Welcome to the Findlaters in New Zealand website

The intention of this website is to document the first Findlater families to emigrate to New Zealand giving family trees for both their descendants and their ancestors wherever possible.

I have chosen an arbitary cut-off date of 1930 for the immigration of Findlaters into New Zealand so there are eighteen families listed below but twenty-three separate "arrivals". The only exception to this rule is Hannah Anderson Findlater who is the sister of three other people on the list. I have also included both Eliza Findlater Weir and Mina Findlater Smith in the list of families but these two families will, at least initially, be discussed within the "Given Names" section.

The Findlater Immigrants

  1. As far as I am aware the first FINDLATER family to arrive in New Zealand was Alexander FINDLATER and his wife Elizabeth TURNBULL along with their five surviving children, Alexander, Elizabeth Leslie, James Turnbull, Mary Hewan and Susan Forrester. Alexander and family arrived in Port Chalmers (Dunedin) in March 1850 aboard the Lady Nugent.
  2. The second Findlater to arrive was James FINDLATER who arrived on his own into Port Chalmers onboard the Palmyra in February 1858.
  3. Then came the second Alexander FINDLATER who arrived in Lyttelton onboard the Zealandia in May 1862.
  4. Hannah Eliza FINELETTER & partner, James STOOP, plus Hannah's daughter Sarah Ann FINELETTER arrived in the early to mid 1860s, again (probably) into Port Chalmers, leaving her husband, John James FINELETTER, behind in Australia.
  5. Christina FINDLATER with her husband Rev Joshua McINTOSH plus five children landed at Port Chalmers in December (?) 1867.
  6. Ann (Anne) FINDLATER arrived onboard the Celaeno in Feb 1872 bound for Hawkes Bay.
  7. Eliza Findlater WEIR arrived with her parents Alexander & Elizabeth WEIR plus her six siblings arrived in Port Chalmers onboard the James Nicol Fleming on 1st July 1873 having left Glasgow on 17th April 1873.
  8. Another Alexander FINDLATER arrived, probably into Port Chalmers, at an unkown date but definitely prior to 1877 when he marries Mary Ann HARRINGTON.
  9. Mina Findlater EVANS (nee SMITH) arrived with her husband Francis William EVANS plus two children in Auckland onboard the May Queen on 7th January 1878 having left London on 3rd October 1877 (I am indebted to Diane Fussell for this information).
  10. Then came the second James FINDLATER who landed in Port Chalmers on October 1879 aboard the Timaru.
  11. Elsie FINDLATER arrived around the mid-1880s, onboard an unknown vessel.
  12. James Chalmers FINDLATER (Junior) arrived around 1914 (James got married in Auckland in 1915).
  13. James Chalmers FINDLATER (Senior) arrived sometime in the 1920s (the date is still to be confirmed).
  14. Alec FINDLATER (whose full name was Kenneth Alexander Grant FINDLATER) arrived in Wellington on 17th January 1921 aboard the Pakeha having left Southampton on 9th December 1920.
  15. Thomas Yorston FINDLATER landed in Wellington on 11 January 1922 onboard the Arawa.
  16. Elizabeth Jane FINDLATER (nee BORWICK) landed in Auckland aboard the Otarama on 31st December 1922 having left Liverpool on 17th November 1922, following her husband, Thomas Yorston FINDLATER.
  17. Robert William FINDLATER and his wife Margaret Jane plus children James Robert & Margaret Jane arrived on 28th February 1924 into Port Chalmers onboard the Remuera.
  18. Anne Gordon FINDLATER along with her husband Alexander DOW and their three children docked in Wellington on 21st August 1925 aboard the Hororata having left Southampton on 16th July 1925.
  19. John FINDLATER along with his wife Helen arrived onboard the Tamaroa on 18th October 1926 into Port Chalmers.
  20. Christina FINDLATER (nee GRANT) & daughters Anna & Mary FINDLATER landed on 20th October 1927 into Wellington onboard the Ruapehu following her husband James Chalmers FINDLATER (Snr).
  21. Hannah Anderson Millar FINDLATER and her husband James Anderson ROSS plus two children came into Lyttelton onboard the Remuera in January 1937 having left London on 10th December 1936.
  22. Isabella Jane FORBES (nee FINDLATER) and her husband Robert arrived in Auckland on board the Remuera on 8th March 1925 having sailed from Southampton on 29th January 1925. Isabella was the daughter of James Chalmers FINDLATER (Snr) (#13 on the list) and Christina GRANT (#20).
  23. Doctor Christina Grant FINDLATER. Christina arrived probably sometime in 1925 but the exact date and ship is still to be determined. She was also a daughter of James Chalmers FINDLATER (Snr) (#13 on this list) and Christina GRANT (#20).

Note that Robert William, Ann Gordon, John and Hannah Anderson FINDLATER are all siblings - they are four of six children of William FINDLATER and Mary Gerrie KINGHORN from Echt in Aberdeenshire.

There is also now a second family grouping, which is the family of James Chalmers FINDLATER (Snr) and Christina GRANT. Numbers 12, 13, 14, 20, 22 and 23 on the list are all part of the same family, but who arrived at different times.

I will be creating individual pages for each of the above families so please keep visiting our site if the information that you want is not yet posted.

I am sure that there are other families whose arrival I may have missed, especially in the "gap" between the arrival of Elsie FINDLATER in the 1880s and James Chalmers FINDLATER (Jnr) in circa 1914, and if you are a descendant of one of those "missing" families then I would love to here from you and I can then add your ancestors to the list of early Findlater immigrants.

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