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| Notices on My Ancestor's Story.com |
| Recently updated A contributor has sent through details about Lewis Acker taken from the ship's muster of his first journey to the South Seas on a whaler from New Bedford. There are also new details about the timing of the Acker home burning down. |
| Henry Purdis A visitor to My Ancestor's Story.com would like to find out any information about Henry (Henri?) Purdis. Purdis was a ships captain of French origin but working for the British merchant navy. He fathered a child (Raniera Wharerau) to a Bay Of Islands/ Hokianga girl named Mereana (a descendant of Te Pahi) circa 1834. The enquirer has had no success finding any documentary record of him - can anyone help? If so, let us know. |
| New Stories Read about the life of Richard Cheers, sentenced to hang from the neck until dead but instead went on to become a successful land and business owner in the New Colony after being transported in the Second Fleet. Also, Richard's son Richard Cheers, a South Seas whaler who joined his first ship aged 17 as an apprentice. |
| Ships List Complete! At last the Shipping section of My Ancestor's Story is complete. Now you can search through our A to Z index of sealing, trading, and whaling ships that visited and worked in New Zealand waters between 1790 and 1840. |
| Captain James Downie - Coromandel, 1820 Capt James Downie of the Coromandel is my Gt Gt Gt Grandfather.I believe him to have had his wife with him aboard ship when he visited The Bay of Islands in May 1820, as in 1820 a daughter is born to James -Ann Jane/Jane Ann and sadly his wife dies in childbirth. It is said that the baby was then put in the care of possibly Rev. Samuel Marsden and James continues on his voyages. Jane Ann is then to be found in Paramatta in 1839 marrying Peter Fotheringham. I would dearly love to know more about the family. Jane's place of birth is simply listed 'at sea'. Where was James' wife laid to rest? I think her name was Charlotte. Anyone with any information, please email me: maggie.risby@btopenworld.com |
| Captain William Stevens I'm researching my wife's family. She is a descendant of Capt. William Stevens. I've seen Richard Stevens mentioned as William's uncle but I'm not sure how he fits into the family. Another genealogy on the Internet says William's father, George Stevens, and Richard were brothers, sons of Samuel Stevens (1776-1837) and Sarah Tuppen (1764-1837). I'd appreciate your comment. If you can help this visitor to My Ancestor's Story.com, please submit a comment. |
| Bill Dallas - Amazon Mentioned in the text about the Amazon is "Bill Dallas - ship's carpenter" he was my Grandfather's great grandfather and I have a photo of him - anyone wanting to share information would be most welcome to contact me: karen.Stevenson@xtra.co.nz |
| Captain G W Cole, 1830's. Dear Folks, l am researching the Sydney based Whaling Captain G W Cole, who was whaling in New Zealand waters in the 1830's. Avon, Denmark Hill and Magnet were 3 of his ships. l would be so very grateful to hear from anyone with any information on Capt. Cole, as l am preparing a full biography on this amazing man. My email address is warrick22@hotmail.com Thank you for your kind attention. |
| Leven 1841-1847 A visitor to My Ancestor's our website asked if anyone could help out with information about a cutter called Levian, or similar, that may have been lost in the Cook Strait area around 1837. Henry Harwood of Otakau was believed to be onboard at the time. However, shortly after our visitor revealed he had found the answer. "The Vessel was the "Leven", a 23 ton cutter built at Matta, River Thames (NZ) in 1841. The cutter was lost in early August 1847 with all aboard, 19 souls. "Leven" had left Port Levy, Banks Peninsula and is listed as lost at sea upon foundering. Info from source NZ Wrecks." |
| Recommended Website If you're interested in the very early days of New Zealand history, check out Finding New Zealand, a wonderful resource packed full of information and illustrations. |
| New Zealand Cultural History The latest edition to My Ancestor's Story.com is the first in a series of pages on cultural history. Takiroa is a delightful little spot on the edge of a South Island's highway 83. There visitors can see the remains of Maori rock art, drawn two centuries ago by the ancestors of today's Ngai Tahu people. Click here to see Takiroa. |
| Was your ancestor in the South Seas before 1840? I'd like to hear from anyone who has someone on their family tree that visited the South Seas, particularly New Zealand, pre-1840. I may have stumbled on them during my research. If not, I'll add them to my database and keep an eye out. If you happen to know a ship they were on, better yet. |
| We're proud to announce the latest Edition to the My Ancestor's Story.com family......Our very own little search engine. Now you can quickly search My Ancestor's Story.com to see if a name from your family tree appears, or as an easy way to find details on a ship or person from the Early New Zealand Shipping blogs. |
| History Blogs Click on 'History' on the menu bar. This will give you an idea of what you can expect to see added to the site in the future. Already you can read about some of the first ships that came to explore, chart, trade and hunt in New Zealand waters. The history blogs relate to pre-colonial New Zealand history, in particular to the time associated with John Lidiard's life in My Story. Much more will be added over the coming months so be sure to add My Ancestor's Story.com to your favourites so you can easily come back. |
| National Library of New Zealand opens new family search service. The National Library Te Puna Mataruanga o Aoteaora has a search service which gives family historians access to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints massive microfilm database of millions of records. These include birth, death, marriage, and census records from many countries and are an excellent resource for those searching for their ancestors. To find out more visit National Library of New Zealand. |
