JAMES FINDLATER - Palmyra - 1858
James Findlater was born on 8th September 1824 in Mortlach, Banffshire, Scotland, the illegitimate son of James FINDLATERand Isabel BARCLAY. He was well educated and in the 1851 census for Mortlach he is living with his father and is noted as being the "Inspector of the Poor" for the parish. In 1853 he is noted as being a JP along with his father. Somewhere around this time he decided to emigrate as he obtained his passport in July 1854.
James sailed from London on 28th October 1857 aboard the Palmyra and landed in Port Chalmers on 14th February 1858. However he soon moved north and finally settled in Wanganui where he made a career for himself running a small coastal trading company called the Wanganui Steam Navigation Company (Limited). His name is often recorded as a passenger on the SS Wanganui's manifests of the time. James ended up as a wealthy man owning both property and land in the Wanganui area.
However James never married, nor made a will. and after his death on 8th December 1875 he was eventually declared intestate by the Supreme Court and all his goods and property were claimed by the Crown.
A copy of his obituary from the Wanganui Chronicle dated 9th December 1875 can be viewd here
The notice of his death, which is also in the Wanganui Chronicle dated 9th December 1875, gives an incorrect age of 44 years. He was in fact 51 years old when he died.
Note that the family tree for this James FINDLATER has not yet been completed nor uploaded into the webtrees software.
