Locating New Zealand Immigrant and Vessel Arrival Information

Archway - Archives NZ | Mailing Lists | Searchable sites | Hints | Headstones

Calculate year of arrival:

A death certificate from the Dept. of Internal Affairs, for any member of the emigrant family who died after 1875 will show you 'how long in New Zealand', 'where born' and 'parents names'. info  Alternatives to a BDM certs.
    Caroline Freeman came out on the "Nourmahal"  to Otago in May 1858 and she died in August 1914 in Christchurch. On her record  you see  "Years in New Zealand": 50  rounded off.  She was actually in New Zealand 56 years.  

Look on the WWI Military service record available from Archway, ArchivesNZ.
How long have parents been resident in NZ: Father 46 years
How long have parents been resident in NZ: Mother life

Pinpoint first New Zealand event - date of first birth, marriage or death.
All death and burial entries should be treated with some degree of suspicion. Many people are ignorant about their antecedents. Family members under stress are not the best at remembering details. E.g. place of birth, correct spelling of given names.  Just as bad can be obituaries and the eulogy presented by the presiding official at a funeral, believe me I have squirmed more than once when the clergyman pronounced the surname wrong.  The information on a death certificate (data collected) is only good as that provided by the informant, the information is often incorrect.  Extrapolating back from several death certificates for a family who came to NZ on the same boat in the late 1880s gave a range of years of arrival and countries but it did give a clue N.B.!  Certificates can contain mis-information, outright lies to hide the truth and spelling errors.  A man who marries a much younger woman may take several years off his age; a divorced woman who reverts to her maiden name may leave no evidence of her previous spouse beyond the date when the marriage ended. Also, only basic details appear on pre-1880 marriage certificates and pre-1876 birth and death certificates. The latter do not even record a place of burial. Provision for the information may have existed, but was not necessarily included. Death certificate data is put together by the undertaker with medical details being supplied by the deceased's doctor. Thus, there should be scant delay between the occurrence of these events and their being recorded in the Registrar-General's records. birth records info  marriage record info

BDM NZ Historical records searchable online site and then search Papers Past for a death notice. From 11 April 2021 you will not be able to login the NZ BDM site using Internet Explorer as that browser will no longer be supported. Instead use an alternative browser, such as: Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge.
To obtain the DOB or DOD of an event - narrow the range down for records - post 1880 does give the correct date.
Sort by clicking on the headings at the top of the sorted page - will sort by any of the columns.
Anything post 1880 does give the correct date.
Order certificates online. Start a certificate collection.
WWII deaths were registered in 1945, not the year of the death occurred.
There are transcription errors especially spelling.
Check the old fiche system and District keys to work out locality if we want to differentiate by people of the same name
A locality can give us a clue where to look for a death notice or a burial record. Working out the date from the site entry can give us a clue when to look.
Make use of Archway in pinning down a possibility.
Births that occurred at least 100 years ago
Deaths that occurred at least 50 years ago or the deceased's date of birth was at least 80 years ago.
Marriages and eventually Civil Unions that occurred 80 years ago.
You can find siblings of a family you already know mother's maiden name under births:
No parent's names are included for births prior to 1870.
Abbreviations on public records.

As from 5 November 2018 New Zealand death registrations (and therefore certificates), in addition to deceased's living children, will record the age and sex of any predeceased children. (Names will not be recorded.)

 Records date back to

• Births 1848
• Deaths 1848 
• Marriages 1854

Marriages were not allocated to districts. Birth and death folio numbers were.  So you cannot trace a marriage place by the folio number.

  NZSG published District Keys to the New Zealand Registration Indexes, births and deaths organised chronologically from 1848-1900. An invaluable aid. Will identify the district were the event was registered or use the chart provided at either the beginning or end of the fiche (it varied year to year) or in one of the booklets produced which may accompany the set of fiche.  Early South Canterbury births  Birth and death fiche are 1848 to 1990. Within each year entries are organised alphabetically, the names of males and females intermingling, and there are volumes produced by the New Zealand Society of Genealogists, the District keys to the New Zealand registration districts. These show where births and deaths were registered up to and including 1955. Most births and deaths are registered in the city where the event took place or in the nearest sizeable town. Microfiche deaths from 1984 – 1990 have the deceased’s birth date at the right. The numbers: 03111936 indicate the person was born 3rd November 1936.

No need to quote the folio number when ordering copies of certificates as that index system is no longer being used to locate an entry.  The year the death is registered can be different from death year especially if the person died in December and is registered in January.  Be sure the registration was made in the year requested otherwise will might get a "no trace."  They will search for the event one year on either side of the year you quote, for the standard search fee. If you are not sure about the actual year when the birth, death or marriage took place you can ask us to search over a broader range of years, a fee for the first three years specified will be NZ$15, and each additional year specified will be NZ$1 Identity Services The indexes to BDMs contains many idiosyncracies.  Many a person know that their Christian names was read out at their baptism. However, at BDMs office, when asked for the name of the child, father may have given only the first Christian name.  It may not be till the offspring seeks to marry or claim a pension that he discovers that this is his official name.  Children on the birth fiche who share a surname and number are twins.  Should children with a common surname and forenames pop up within a few years of each other, it is likely that, in the latter case, parents are perpetuating the name of a deceased offspring. Should a newborn have a surname as its last Christian name, the mother of an ex-nuptial baby may be pointing to the identity of the father.  In the case of births and deaths, the folio indicates the office where the registration was made - helpful when you're looking for a common name and know where the family was at the time.

The Registrar-General's Office at Lower Hutt relocated April 2002, and is now situated on Floor 3, 47 Boulcott Street, Wellington (the same building as the Passport Office). The Central Registry in the Wellington and Auckland offices have microfiche readers that public can use to search the indexes of BDMs up to year 1990. No appointment is necessary.  Many public libraries, Family History Centres and other organisations also have copies of these indexes.  If possible check the index before sending off for a search. The revised fee structure for NZ BDM certificates was  implemented 1 September 2003.  In most cases these  electronic printouts will be a scanned image. Where the document cannot be scanned due to poor quality of the original a keyed in copy of the record will be supplied. 

The index fiche enables the researcher to see what is available, to pinpoint the years when the births, deaths and marriages of particular antecedents were registered. Marriage fiche are organised chronologically from 1854 to 1990. In marriages husband and wife share a common number. In pre-1947 marriages, men whose surnames start with 'A' are followed by women whose surnames start with 'A' and so on through the alphabet. From 1947 grooms are gathered together in one alphabetical list followed by brides in another alphabetical list. It is only from 1957 that an entry includes the family name of the partner. There are no District keys for marriages. It is the responsibility, not of the contracting parties but of the celebrant, to forward information about a marriage. Sometimes, in the birth and death fiche, there appear entries where details are written in by hand and where a vertical slash runs through the number. The digits after the slash relate to a particular year. In births these entries may relate to adoptions or to ex-nuptial children receiving new certificates when their parents marry. In deaths they may relate to a person who has gone missing in wartime and whose body has not been recovered. 

"Little Histories" - stories behind the BD&M registers. Describes the evolution of record keeping from beautiful old books, painstakingly handwritten, to computerised data systems. pdf (abt 4 MB)

A notable feature of the death fiche is the naming of war casualties in the 1914-1918 'War deaths'. The fiche entitled 'War deaths, 1939' covers people who lost their lives throughout the period 1939-1945. Alas, the fiche appears to omit those who died in the Boer War though service personnel who died in the Vietnam conflict are included in the normal death fiche with the information that they had died in Vietnam. Although, in peacetime a death certificate is not issued for a New Zealand citizen who dies overseas, families have, since 1995, been allowed to pay a fee and have recorded, with the Registrar-General, the fact that a loved one has perished beyond these shores.

• NZ Earliest Birth Registrations 1840-1854  (wayback) A* B*

• Varcoe's NZ Marriages Index  

• Register of New Zealand Presbyterian Marriages 1848 to 1930 

• The Scottish marriage index of strays

• See the ITMs  'Intention to Marry Notice' Volumes 1856 to 1956 for 'length of residence' in district for earlier entries. Held at Archives New Zealand's Wellington office, indexed by surname.  A card index exists for records 1856-1881 gives a page number which makes entries easier to find. These volumes also have the Registrar General folio number listed and if you are lucky you can find the entry by looking for the RG number (not the names). Need to search these large volumes yourself as the bound volumes cannot be photocopied. NZD $8. By 1936 there are probably 4-5 volumes for that year. There were 10 for the last year, 1956, and you need to know the approx. area to search the right volume. The Gisborne IMN is at Auckland ArchivesNZ. Alexander Turnbull Library has records for Auckland for 1855 and for Otago for the first quarter of 1855. NZSG have a pre1855 marriage index for NZ compiled from many various resources as there was not an official marriage registration system before 1855. There are no Intentions to Marry from 1 Apr 1956, because the current act does not mention them. They generally name a parent only when a minor needs consent, and will say Bachelor/Spinster, or Widow/Widower/Divorced - with some later entries including the date of death/divorce. ITM do not give birth dates or places and do not often state usual place of residence if it is outside the centre of registration. Usually the woman's occupation is not noted. Later entries do not record length of residence. In most cases the ITMs Register does not give information about the parents of the bride and groom (only if either of the couple was a minor) which is often what a researcher maybe after. The only way to get this information is to purchase the marriage certificate. 

• The Alexander Turnbull Library has the Registrar General's Office indexes for births and marriages 1840-1920 and deaths 1848-1920. Registrar General's Marriage Indexes 1840, 1851-1854

• Local district histories e.g. Old Kaiapoi 

• Anniversaries
  Evening Post, 29 July 1937, Page 18
  Two New-Zealand pioneers, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Henry Bellamore, of 91 Elizabeth Street, Wellington, celebrated their diamond wedding at their residence today. Arriving in New Zealand on the Michael Angelo in 1875, Mr. Bellamore settled in Nelson, Where on July 29, 1877, he married Miss Rose Anna-Paul, at her parents' residence, Harley Street. The Rev. George S. Harper officiated at the ceremony. After serving in, the engine-room department of the Anchor Shipping Company for four years, Mr. Bellamore came to Wellington with his wife on the Arawa in 1879. The Arawa was considered a very fast boat in those days, and on that particular trip the voyage from Fifeshife Rock, Nelson, to the Queen's Wharf, Wellington, occupied only seven hours. That time was almost a record for those days. At the present time the Arawa serves as a Coal hulk in Wellington- Harbour. From 1879 to 1890 Mr. Bellamore served in the stores branch- of the Post and Telegraph Department, and in 1830 joined the staff of the Wellington Harbour Board. For the latter body he worked for 43 years, retiring three years ago. While in the employ of the Harbour Board Mr. Bellamore was a prominent member of the Ambulance Brigade.  

• Obituaries, headstone inscriptions, death notices. 

• Which Port?  Christchurch City Library.  Emigration to Canterbury : Shipping Lists 1856-1874 

• Oral tradition - family tales, diaries, letters, envelope, bibles, was a child named after the vessel, etc.
  
  Ellesmere Guardian, 12 November 1931, Page 5
  A STURDY PIONEER THE LATE MR. JOHN ADAMS. ALMOST A CENTENARIAN,
  Mr John Adams, senr., who passed away a few days ago at the residence of his son, Mr William Adams, Dunsandel, at the age of 98 years, probably held two notable records that of being the oldest man in the Ellesmere district and of having lived in one locality for a longer period than any other man. He had lived in the Kiliinchy-Dunsandel district continuously for 65 years, and was a fine example of the sturdy pioneer settler. Born in Riffisband, County Down, Ireland, from which district Ellesmere received many of its best early settlers, he and his wife decided to strike out for themselves in a new land when Mr Adams was about 32 years of age. They had been married several years, and made the voyage to New Zealand, which occupied 106 days, in the famous ship Eastern Empire, landing at Lyttelton on January 5, 1865. After spending about a year in Christchurch they removed to Killinchy, where Mr Adams took up a section of land from the Crown. In those days there were few properly formed roads, but the land which Mr Adams first occupied now has a frontage to the Southbridge- Dunsandel road and is situated on the Dunsandel side of what is still known as McKee's farm. Some years later Mr Adams acquired the farm now held by the Bilbrough family, near Dunsandel. In course of time he disposed of that property and acquired another near the Heslerton run, where he remained until his death his son having taken over the farm a number of years ago. For a long period the late Mr Adams combined with his farming operations road contracting work for the old Ellesmere Road Board, during the time the late Mr W. G. Lunn was clerk and surveyor to that body. |He became an expert at this work 'and formed many of the roads in the J district under Mr Lunn's supervision, and became widely known as an industrious and conscientious contractor. Apart from serving on School Committees, Mr Adams did not manifest a liking for public life. He won the esteem of other settlers in the district because of his neighbourly qualities and readiness to lend any assistance in his power to those who needed help of any kind. Although he suffered severely from rheumatics in recent years, he remained in possession of all his faculties, notwithstanding his great age, and possessed an active and retentive memory. Mrs Adams passed away on July 6, 1906, and of a family of seven, four sons survive. They are Messrs John Adams (a resident of the Hawera district, Taranaki), Samuel Adams (Killinchy), William Adams (Dunsandel) and Alex. Adams (Lowcliffe) There are 29 grandchildren, 27 greatgrandchildren and one great-greatgrandchild. A large number of old friends attended the funeral, which took place on Monday afternoon, from the residence of Mr William Adams. The service in the Presbyterian portion of the Ellesmere Cemetery, Leeston, was conducted by the Rev. W. G. Hannah, minister of the Southbridge- Dunsandel parish. Those who acted as bearers were members of the Orange Lodge, the late Mr Adams having been a member of the institution prior to leaving Ireland. They were Messrs J. E. and R. Millar, D. H. Reid and D. Reid, jun. Floral tributes were received from the following: Mr and Mrs John Adams and family, Mr and Mrs Alex. Allen and family, Mr and Mrs William Adams and family, Mr Samuel Adams and family, Mr George Scott and Miss Scott, Mr and Mrs J. H. Skinner and family, Mr and Mrs E. Sollitt, Mr and Mrs H. Wright Johnson, Rev. land Mrs W T. G. Hannah, John and Elsie, Nell and Len Finnie, Greatgrandchildren, Jack, Des, Ken and Sam, Mr and Mrs J. Spence, Mr and Mrs J. K. Boon.
  
  Press, 12 August 1930, Page 2 GOLDEN WEDDING.
  An enjoyable evening was spent at the residence of Mr and Mrs W. C. Flower, Southey street, Sydenham, on Saturday evening, to celebrate their golden wedding. Mr and Mrs Flower, with their two daughters, Mrs E. Mc- Donagh, of Westport, and Mrs W. Mann, Norwood street, received their guests in the drawing-room, which was decorated with spring flowers. Mr P. J. Fowler, of Kaiapoi, brother of Mrs Flower, was also present. Mrs Flower wore a mauve chiffon velvet dress and was presented by Miss M. Roud with a bouquet of spring flowers. The evening was spent in dancing, games, and songs. The wedding cake, which had been made by Mrs R. McDonagh, was cut by the bride. Mr and Mrs Flower arrived in Lyttelton on October 25th, 1882, by the ship Taranaki, making their home in Christchurch. There are two daughters of the marriage, and eleven grand-children
  
  Ellesmere Guardian, 23 August 1935, Page 5 GOLDEN WEDDING MR AND MRS M. TWISS
  Among the most highly respected residents of the Ellesmere district are Mr and Mrs Michael Twiss, of Southbridge. Tuesday last was the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding. Born in County Kerry, Ireland, Mr Twiss came out to New Zealand in 1879 by the ship "Hereford." At first he settled at Leeston, where he was employed on the farm of Messrs Wills Bros., "Greenmeadow." Returning to Christchurch, he was engaged by Mr George Edwards, of Kaiapoi, where he remained for a year, afterwards taking service with the late Mr William Nixon, of Killinchy, with whom he remained for two years. Then he went to the late Mr Anthony Fay, of Doyleston, for two years. While there he met the lady who was later to become his partner in life. Mrs Twiss came, out from County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1881 and was married to Mr Twiss by the Rev. Father Walsh on August 20, 1885, at the Leeston Catholic Church, the building which now serves as a parish hall. At that time the parish priest was the Rev. Father (later Dean) Chervier. The wedding breakfast took place at the home of Mr John Slattery, Drain road, Doyleston, father of Mr M. Slattery, of Leeston. The members of the family, who were all present at Tuesday's celebration, are Messrs Robert and John Twiss (Southbridge), Michael (Georgetown, Oamaru), Frank (Civil Service, Invercargill) and Patrick (Land and Income Tax Department, Wellington).

Where did they settle?

• Check shipping indexes at the libraries and archives closest to the place where the family settled. Canterbury Museum's Manuscripts Department has indexed the Lyttelton Times passenger lists.  Researchers who know a Canterbury passenger's name but not their ship should make first enquiry at the Canterbury Museum, the actual newspapers are held on microfilm in the Aoatearoa New Zealand Centre's (ANZC) Family History Centre of the Christchurch City Libraries

• Look for first appearances in electoral rolls (1865+) and directories, found at libraries. First enrollment at school or membership of an organisation. Wise's Directories (1872+) You can trace a person's residential address by searching the Wise's New Zealand Post Office Directories

• Cyclopedia of New Zealand
  Published in six volumes 1897-1908 and contains biographical and photographs of local identities who paid a fee to be included, sometimes the ship of arrival is mentioned e.g. Lanark to Otago
      Vol. 1 Wellington Province
      Vol. 2 Auckland Province
      Vol. 3 Canterbury provincial district  
      Vol. 4 Otago and Southland Provinces 
      Vol. 5 Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast
      Vol. 6 Taranaki, Hawke's Bay and Wellington Province

• Check out the Hocken Library if researching down Otago way 

• Cambridge Museum Biographies

• Migration Guide

• Periodical Source Index: Passenger Lists
   

• Census : 1901 England Census Search Sept. 2002 sunbeam  Males and females born in NZ 
                  1881 England census born in NZ A  A-B
                 
  LDS 1881 British Census
  FreeCen
  UK Archives
  
  Gone to New Zealand. Like a lot of Cornish mining immigrants, William classed himself as an agricultural labourer to obtain an assisted passage to NZ in 1863.

Resources:

• LDS Family History Library has on microfilm  (original cards are all housed at the Archives New Zealand)
  - the index to Government assisted immigrants 1871-1888,
  - the index to Social Security shipping lists 1883-1910
  -the general biographical list 1840-1870,

Archives New Zealand (formerly the National Archives of NZ)10 Mulgrave Street, Thorndon, in Wellington  
The NZ Shipping Co. passenger lists are in the large green books in the area to the left,  near the tables.  They will not photocopy these lists. Other photocopied passenger lists are also found here. Check indexes in the filing cabinets to the right as you enter.  The Reference Section of the Archives New Zealand accepts reference requests by electronic mail.  McInnes Phillips

The system is changing. Obtain a researcher number. Spend a couple of days in Wellington if on a genealogy research visit. It takes a morning to lock your bag away, look at the facsimiles and indexes and learn the system at Archives NZ and order a file so plan to arrive at 0900. You have to order files like wills and probate records - they come up every hour. Maybe hop over the National Library, on the corner of Aitken and Molesworth Streets, Thorndon, Wellington and look at the old newspapers while waiting for something and come back. The Alexander Turnbull Library (2nd floor National Library, Wellington) has the New Zealand Shipping Company passenger list indexes. Passenger lists after 1870 are held at Archives New Zealand, Wellington as the central government took charge of immigration. Records vary from different regions and different time periods.

Hints on Visiting the National Archives in Wellington
- Get reference details from Archway for your items before you go to the appropriate Archives NZ.  Not everything is listed on Archway yet. Flat fees Now you need to be registered as a researcher  and given a unique number.

Archway, Archives New Zealand
Go to Archway
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Records
Keywords  WWI N/N
For WW1 records add:  AABK as the Agency, 1914  1919 for years and Held at Wgtn
Officers as well as other ranks had a Regimental Number in the NZEF.
For South Africa extent the date to 1899 and look for SA.
WWI defence service personnel files are online at the main ArchivesNZ in Wellington

- Before you go to Archives NZ make sure you know what you want to research, have the dates written down and stay focused.
- Pre-ordering by email - check with Archives NZ to see it there is a charge, not yet. "The turn around time for pre-orders is two working days from the receipt of the enquiry. You must be registered as a reader to use this service. Please supply your reader number and full archives references for up to five items if you wish to use this service. Please be aware that charges apply in many instances. More detail is available on our website."
- Go to the the Archives a day before and get registered and submit your first batch of requests. You can only order up five items at any one time. These items will then be waiting for you the next day - items are held out for a day or so before being reshelved.
- staff will help you learn how to use their terminals, you have to use them yourself , Archway for searching and Repoman for ordering.
- Make certain that you have all the references - i.e. where the courts were etc.
- Archives Wellington holds Probates (up to 1977-79, 1987 or 1990-91, depending on the Court) from the Wellington, Blenheim/Marlborough, Napier, Nelson, Palmerston North, New Plymouth/Taranaki/Hawera/Patea/Stratford and Wanganui Courts (Archives Auckland, Christchurch & Dunedin hold Probates from other Courts). Note that Public Trust probates/intestates were all at Wellington until c1950.
- Archives has various resources that do not have to be ordered through the batch system (e.g. many photos, many passenger lists & associated card indexes, Register of people naturalised before 1840, Register of Aliens (1917), annual lists of Public Servants, index of signatories to the Women's Suffrage petition, etc, etc). Maybe browse through them while waiting for your ordered items to appear.

It is important to fossick around and find out what information is held where before you write or visit. Try and narrow your query down to a three month period in which you would like the Archives to search, and as give the Archives many details as you can, including which port you think they entered. If the Archives finds the passenger they can provide name of ship, master of ship, what steerage they travelled in, tonnage of ship etc. The research room is not open on a Saturday.  Only the exhibitions. Email the right regional office, they do not hold duplicates. E.g. Wellington does not hold copies of material deposited in regional archives but there are a few exceptions. If the record is in Dunedin, email Dunedin. 
General enquiries     - [email protected] 
Wellington Office    - [email protected]
Auckland Office       - [email protected] 
Christchurch Office - [email protected] 
Dunedin Office         - [email protected] 

Archway is the national on-line finding aids system, tol allow researchers to search the holdings from the four offices in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Archway is meant to make it easier for professional and amateur historians to find archived records, stored in binders in offices in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.  Records back to 1840.  The online search facility will put documents in context by linking to the history of each government department and its relationship to other departments.  These development plans include:
On-line ordering
On-line access to digital images
Inclusion of supplementary indexes
Access to electronic records

ARCHIVES NEW ZEALAND Remote Reference Service designed to assist researchers intending to visit or unable to visit. In order to be as specific as possible with your enquiries, it is recommended that you undertake background research at local libraries and consult Archives New Zealand's publications and online reference guides before contacting us. Each office of Archives New Zealand has printed copies of the reference guides which can be obtained free of charge. A reading room service, which includes guidance from trained staff, is also available at all four offices of Archives New Zealand. This service is free, except for copying charges. Family historians should note that all New Zealand birth, death and marriage certificates are available from the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

NZEF personnel record:
Probate file:
Passenger lists
Intention to Marry notice: $8 per record
These charges include up to 40 pages of photocopying per enquiry.
General Research (per request)
All other enquiries: $25 per half hour
This charge includes up to 20 pages of photo-copying per half hour of research.

To Submit a Remote Reference Enquiry
If you would like to make a remote reference enquiry to our Wellington office, please go to our online request forms and select a relevant form. Please note that some fields are mandatory and need to be completed correctly to enable your request to be processed. Email can be used to contact all four Archives New Zealand offices to make remote reference enquiries, or to order archives in advance of a visit. Alternatively, you can post or fax your enquiry to us. Please note that we do not accept remote reference enquiries over the telephone. You will also need to select the office to which you want to direct your enquiry. The inclusion of your full postal address in all enquiries (including email) is essential, and your request will not be processed until we have this information.

• Gone to NZ. 

• There is also the Wellington City Libraries Central Library, with the New Zealand Collection on the second floor.   starting point

Mailing lists Beginning March 2nd, 2020 the Mailing Lists functionality on RootsWeb will be discontinued. After that, mailing list archives will remain available and searchable on RootsWeb    

https://groups.io/g/newzealand  A mailing list for family history (genealogy) and local history researchers searching NZ items.   

• ShipsList Archives
  The ShipsList mailing list to exchange information about passenger lists and ships. Subjects include emigration/immigration, port of entries, ports of departure, ship descriptions and history, passenger lists and any other related information. Busy list. Use subject lines wisely. Don't put surnames in the subject line. Put country of origin, port of entry and year of emigration. i.e.: "Lookup: UK>AUS>1840s"

• Cornwall-To-NZ archives  threaded.  Hosted by Patricia Taggart - a committee member of the Cornish Interest Group of the NZSG. The group are collecting a database of Cornish who came to NZ so are hoping members of this list will help by contributing.  NZ-CIG -- The Cornish Interest Group of New Zealand.
  
  
• NEW-ZEALAND-FENCIBLES
  For anyone with a genealogical interest in the Royal New Zealand Fencibles and their families who arrived between 1847 and 1852 aboard the vessels Ann, Berhampore, Berwick Castle, Clifton, Inchinnan, Minerva, Oriental Queen, Ramillies, Sir George Seymour and Sir Robert Sale. These 10 ships bought immigrants who settled in the Auckland suburbs of Otahuhu, Onehunga, Howick and Panmure. Maureen Donwen, the list administrator, is a and descendant of Bernard Holland, Royal New Zealand Fencible, who arrived in Auckland 1849 aboard Berhampore. Royal New Zealand Fencibles were enrolled in England in 1846 - 47. The Corps consisted of discharged British soldiers and sailors, who were of good character, under 48 years of age (it was later lowered to 41), at least 5ft 5 inches in height and with a minimum of 15 years service. Each were enrolled to serve seven years and were offered free passage for themselves and their families with pay ranging from 6 pence to 1shilling and 3 pence a day, in addition to their pensions, an acre of ground and a cottage. 

Searchable Sites

Google images - try searching by name of ship and passenger list e.g. Caroline Coventry passenger list

Arrivals Australian Ports National Library of Australia Ships and shipping

• NSW State Records Assisted Immigration
              Index to the Unassisted Arrivals NSW 1842-1855
             Search by vessel returns. An alphabetical list of all immigrants aboard.               
             Assisted immigrants arriving at Port Phillip, 1839-51
             Passengers 1844-1859 arriving Sydney and Newcastle
             Assisted immigrants arriving in Sydney, 1860-79
             Index to assisted immigrants arriving in Sydney, 1880-96
             NSW passenger lists online 1828 -1896
• Victoria PRO
  * Outward Passengers to Interstate, UK, NZ and Foreign Ports 1852-1876 e.g. vessels: Amherst, Australian, Gazelle, Gil Blas, Thomas Worthington, Clutha, Onkaparinga
  *Assisted British Immigrants Arriving Victoria 1839-1871
  
  Victorian immigration record for arrival in 1894 shows the Origin port code: B.
  B = British
  F = Foreign
  N = New Zealand
  
  *Unassisted Inward Passenger Lists to Victoria 1852-1923 from British & Foreign Ports 1852 - 1923 Can be searched by ship name. The National Library in Wellington has the Unassisted Inward Passengers to Victoria

• Passengers in History brings together two resources:
  A passengers data base developed by the South Australian Maritime Museum in Adelaide.
  A list of ships’ logs and diaries, titled Log of Logs. Other online databases.
• Australian shipping / immigrants databases
• Convictions [ship index] Arrivals by port index, Captains, passengers to search site go to google.com and do a search for "Peter Larson" and .... 
• Search South Australian Passenger Ship arrivals up to 1845 
• Immigrants to South Australia, (UK, assisted passage) 1847-1886
• Assisted Immigrant Ships to Tasmania
• Highlands and Islands Emigration Society database Western Scotland to AUS. (1852-1857)
  
  Voyages to Victoria: [no longer online] Immigration stories, passenger and shipping lists, a joint initiative of Museum Victoria, the Immigration Museum, the PRO Victoria and the State Library of Victoria.  From the 1830s to the 1970s, millions of new arrivals to Victoria had one thing in common, a sea voyage. Thousands of ships, from clippers and steamships, Suez Royal Mail steamers, to postwar ocean liners, carried emigrants from many nations to their new home. Stories, photos,  passenger lists and shipping information from sixteen of these ships: the Chusan, Marco Polo, Great Britain, Lightning, Royal Charter, Somersetshire, Orient, Kehrwieder, Tsinan, Beltana, Jervis Bay, Ormonde, Dunera, Orcades, Toscana and Castel Felice. Chosen as a representative sample of shipboard experience, the ships frame a glimpse into the history of immigration voyages to Victoria. This pilot project provides access to 66,843 passengers covering this period. Names of unassisted passengers who boarded the Chusan, Marco Polo, Great Britain, Lightning, Royal Charter, Somersetshire, Orient, Kehrwieder or Tsinan for Victoria, Australia, between 1852 and 1909. The passenger list of the Beltana in May 1923 has also been added to the index. The indexing of passenger lists is an ongoing project of the Public Record Office Victoria, which holds all inward passenger lists from British and foreign ports between 1852 and 1923. Passenger lists from 1924 to 1977 are held in the National Archives of Australia.

Other Emigration databases

• Welshmen came to NZ BBC
• To dissuade Chinese immigration a poll tax was introduced  Database online. Search by ship  Poll tax records for Chinese arrivals to Wellington from 1888 to 1930.
• Message board for NZ Chinese researchers
• Seven online emigration databases
• To the US
• Castle Garden, NY, NY first opened its doors on August 1, 1855 and would see 8 million immigrants pass through her doors in her 34 year reign! The passenger lists pertaining to these 8 million immigrants are currently found at the National Archives, and they are not indexed. 10 million immigrants from 1830 through 1892, the year Ellis Island opened.
• Port of New York arrivals 1892 to 1924 - passengers and crew members. Search
  Can search by nationality, port etc. A B  C  D E  F G  PQ WYZ  1906 1914 1921  p partial
  Ellis Island (1892- 1924)
• Canadian passenger & immigration database
• Danish Demographic Database 1869-1908 last residence, age, year of emigration, first destination of the emigrant. A search for New Zealand found 2780 persons Archives
• Norwegian Emigrant Ships
• Germany Hamburg Passenger Search (commercial) Hamburg departures 1890-1902
• South African passenger lists Natal

"I always thought they came via England, but via Hamburg by the German, Reichtag, was apparently a better choice considering the comparison between this ship and English ships in general made by the superintendent. You are right about, the tensions, (a very diplomatic understatement) between Danes/Denmark and Germany back then. This is, however, a century old pursuit among Germany's neighbours. It always takes a couple of generations to forget about last war's horrors, and then a new war with Germany began. Oh well, by now things are fortunately improving in that respect. Anyway, from the passenger list I can see that the Danes outnumbered the Germans on said journey to NZ. Under all circumstances, no matter what nationality they had, these emigrants did share a common uncertain future in an unknown country, which hopefully made the trip peaceful."

Ships

• Lloyd's Register of Ships online  ships
• Register of Ships  
• Official Number
• Phimsol Ship Data - link broken wayback digitised pages from Lloyd's Register of Ships from 1930 to 1945
• Miramar Ship Index
• Ships AJHR = Appendices to the Journal of the House of Representatives  online searchable
• CLIP - the Crew List Index Project. Search ship by official number
• Crew Lists findmypast.com   Records for 270,000 merchant ship's crew members, for the period 1861-1913, have been added to.
• Maritime links -  crew lists
• American Lloyd's Register of American and Foreign Shipping  1859 -1883  & Record of American and Foreign Shipping 1883-1900
• Index to vessels arriving in Sydney, 1837-1925
• Ships arrivals/departures NZ from 1642 - 1845  & Europeans (wayback) from 1642 - 1845
• goggle.com  e.g. "Northern Monarch"+ship
• Hocken Library, Dunedin [pdf]
• Clyde built
• Wallace Ship List
• Dictionary of Disasters at Sea During the Age of Steam, Including Sailing Ships and Ships of War Last in Action, 1824-1962,  pp 779 pages Publisher: Lloyd's Register of Shipping (1969) pdf  An alphabetical list of ships predominately those which were insured by Lloyd's at the time of their loss with the circumstances of the sinking, and the technical data of each ship: length, beam, tonnage, speed, propulsion etc. e.g. Osprey, Otaki, Ramb I, Rangitane, Rio Loge, Warata. A great resource no longer online.
• Mariners  website    
• Palmer List of Merchant Vessels  there is a scroll bar to the right
• US Ports of Arrival and their available Passenger Lists 1820-1957
• Maritime Heritage Project San Francisco goldrush
• Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet - Ships & Passenger lists
• Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia wayback
• NZ port vessels  coasters
• NZ Coastal Shipping
  
  New Zealand Registers of Ships range held at Archives NZ: 1873 - 2007
  The registers of ships contain information on the ownership of vessels and details on mortgages held over vessels. The registers of shipping in this series pre-date the passing of the Ships Registration Act 1992. The type of information recorded in the registers of ships in this series varied slightly over time, but generally includes the following:
  Registration number of ship
  Name of ship
  Type of ship
  Where and when built
  Description of ship particulars (e.g. dimensions, number of engines/boilers, number of masts, etc.)
  Tonnage particulars
  Full name of owners
  Number of shares held by owners
  Mortgage and sale details

  Ship & Surname Search

• Mariners and Ships in Australian Waters
• ShipSearch - passenger surname search worldwide 
• Emigrant Ships from the UK to NZ  1852 - 1866 and 1874 wayback
• WorldConnect
• Ships Database Extraction 
• Register of Aus. and NZ shipping 1874 A B C D E F G H I J K L  wayback

Lookups

Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness
Books We Own  
Patsy McMillan's NZ research help page
NZ Look Ups 

Britain's Census dates Year Night
1801 10/11 March
1811 27/28 May
1821 28/29 May
1831 30/31 May
1841 6/7 June
1851 30/31 March
1861 7/8 April           
1871 2/3 April
1881 3/4 April
1891 5/6 April
1901 31 March/1 April   (60,000 enumerators are engaged in taking the census in the UK 1891)
1911 2/3 April
1915 Parochial Census re Aliens Act
1921 19/20 June
1931 26/27 April (destroyed by fire)
1941 No census taken, due to World War II
1951 9 April
1961 24 April
1971 26 April
1981 6 April
1991 22 April
2001 29/30 April 
2011 27 March

The 1939 Register contains the names, addresses and occupations of everyone in England and Wales at the time with  41 million people captured in one day in September 1939, and was used as the basis for rationing, identity cards and, in post-war Britain, the NHS. (National Health Service) and the closest likeness to a census from that period. In 2015 Find-My Past volunteers have conserved, scanned, transcribed and digitised over 1.2 million pages from 7,000 volumes.

Hints

• Ages can be recorded in error, or sometimes by design. "Assisted" passengers' ages were sometimes lowered in order for them to qualify for assisted passage, or on the other end, children's' ages lowered to qualify them for reduced or free passage rates.  

• Pre 1866 passenger lists usually only contain assisted emigrants.  To locate a cabin passenger search the local newspaper at the point of arrival.

• Search index B/T 27 Outward-bound passenger lists in the online covering 1890 - 1960 on ancestorsonboard, a commercial site and BDs. UK National Archivist Records for births and deaths on voyages out to NZ from England and Wales from 1837 were held at St. Catherine's House until 1997, so whenever you see a reference to St. Catherine's, it's now the Family Records Centre where the information is held.  The National Library in Wellington and the Auckland Central Library as well as other NZ facilities hold indexes for BDM's from Australia and the UK.  Civil Registration  (BMD) began in England July 1837. Before that date consult the Parish Registers which contain records of christenings, marriages and burials, but you need to narrow down  the church.

• LDS Family History Centres have many passenger lists on microfilm. To find out who nominated someone check the passenger list to the side.

• Check dates newspapers were established in the area.  Maybe there is an account of voyage and passenger list if a paper was published at the time of the vessel's arrival and obituary.

• Check the entire passenger list specifically for female descendants.  Note origin. Maybe sisters came out on the same vessel but already married.

• Check boarding order if possible. Relatives often boarded the vessel together.

• Emigrants sometimes worked their passage so a discharge certificate might be found with ship's papers.  The passengers were ready for "pulley-hauly", in order to obtain exercise.

• The availability of a suitable ship, a larger ship, or a better fare, or because of quotas being reached, or even because of an accident to the ship you might find ancestors not being found at the expected port of departure or arrival.
  
  
• Middle names can be a resource for finding clues to family relationships or finding the name of a vessel. Often a person's middle name is the same as the maiden name of their mother or a grandmother or reflects some other familial connection. It may also be the father's surname for births occurring out of wedlock. 
• Keep an open mind about spellings and the anglicising of names into more spell able and pronounceable English names.
  
• It is essential to examine source material and not rely on published sources. The Internet has become a tool genealogists should not avoid.  You have no idea how accurate information found on the Internet is!  Use your findings as simply one more clue, and then verify primary source documents. STOR - Search the Original Record.
  

• You can never be sure how accurate an index is, page by page searching can increase your chance of finding genealogical material

• Twenty ways to avoid genealogical grief. Document all sources. Be organised, obtain a bookcase.

• If planning research visits to anywhere, always call first and check with the staff in planning your visit to find out when the most knowledgeable staff person is going to be in. Facilities may have different hours for winter.  Maybe the archives doesn't really have what you want and will refer you to another facility.   
  
  
• When transcribing lists e.g. passenger lists, census, cemeteries etc. try the double entry verification process. e.g. Two volunteers index the same document and the two files are then matched by the database programme and discrepancies can be detected and corrected. To do a count try a text editing programme like "Edit Pad".    
    
  
• A typo, a transcription error or a transposition error, could get you another month, another year, another port, another publication or another film.  Double check. 
  
• Handwriting on old passenger and crew lists are sometimes difficult to read so very your search techniques. e.g. search by occupation, birthplace, first name, first names were often abbreviated
   
• Family oral history sometimes has a ship's name misspelled. e.g. Em Lores, Emulus, Emulous.   Halsyon, Halcione
   
• The Outward Passenger Lists in series BT 27 at The National Archives in the UK only survive from 1890.
   
• Genealogy is a challenge of critical thinking to find even little snippets of information and a study of history and geography about how our ancestors lived.
   
• Next Steps
   
• Unless a famine orphan or a convict going to Australia it is highly unlikely to be any record of an emigrant leaving Ireland in Irish records. If they were prominent there could be a chance of a newspaper item there.
   
• It is not always the transcriber who is at error! Someone for his own reasons did not want details known, and in his writings gave an incorrect year of his outward journey. It was with whom he travelled that appears to be the reason for the deception. Additionally on the ship's passenger list the children's ages are correct, but not his or hers. The names used by him are a deliberate variation on the actual but the initials are correct.

Due to the passage of time, some records may be incomplete, inaccurate or illegible.
Remember: You may never be able to identify which vessel an immigrant ancestor was aboard but your research can still lead back to the old country!

• Many records no longer exist
• The earlier an immigrant arrived the greater the chance of finding the passenger list or name of vessel
• Immigration increased during the gold rushes (1861-1870s) so the practice of publishing full passenger manifests was abandoned
• It is more difficult to trace the movements of passengers between Australia and New Zealand than those arriving from Europe. Check the Australian databases to see if you can find them coming into Melbourne or Sydney.
• For the most part records of government-assisted rather than paying passengers survived.
• Surnames were often misspelled. If you have been unable to find your ancestor in a passenger list index the problem may be spelling variants or  misreading of the surnames rather than omissions. Check spelling variations. My Anderson's started out in Norway as Andersen's and ended up as Anderson's in Australia. The bloke doing passenger list only knew Anderson from Scotland, never heard Andersen from Norway.
• The handwriting is often unreadable or the page faint, only a few letters are discernable, or used old English script to write the names.  Transcribers can "blow up" faded or difficult to read sections of a passenger list - scanned at a high resolution. Maybe the transcribers were not as careful as they could or should have been in the process, and the second check was not always done.
• Transcribed lists are quite subjective. I might try to transcribe a faded passenger list and see an unfamiliar name and think is says one thing but, the descendant who knows what name to look for and the number of children and their ages etc. might be able to interpret it an entirely different way and have a eureka moment after finding ggdad and family. Transcribed lists are good but are only a guide and an interpretation of what the transcriber sees. Even if you have a 100% match with a transcription, it is wonderful to get a copy of the document for yourself. 
• Are the manifest pages numbered . . or the passengers? That would indicate if there was a missing page.
• Others were guardians or servants for cabin passengers and their full names were not recorded
• Maybe they were swimmers or "married a Kiwe and flew" wrote an Ozzie!

• Maybe a great grandmother replaced her sick friend at a few day's notice to sail here, under her friend's name, in 1873, it happened.

Henry Dench must have been hiding in the bilges if he arrived when he said he did - 1851 into Canterbury. That is not him on the Travancore


Many jumped ship, stowed away or came in their own vessels.
99.9% of the stowaways were male, but there were some females too.

Otago Witness April 17 1880 page 14
April 9. The s.s. Wakatipu has arrived in Sydney. Seven stowaways were found aboard after her departure from Wellington.

Timaru Herald January 29 1894
Christchurch, January 28
Upon arrival of the barque Grasmere from Sydney yesterday, two young men named William Chevrill and Michael Purcell, stowaways, were arrested upon charge of assaulting a Sydney constable. Warrants were issued for their arrest, but they escaped for the time being by stowing away on the Grasmere.

The Times, 9 Aug 1928 Escaped Stowaways in London.
Three stowaways who escaped when the s.s. Matakana reached the Royal Albert Dock on Tuesday, from New Zealand, were being sought for yesterday by the police. The men are believed to have hidden in the ship while it was at Wellington, New Zealand, and on being discovered during the voyage were placed in custody, to be handed over to the authorities on arrival in this country. The names and  descriptions of the men are given as:-
Francis Grosser, 22, height 5ft. 10in., dark complexion, dark brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a blue suit;
David Mackenzie, 26, height 5ft. 5in., fresh complexion, wearing a dark suit and light raincoat;
David Hume, 19, height 5ft. 5in., fair complexion, wearing a light suit.
Grosser is stated to be a native of Melbourne, Australia, and the two others are believed to be Glasgow men.

Otago Police Gazette No. 59 3 Dec. 1866
CURRAN, Robert, stowed away ship Rangitoto from Wellington to Port Chalmers. Arrested by Sergeant Frederick Mallard 356 Port Chalmers Water Police; 1 month's hard labor.

The Star Friday 11 February 1876
Lyttelton, Magisterial
Stowaway - William Smith was charged with stowing away on board the s.s. Phoebe from Wellington. The Bench ordered accused to pay 2pounds  passage money and £2 fine; the fine was not paid.

 "but as he doesn't appear in the shipping records, I suspect he arrived as a crew member, not a passenger."

Images:

• Auckland Harbour 1869 watercolour by Hoyte
• Dunedin Harbour at sunset 1895
• webcam from the bridge of a ship

"Strays" could be those people who are found outside of their home county in the "Old Country.  People who migrated and died abroad fall into this category.  A little research will show that they were not all born in the place listed on a passenger list or in fact came from that county.  The NZ SG Strays and More Collection was a database e.g.  A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z  wayback A "stray" is a person living outside of their usual place of residence when involved in some recorded event. Strays can be found in most genealogical records e.g. Cemetery Transcriptions

  GEN-GUIDES
  41  Strays and More     
  43   Pre-1856 NZ Marriage Records Collection
  44   Certificates
  45   NZ First Families