Yesterday, February 6, New Zealand marked Waitangi Day. Waitangi Day commemorates an agreement made in 1840 between representatives of the British Crown and (ultimately) more than 500 rangatira Māori, the Treaty of Waitangi (in Maori, Te Tiriti o Waitangi). It resulted in the declaration of British sovereignty over New Zealand by Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson in May…
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…
Most of us who are interested in genealogy will have noticed that our ancestors had unusually large families. There were many reasons for this: little knowledge about reproduction; societal attitudes to discussing birth control; large families were a source of pride and a sign of virility; children were seen as economically-useful assets; and high child…
In the 19th and parts of the 20th centuries, orphans, abandoned children, runaways and children whose parents were too poor to take care of them ended up in orphanages. Orphanages were usually funded by public charities and provided orphans with a home, education, food and clothing. If orphans were lucky, they were adopted by relatives or…
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