Some advice please

[TraceyNZ]

Hello everyone, I found this forum today. I live in New Zealand and I'm trying to work on my genealogy via the internet.

Is anyone able to tell me if there is any kind of document that list emigrants? I know the name of the ship one of my families came over here to New Zealand on, I have the passenger list and dates as well, but does such a thing exist where these families details were taken before they sailed? I am trying to trace the family of my 5x great parents Edward & Jane Tucker..so far with little luck, at least nothing rock solid. In the passenger list just the names of the parents and their eldest son were listed, but I suspect some elder children stayed behind in England.
Thanks to the online Cornwall Parish Clerk (sorry if I have the name wrong) I think I may have found them, the dates are perfect and if they lived in Calstock then its not as great distance for them to have sailed from Plymouth.

I would appreciate any help. I have Edward and Jane's death certificates but there is little information on Edward's one and Jane is listed as having come from Cornwall.

they left in 1840, a year before the first useful census was done.

Thank you!

[ChristineR]

http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Resources/NewZealand/History/FamilyHistory/

I did a google search and this is one web site that came up - looks to be full of information and links for researching from New Zealand - including passenger lists. Lists were done before they left and then lists were prepared before they disembarked, listing births and deaths etc on the voyage. Not all lists survive.

Distance was no object - most ships lefts from a few ports. If they were part of an emigration scheme their transport to the port may have been assisted as well.

Christine

[ChristineR]

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kiwiadams/27061.htm

I did a google search on his name and this family tree site came up - suggests the name of the ship Edward arrived on in 1840.

Christine

[TraceyNZ]

I have all the NZ information, the passenger list and even a copy of the surgeons diary :o)
What I was hoping for is something English that might help me establish that my Jane's maiden name was definately Kittow so that I know I'm on the right track, and I also wanted to know the names of the children, I only know for certain the names of four of the children, and 'may' have the names of 3 others..but nothing is solid, hence to find something that places them in a certain place in England would be a huge help.

I had somebody do a look up for me a while ago on early farms in the Hawkes Bay (in NZ) and there was a bit about Edward Tucker (jnr) it says he had 8 brothers and 3 sister's, but only 5 sons and 2 daughter's were on the ship, possibly those extra children died as children, but Edward probably wouldnt have mentioned them if that was the case so maybe he had siblings older than him (17 years old when they came over) who stayed back in England.

I have visited the site you mentioned and he gave me some parts of the tree that I didnt have, and visa versa...the family tree since they came to NZ is huge and pretty much all done, but before that there is virtually nothing..

Thanks for going to all that trouble anyway, I appreciate it :0)

[ChristineR]

I really must read things properly :D

[Geoffers]

This will be difficult from New Zealand - but - the family may have emigrated with assistance provided under Poor Law Amendment Act. This allowed parishes to take out loans to pay for emigration. The records are held at The National Archives at Kew in document class MH12. The information recorded incldues the names, ages, gender, occupation of those wishing to emigrate, along withamount of parish relief received in the last year and often a brief comment on the family. Correspodence applying for the loan also survives and this sometimes includes the name of ship on which passage has been booked and when and where it sailed. Records are arranged by Poor Law Union and parish.

So, if you find a record with the same names as those whom you know emigrated along with ages matching and hopefully find a note recording the ship/dates - you could connect this to your family in NZ. That in turn would connect you to a parish in England and so lead you the relevant parish registers which may tie in the names of people you have found in the census.

continued......

[Geoffers]

part 2....

TNA has an online catalogue
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/search.asp
enter the name of the poor law union in the word or phrase field and in the document or series code field enter MH12.
One of the hits you get will cover the period your family sailed.
You may be able to order copies of records from TNA which cover part of the union covering a particular parish and period (e.g. Calstock 1840) TNA do charge a fee for copying documents and have a facility to order online.

continued......

[Geoffers]

part 3.....

Passenger Lists were not required to be maintained in the first half of the 19th century. TNA has a load of research guides, one covers emigrants
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=292
another covers passenger lists
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/RdLeaflet.asp?sLeafletID=106

Surveys carried out as a result of the Tithe Commutation Act 1836 list heads of households and record where they lived within a parish - the associated maps can be very detailed so that you might be able to pinpoint where your family lived and compare it to a modern map.

If your family were admitted to a workhouse, there may be useful information in any surviving records - admission/discharge boosk, minute books, etc

Geoffers

[TraceyNZ]

Thank you Tuch typist extrawdinaire!

I must be a bit thick but I got pages with mostly blank results http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=58457&CATLN=4&Highlight=,POOR,LAW,UNIONS&FullDetails=True#scopecontent is one .
There are no naming names on that site from what I can see so I might leave that one for now...its a bit of a long shot. I know from the passenger list that they were steerage passengers so they were poor, the father and eldest son (both Edward's) are listed as agricutural labourers on the passenger list, the rest of the children are listed as 'boy' or 'girl' because they were under 14..a few decades later the son Edward had a small farm in the Hawkes Bay.

Anyway I am rambling on again.. thanks for your help, I have a relation who is living near London and who is also keen on genealogy, I will pass these on to her once I figure out how to get better search results, I'm sure she wont mind ordering bits and pieces and sharing them with me.

Thanks for taking the time to reply for me...as you say its going to be hard when I'm so far away and have to rely on the internet, thats why I dont want to snap up the Edward and Jane I found in the Cornwall online parish site too soon.

[Geoffers]

I must be a bit thick but I got pages with mostly blank results is one .There are no naming names on that site
The catalogue lists documents held by TNA, in this series of records names of individuals are not given online.

The idea is that you find the document covering the parish in which you are interested for the date in which you are interested. You then contact TNA and order a copy of the document, asking if they can just copy the entries for Calstock - or wherever it is you are interested.

continued.....

[Geoffers]

part 2.....

I don't know Cornwall at all well, but as an example let's suppose that the parish you want is in Plymouth Union. Search the catalogue by entering 'Plymouth' in the word or phrase field, restrict the date to when you know the family sailed - e.g. 1840, then in the last field enter MH12. You'll get two hits, the one you want is MH12/2420. This is the way to try and find the document reference so that you can try to order copies - or -


I have a relation who is living near London and who is also keen on genealogy,ask someone you know to go and look at it for you.

Geoffers

[TraceyNZ]

Hi again. I was putting the wrong thing in my search. There was nothing for Calstock but thats okay, it seems to be a tiny little place (looking at it in google earth) so its probably one small part of a a greater area, I just need to find out what the district is referred to.

anyway I will spend more time on it tonight..its a lovely day here and I dont want to spent it inside!