A nation of emigrants, genealogy research in New Zealand will inevitably lead to the need to consult passenger lists.
Passenger arrival lists are hugely significant to family researchers. We cannot fathom the enormity of a move to our country, a foreign land at the bottom of the world, which our ancestors would have known little about. Lists were not kept for every ship and some have been lost, but those that survive are becoming increasingly available online and new indexes afford us much better access to them. Earlier shipping records will vary in content, but all have a story to tell when you put them in the context of history, your family, and the journey itself.
Early passenger lists typically include the name of the ship, the names of passengers, ages, ports of arrival and departure, date, country of origin, and occupation. The problem is that there is no one place to find them. A number of repositories must be searched and more lists are being digitised all the time.
My husband’s great-grandfather Horace Arthur “Dick” Sanders’ arrival in New Zealand had long eluded me.
Dick was born in 1882 in Sheffield, Yorkshire to Tom Sanders and Julia (Pybus) Sanders. He was their sixth child (they would eventually have eight). Dick’s father Tom was a Conical Spring Maker and likely worked for one of the many steel firms making railway springs. Sheffield was highly industrialised and famous for cutlery and blade production from the 14th century, well before it became known as ‘Steel City’.
The industrial revolution depended entirely on coal, and steel-making industries created a toxic atmosphere. It was said that a hundred tons of soot fell on the town each year, and with it came a sulphurous smog. It was often referred to as “Smoky Sheffield”.
Dick’s father Tom died 21 December and was buried Christmas Eve 1893. He was just 41 years of age.
Julia was suddenly a widow. Luckily, her three eldest children were working age (apart from Gertrude, who had predeceased her father at the age of 9). That left Julia to look after four children: Bill, Dick, Ethel and Bertha, who was only five.
By checking census records, marriage records, electoral rolls and newspaper records, I knew the decade that Dick’s family had arrived in New Zealand.
In 1901, most of the family were living at home in Attercliffe, working in some aspect of the steel trade. Dick and his brother Bill were Wire Rope Makers, his brother James an Iron Turner Fitter. Tom Jr was a Commercial Clerk. Bertha was only eight and therefore still at school. Dick’s older sister Beatrice had married to George Lloyd, and moved out of home; younger sister Ethel was unmarried, but a domestic servant with another family.
By 1908, Dick was listed in the New Zealand Electoral Rolls, living at Disraeli Road, Epsom with his mother, brothers James and Bill and sisters Ethel and Bertha.
From other New Zealand electoral roll listings for sister Beatrice and his brother Tom Jr I knew that the whole family had emigrated. Beatrice was living in King St, Newmarket with George. A Marriage record for Tom Jr was located, he had married in 1906 in Sheffield and a son was born in 1909 in Auckland.
What had possessed Julia to pack up her family at the age of fifty-five and move to the other side of the world? Or did her family convince her to move? Perhaps she foresaw the same future for her children as her husband: an early death, toiling in steel factories, the city choking in smog. New Zealand must have seemed a world away. At the time, the economy was in its heyday. It was generally wealthy and egalitarian (although not particularly for Maori), with a total population of about one million.
So why couldn’t I find Dick – or anyone else in the family, for that matter – on the passenger lists? They had to have sailed between 1902-1907. I decided to investigate his extended family and keep an open mind. Perhaps their surname was spelt incorrectly. Perhaps they had left from a port I hadn’t considered. Every avenue drew a blank. I quickly found Sanders was a common enough name to make searching difficult.
Finally, after searching several databases, success. The family had arrived on the s.s. Dorset from Liverpool in November 1906. They had been entered under the surname Saunders – why is anyone’s guess, perhaps their Sheffield accents had caused the confusion, perhaps a simple spelling error. Dick had been entered as ‘Henry’ Saunders, not even Horace. The clincher was that, along with the Sanders family, Dick’s sister Beatrice, husband George and young daughter had travelled with them. The occupations matched and so did the ages. In addition, a few pages over, Tom Jr was listed separately with his wife Una.
What a huge journey that must have been for them. Like all of our immigrant ancestors they must have been filled with mixed feelings: apprehension, hope, anticipation and excitement. I was now able to go back in time and track the ship’s progress.
Dick became a carpenter in New Zealand. I imagine he relished the thought of being able to work outdoors after life in the steel factories of Sheffield. He brought his love of football to New Zealand and played for Mt Albert F.C. Eight years after his arrival in Auckland, he married a local girl, Clara Grace Ingham. They went on to have two children: Dorothy Grace Sanders (1914–2006) and Maurice Arthur Sanders (1916–1973).
Dick and Clara lived all their lives in Malvern Rd, Morningside. Dick died in 1941 and is buried at Waikumete Cemetery.
Key tips for searching for your relatives in passenger lists:
- Pinpoint the approximate date of your relative’s arrival in order to narrow your search years – find them in the census, electoral rolls, in births, deaths, marriages, any records which can provide you with a timeline of their life
- Try all the databases available to you (some have better search options than others)
- Try alternate spellings of names in case of transcription errors, eg. for Sanders – Saunders, Sanderson, Sands, Sarnders, Sauders
- Look for your relative in the context of their extended family – did they travel with a brother, sister, mother etc
- Don’t be too narrow in your thinking. Be open to your relative leaving from a different port than you expect, or coming via a different country
- Never give up searching! More lists are being made available online all the time.
some New Zealand shipping resources :
- FamilySearch Wiki: New Zealand Emigration & Immigration – a fabulous round-up of paid and free resources both in print and online
- Archives New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1973 (FamilySearch)
- Cyndi’s List: New Zealand » Ships: Convict Lists, Passenger Lists Etc
- The Compass: Denise & Peter’s Passenger Lists
Locally-created databases include:
- Auckland area passenger arrivals 1838-1889, 1909-1921 and passenger vessels 1838-1886 (Kura, Auckland Libraries)
- Arrivals to/from New Plymouth 1852-1880 (Puke Ariki)
- Emigration to Canterbury : Shipping Lists 1856-1874 (Christchurch City Council Libraries)
Other interesting pages:
Don’t forget to think outside of the box – many of our ancestors came to New Zealand via Australia, so check Australian shipping lists. In the early days, many arrived to the larger ports such as Sydney or Melbourne and then took a steamer to a New Zealand port.
shipping resources for arrivals via Australia:
- Australian shipping and passenger records – a comprehensive guide to all states by the National Library of Australia
- FamilySearch Wiki: Guide to Australian Emigration & Immigration Resources – a guide to free and paid resources both in print and online
- For more recent arrivals, try Passenger arrivals index, 1898-1972 from the National Archives of Australia
Sources:
When Sheffield’s black buildings got cleaned, Sheffielder, blogpost 6 Feb 2020 (https://sheffielder.net/2020/02/06/when-sheffields-buildings-were-cleaned : accessed 13 Nov 2023)
Auckland Council Libraries. “Family history research guide: Immigration to New Zealand,” (https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/Pages/immigration-to-new-zealand.aspx : accessed 13 Nov 2023)
Hearn, Terry. ‘English – 20th-century migration’, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/english/page-3 : accessed 13 November 2023)
Palmer, Henry J. “Cutlery and Cutlers at Sheffield” The English Illustrated Magazine. 1 (August 1881): 659-69. Hathi Trust version of a copy in the Pennsylvania State University Library. Web. 4 March 2021. [Complete text in the Victorian Web.]
Singleton, John. ‘An Economic History of New Zealand in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries,” EH.Net Encyclopedia, ed. Robert Whaples. (https://eh.net/encyclopedia/an-economic-history-of-new-zealand-in-the-nineteenth-and-twentieth-centuries : written 10 Feb 2008)
Subscription databases: Ancestry, FindmyPast
Hopefully this has caused you to think outside the box. Maybe even start that search again for that 'elusive' relative. Feel free to share your stories of success (or failure) finding your immigrant ancestors. -- Nicola
Genealogy Geekgirl 
Another great post Nick. I have been enjoying researching family but have cancelled our My Heritage sub as the cost is prohibitive – a shame as I was doing well. Will have to start finding less expensive resources to work on….. My husband’s family have long believed they have Welsh ancestry but try as I may I couldn’t find any – so far I can see only English ancestors. Similarly with my Mum, I was led to believe her heritage was Dutch South African (Boer), but all I can find is pure German…. I will keep trying.
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Hi! It’s so nice to get some feedback.
I agree, the costs related to genealogy research are pretty insane, although I can’t do without them… FamilySearch has a lot for free. Keep looking out for freebies – FindmyPast was free last weekend as is Ancestry occasionally. Your local library will have free access too.
Have you done a DNA test yet? Boer/Afrikaans is not specifically identified as an ethnicity, as they are generally a mix of Dutch, German and French Hugenots who settled at the Cape. ‘South Africa, European Settlers’ is the specific region at Ancestry.com you might expect Afrikaaners to fall into. Pure German doesn’t surprise me. Maybe you had Dutch ancestors who emigrated to Germany? Sounds like an interesting family history!
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