving a paying gig, a trip to Wellington and problems with a toilet seat, all of which shall be revealed on my Waxing Lyrically blog.

In the meantime, I've been enjoying this site: www.leithhistory.co.uk

Working Women

I caught a little bit of a television programme about the Scots in New Zealand, then read the review of that programme in the morning newspaper. One comment I picked up on was that 19th century Scots women in New Zealand were more likely than any others to go into "professional" and other male-dominated fields.

A Sutherland woman (I'm not sure from which side of the family) was the first female lawyer in Tonga and Annie (1862) gave her occupation as a teacher.

With the exception of Dundee, where the jute industry was entirely staffed by married women (in fact, married Dundee women who were not employed or looking for work were considered lazy), married women tended not to work after marriage. However, T M Devine suggests in The Scottish Nation that there was a hidden labour economy not reflected in the census categories. This included homework, such as sewing and laundering, seasonal tasks on farms and casual employment as charwomen or baby-minders.

Women tended to be employed in four areas: domestic service, agriculture, clothing and textiles. 9 out of 10 women worked in these sectors in the middle decades of the 19th century. In 1871, more than a quarter of 'regular' scottish farm workers were women (not including the great army of seasonal workers who worked on the grain, potato and soft fruit harvest). In the later 19th century the move to the city meant women were moving off the land and into towns and cities. By 1900, more women than ever before were employed as clerks within the booming commercial sector and there were also many more female teachers, nurses and midwives than ever before.

Where women found work in formerly male preserves, their career choices were limited - in tailoring, women were confined to machine work in the ready-made trade while men monopolised the first-class shops catering for the most skilled work; in printing, female compositors were confined to typesetting, while men controlled other processes; females were positively encouraged into teaching, but could go no further than the post of infant mistress. Professions such as medicine proved nearly impossible for women to enter - by 1901, there were still only 60 women doctors in Scotland and in hospitals they were confined to low-status specialisations such as obstetrics and children's diseases. [source: T M Devine, The Scottish Nation 1700-2007 (Penguin 2006) pp 532-534]

I feel justifiably proud that my Scottish female forebears were so hardworking ~ particularly as I have made a career of assiduously avoiding any sort of job commitment. ~It certainly wouldn't do in Dundee.

The Wrong Track???

My friend put her editor's hat on and suggested that "Sutherland" in "Searching for Sutherland" should be plural. I must admit that I've never really liked the title so I've changed it completely. I hope it doesn't stuff up my blogspot address.

Anyway ... today I had a bit of a start. I was browsing through www.familysearch.org (as you do), just throwing in random names and seeing if anything new came up, and I tried entering Robert and Christina Sutherland as parents. The search threw back David Sutherland, born on 9 November 1873, Latheron, Caithness, to Robert Dunbar Sutherland and Christina Morrison Sutherland. Zut Alors!!! Have I been going down the wrong track all along??

I'll go along to the LDS Family History centre next week and see if there's any more information there. Although I did do a couple of searches found Robert D Sutherland and Christina M Sutherland in Latheron in the 1881 and 1891 censuses. There was young David, aged 7 and 17 respectively- (at 17 a "teacher of pupils" no less). There was a daughter listed - Helen and another - Isobel - but no William Morrison or Robert, which is somewhat heartening. I don't want to have to reconstruct the whole tree again.

I'll spend a little more time ruling this family out before continuing with the Sth Leith Sutherlands.

Still no word from Mr Lupi .

Where I'm up to now

I'm overwhelmed at how much information I've been able to cobble together over the past month or so. From my children, I've been able to create a family tree that goes back six generations - or seven if you include James Sutherland's parents.

Below is the descendency list of James Sutherland, based on the information I have gathered. There are still a lot of gaps. For example, I would like to look for information about each of James and Catherine's children. I know a couple of them died young and I'm not sure if I can get information about them - Statutory records started in 1855 which means after that date births, deaths and marriages were legally required to be registered. Before then, particularly in the case of deaths, there was a cost involved, so only those prepared to pay had the details registered.

Anyway, I'm pretty proud of the information I've gathered so far....

James Sutherland and his descendents
First Generation
James Sutherland was born about 1790 in Halkirk, Caithness. His parents were David Sutherland and Elizabeth Henry. He died on 27 Mar 1876 in 7 King Street, Leith, Scotland.
James married Catherine Sutherland daughter of Robert Sutherland and Margaret Henry on 24 Jan 1823 in Lybster Caithness Scotland. Catherine was born about 1796 in Scotland. She died on 23 Dec 1870 in Canongate, Edinburgh.
They had the following children:
Robert was born on 28 Nov 1827. He died on 3 Sep 1916.
Betty was born about 1830.
David was born about 1826.
Davidson was born about 1832.
James was born about 1839.
Janet was born about 1834.
Margaret was born about 1826.
William was born about 1836.
Catherine was born in 1831. She died young.
Elizabeth was born about 1829. She died young.
Elizabeth was born in 1837. She died young.
John was born about 1835. He died young.

Second Generation
Robert Sutherland was born1 on 28 Nov 1827 in Lybster Caithness Scotland. He died on 3 Sep 1916 in Raymond Road, Gore Hill St Leonards, Sydney. He was buried on 4 Sep 1916 in Presbytarian Cemetary Gore Hill.
Robert married Christina Middlemas daughter of Thomas Middlemas and Ann Dilworth Simpson on 13 Dec 1855 in South Leith, Midlothian, Scotland. Christina was born on 14 Mar 1834 in South Leith Midlothian Scotland. She was christened in St Cuthberts Church. She died on 31 Jul 1922 in Raymond Road, Gore Hill St Leonards, Sydney. She was buried on 1 Aug 1922 in Prebytarian Cemetary, Gore Hill, NSW.

Robert and Christina had the following children:
William Morrison was born on 20 May 1869. He died on 6 May 1915.
Thomas Middlemass was born on 9 Nov 1858 in Dundee Angus Scotland.
James was born on 12 Dec 1856 in Dundee Angus Scotland.
Catherine was born on 24 Apr 1866 in South Leith Midlothian Scotland.
Christina Dickson was born on 17 May 1864 in South Leith Midlothian Scotland.
Ann Dilworth Simpson was born on 5 Aug 1861 in South Leith Midlothian Scotland.
Robert was born on 26 May 1876 in South Leith Midlothian Scotland. He died on 10 Aug 1984.
Georgina Alexandrina McIntosh was born on 9 Nov 1871 in South Leith Midlothian Scotland.
Eliza was born in 1879 in Scotland.

Third Generation
William Morrison Sutherland (Morrison) was born on 20 May 1869 in South Leith, Midlothian, Scotland. He died on 6 May 1915 in Tonga.
William married Naomi Mahe on 16 Nov 1897 in Nukalofa. Naomi was born in Tonga.
They had the following children:
Christina Middlemas was born on 5 Jan 1899 in Namuka, Tonga. She died on 27 Jun 1976 in Middlemore Hospital Auckland NZ.
Robert was born on 3 Feb 1901 in Namuka, Tonga. He died on 19 Apr 1984.
William Morrison was born on 2 Jun 1902 in Lifuka, Tonga.
Walter Stringer was born on 10 Jul 1904 in Nimafuou, Tonga. He died young.
Georgina Mary was born on 18 Mar 1906 in Nukalofa, Tonga.
Donald Gordon was born on 14 Feb 1909. He died in 1986.

Fourth Generation
Donald Gordon was born on 14 Feb 1909 in Nukalofa, Tonga. He died in 1986 in Gisborne and was buried at Tolaga Bay, NZ.

Donald married Stella Karmelina Matutinovich . The marriage ended in divorce. Stella was born in Dargaville NZ. She died on 22 October 1989 in Auckland. She was buried in Waikumeke Cemetary.

They had the following children:
William Gordon was born on 26 Jun 1933.
Naomi Memory Matutinovich was born abt 1932 (stillborn)



There are a few gaps but mainly to do with dates. I'm ashamed to say I can never remember my nephews' ages. I'm sure my mum will help fill in some of these.

Putting it all Together

Although I have a million miles to go before I’ve completed this project, which seems to become more mammoth with every scrap of information I unearth, I can’t help thinking about what I’m going to do with it all.

One outcome would be to write up a family history, but I can’t help thinking that 1) some family stories are best left untold; and 2) “great-aunt-maude’s-next-door-neighbour’s-visitor-falling-down-the-well-after-running-off-with- the-ploughman”-type histories are not what interests me.

When I began this project, my principal interest lay in the choices that families and individuals make during their lives – what drives people to make the decisions that they do. For example, my great-grandfather was raised in Edinburgh and settled in Tonga – why? In trying to find out how he came to be there, I discovered that I first had to establish all sorts of links to previous generations and my focus has shifted from “why did they do this?” to a more basic “who were they?”

It is difficult to describe the thrill of finding another piece to the jigsaw. When I found my great-great-uncle’s passport application, and especially his photo, I was ecstatic. I could actually see this person and imagine him going about his business - what's more it provided a valuable link to a family that I had hitherto only been able to assume belonged to my family tree. When I found my ancestors in Lybster in the Scottish highlands – my family - over 200 years ago, I was quite astonished that there was this common thread going back that far – and, of course, even further.

So, although I could ask all sorts of questions about why my ancestors made the choices they did, I’ve decided to concentrate at this stage to piecing together the family tree and allowing the information I find to tell its own story.

The main thing is that this family tree is accessible to everyone. I started to enter the details on www.ancestry.co.uk which produces a very nice chart and allows you to fill in all sorts of details. However, It would seem that only members of the site – and it can cost up to $US200 to register – can view the information. So I’m giving some thought to how I might publish the tree so that others can see it – The LDS is looking like a viable option and I’ll discuss them in a later blog. In the meantime, I’ll sketch up a quick family tree from what I have now and publish that within my next couple of posts.

The Village of Lybster

I'm still waiting to hear back from Mr Lupi of the Solomon Islands with my great-grandfather's death certificate. However, finding his brother's passport application has convinced me that the Edinburgh Sutherlands - Christina and Robert et al - are indeed William's and Robert's family At least I'm going to assume I'm on the right track and I'll continue finding out about them and their background until I discover otherwise.

I've also learnt - thanks Nicola - how to upload images, so my blogs should take on an entire new dimension!

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, Robert (1827) was a sailmaker when he met Christina. He was born in the village of Lybster, Caithnesshire, to Catherine and James Sutherland, a Cooper, and baptised on November 28 1827.


According to the Gazetteer of Scotland vol 2 1847, Lybster is:

A village and a quoad sacra parish* on the west coast of Caithness-shire. The village stands at the head of Amherst bay, a little east of the great north mail road and 13 miles south west of the town of Wick. It was commenced, in 1802, by the late lieutenant-general Sinclair, and, already of considerable size, it promises to become a place of importance. Many of its houses are good, and new ones are annually added.

Most of its inhabitants are maintained soley by the herring fishery, and they have amongst them 100 boats. The village has a post office, a friendly society,* one or two schools, and two fairs.

Population about 400 - the quoad sacra parish lies, quoad civilia, in the parish of Latheron, and is in the presbytry of Caithness, and synod of Sutherland and Caithness. The church is situated in the village and was built in 1836-7 at the cost of stg832. Sittings 805, stipend stg100. The parish comprehends a landward district which, jointly with the village, has a population of upwards of 2,500. Its erection arose from the church extention scheme of the General Assembly, and ranks as the first result of that scheme north of Inverness. A preaching station in connection with the United Secession was commenced at the village in 1835, but has been abandoned. [source: The Top. Stat, & Hist. Gazateer of Scotland Vol 2. 1847]

*A quoad sacra parish is one created and functioning for ecclesiastical purposes only

* Friendly societies are mutual aid organisations designed to help people protect themselves against hardship. For more information about friendly societies see http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/fsrg/

Lybster is described today as an “attractive village” with a main street of dual carriageway proportions from which a steep narrow road winds down to a “striking harbour. The harbour originally had a wooden pier that was built in 1810 to allow fishing vessels to land. In the 1830s the harbour was developed by Temple Sinclair, son of the village's founder, Lieutenant General Patrick Sinclair. Like many Caithness communities, Lybster's growth was through the herring industry. It was at the centre of the herring boom and for a while home to Scotland’s third largest fishing fleet. However, when that trade collapsed in the late 1800’s, so did the village’s properity. Today the village’s economic opportunities are mainly service related and many residents commute to Wick. Today, Lybster has a population of just 530, not very much more than Lybster of 1847.

This information and photos are from http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/lybster/lybster/index.html and http://www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/28CC1537-34A2-4105-A1B8-208D381D1E4A/0/lybster.pdf

a thoroughly sucessful morning

I've just spent the morning at the Auckland University Special Collections. I haven't found William Morrison, but I did find his brother, Robert - who would be my great great uncle.

Robert applied for a passport in 1920 (5 years after Morrison died). He is aged 44 which matches exactly with the family I have been following in Scotland.

Robert lists his occupation as an accountant and has applied for a British passport to travel to Samoa on business. He was born on 26 May 1876 in Edinburgh.

The photograph shows a rather dapper gentleman wearing a white jacket and sporting a bow tie. I was particularly impressed with the waxed moustache. His physical description is entered as 5 feet 8 3/4 inches in height; forehead - normal; eyes- blue; nose- normal (although it looks quite long and straight in the photo); Hair - fair; complexion-fair; and a long face.

That's quite a contrast with William Morrison Sutherland Junior (born 9 June 1902), who is dark with brown eyes and black hair.

I'm quite taken with how short these men are, considering my father is 6ft 4 and my grandfather was also tall - I was expecting a clan of behemoths. I mentioned this to my mum, who said that Naomi Mahe (Mrs Sutherland) was no midget. Apparently she travelled to New Zealand when my father was young and he remembers her as a giantess of a woman.

I also trawled through the Weslyan Baptismal and marriage records - no marriage (although there's nothing sinister about that, it just means that the marriage wasn't recorded on the fiches I was looking on) but I did find baptisms for Robert (1901) and William Morrison (1902). I was interested that the names were listed in Tongan:

Lopeti and Uiliam Molisoni Satalani, with parent lists as Uiliam and Neomai. I'm not sure whether they identified as Tongan or this was just the form for registering the baptisms. The labels are in Tongan as well so while I'll can decipher a little - it's a language very similar to Te Reo Maori - there is a column which gives a name and I'm not sure what it is. the name corresponding to my two entries is S or J Mahe (Mahe is Naomi's maiden name).

It was so exciting coming across Robert's passport application - particularly with his photo. I can begin visualise my people now. I can't wait until I've heard back from The Solomon Islands with more information!

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