American in New Zealand?

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Chris Shearer Cooper

American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av Chris Shearer Cooper » 25 aug 2006 20:57:28

My wife's grandfather apparently spent some time in New Zealand - his
children remember him talking about the place as if he had been there.

He was born about 1884 and this probably happened in his college years,
certain before he married my wife's grandmother in 1915.

Any suggestions on ways to verify this?
Are the passenger lists from this time in any organized sort of form?
Is the ancestry passenger list database a good source?

Thanks!
Chris

David J Grimshaw

Re: American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av David J Grimshaw » 26 aug 2006 03:55:30

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
My wife's grandfather apparently spent some time in New Zealand - his
children remember him talking about the place as if he had been there.

He was born about 1884 and this probably happened in his college years,
certain before he married my wife's grandmother in 1915.

Any suggestions on ways to verify this?
Are the passenger lists from this time in any organized sort of form?
Is the ancestry passenger list database a good source?

Thanks!
Chris


Hi Chris,

I suspect that your man may have visited around 1902 or there a bouts,
this would have made him 18 years old, this being the case the only way
you will get him is if you are lucky enough to find a passenger list for
the time period that has been transcribed from the news papers of the day.
Do you know if your man visited Family here in New Zealand?

As to the passenger lists being in an organised form the answer is yes
and no.
Yes they are organised by date of the vessels arrival in the local news
paper of the day and you have to search each News paper to find them.

As for there being a national index that's a big no.

You will need to know what Island, North Island or South Island he
visited and his port of arrival plus date month and the year to get his
arrival, yes rather frustrating, bit like which came first the hen or
the egg.

I would expect this to have been one of the ports, starting in the North
Island and working south on the East Coast,these being, Auckland,
Tauranga, Napier and Wellington the only West coast port in the North
Island that he may have arrived in is New Plymouth as for the South
Island starting at the top and working down the East coast, Nelson,
Picton, Lyttleton, Port Chalmers ( Dunedin ), Invercargill or Bluff and
the only West coast port being Westport, Westport would be unlikely.

I would expect your man may have arrived at one of the following Ports;
Auckland, Wellington, Lyttleton and Port Chalmers, these are the main
ports of the country.

Ancestry will not have much that covers New Zealand and I suspect little
in the way of Passenger lists so do not waste your money there.

You could put your query in the New Zealand Genealogical Societies
magazine that is publish bimonthly.
Otherwise this will remain a brick wall for quite sometime.

Hopefully you now understand the situation.

I doubt that there is a national database on arrivals even now.

Happy hunt those relations.
David

ecunningham

Re: American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av ecunningham » 26 aug 2006 17:44:02

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
My wife's grandfather apparently spent some time in New Zealand - his
children remember him talking about the place as if he had been there.

He was born about 1884 and this probably happened in his college years,
certain before he married my wife's grandmother in 1915.


Chris: Possibly a "Round the World" Tour? Have you checked the US
entries
on both east & west coast to catch him coming or going? Does he have
a name?
ecunningham@att.net

Chris Shearer Cooper

Re: American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av Chris Shearer Cooper » 26 aug 2006 21:06:07

Family lore doesn't include any countries besides New Zealand, so I'm
guessing it wasn't a "Round the World" kind of thing. Some say he went to
college there.

His name is Fred John Shearer (Scherer), born 1884 or 1886 in Illinois or
Pennsylvania (depending on which source you are looking at). The first
documentation we have on him is in 1915 when he married my wife's
grandmother in Hutchinson, Kansas.

I haven't checked any "US entries", that's what I was hoping to learn from
this newsgroup is what kind of entries exist that I can check (grin)!

Thanks,
Chris


"ecunningham" <ecunningham@att.net> wrote in message
news:44F07A52.5030807@att.net...
Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
My wife's grandfather apparently spent some time in New Zealand - his
children remember him talking about the place as if he had been there.

He was born about 1884 and this probably happened in his college years,
certain before he married my wife's grandmother in 1915.


Chris: Possibly a "Round the World" Tour? Have you checked the US entries
on both east & west coast to catch him coming or going? Does he have a
name?
ecunningham@att.net




David J Grimshaw

Re: American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av David J Grimshaw » 27 aug 2006 04:31:38

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:
Family lore doesn't include any countries besides New Zealand, so I'm
guessing it wasn't a "Round the World" kind of thing. Some say he went to
college there.

His name is Fred John Shearer (Scherer), born 1884 or 1886 in Illinois or
Pennsylvania (depending on which source you are looking at). The first
documentation we have on him is in 1915 when he married my wife's
grandmother in Hutchinson, Kansas.

I haven't checked any "US entries", that's what I was hoping to learn from
this newsgroup is what kind of entries exist that I can check (grin)!

Thanks,
Chris
Snip


Hi Chris,
If Fred John Shearer went to College in New Zealand then I am willing to
bet this was in either Auckland or Dunedin as this is where the two main
universities are in New Zealand.
The most likely place I suspect is Auckland.
The School Rolls may have him listed.
Hope this helps.
David.

singhals

Re: American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av singhals » 27 aug 2006 16:34:24

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:


I haven't checked any "US entries", that's what I was hoping to learn from
this newsgroup is what kind of entries exist that I can check (grin)!

Oh, well, then! (g)

Each US port-of-entry keeps passenger lists. These lists are available
through the NARA (http://www.nara.gov and select Genealogy) and usually through
LDS microfilm (http://www.familysearch.org and select Library then Catalog)

The main US ports-of-entry on the west coast would be Los Angeles, San
Fran, and Seattle.

Main Gulf Coast ports Corpus Christi, Galveston, New Orleans, and Mobile.

Main Atlantic Coast ports: Miami, Savannah, Charleston SC, Hampton Roads
Va, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston.

The border crossing at St Albans (Me?) was used by people who came into
Canada then took the land-road into the US.

HTH

Cheryl

Chris Shearer Cooper

Re: American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av Chris Shearer Cooper » 27 aug 2006 18:24:17

Sounds like I have my work cut out for me (grin)!

Any ideas as to "most likely port"? If he was living in PA or IL, and got
the urge to travel to New Zealand, would it be (for example) faster and
cheaper to travel overland cross-country and leave from the west coast (as
opposed to leaving from the east coast)?

Thanks!
Chris

"singhals" <singhals@erols.com> wrote in message
news:7vOdnVk9nIMdJmzZnZ2dnUVZ_s-dnZ2d@rcn.net...
Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:


I haven't checked any "US entries", that's what I was hoping to learn
from this newsgroup is what kind of entries exist that I can check
(grin)!

Oh, well, then! (g)

Each US port-of-entry keeps passenger lists. These lists are available
through the NARA (http://www.nara.gov and select Genealogy) and usually through
LDS microfilm (http://www.familysearch.org and select Library then Catalog)

The main US ports-of-entry on the west coast would be Los Angeles, San
Fran, and Seattle.

Main Gulf Coast ports Corpus Christi, Galveston, New Orleans, and Mobile.

Main Atlantic Coast ports: Miami, Savannah, Charleston SC, Hampton Roads
Va, Baltimore, Philadelphia, NYC, Boston.

The border crossing at St Albans (Me?) was used by people who came into
Canada then took the land-road into the US.

HTH

Cheryl

ecunningham

Re: American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av ecunningham » 27 aug 2006 19:44:44

Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:

Any ideas as to "most likely port"? If he was living in PA or IL, and got
the urge to travel to New Zealand, would it be (for example) faster and
cheaper to travel overland cross-country and leave from the west coast (as
opposed to leaving from the east coast)?

Chris: Did he have "gold fever"? Perhaps going to Alaska and then to
Australia & NZ? or vice versa? A missionary?? Methinks we need to
better track him in the US. Is he the Fred with Suzie in Hutchison in
1920 census? Also, a Fred & Mildred flew into Portland, Oregon in the
50's from Hawaii.
Checked local newspapers and histories for his stories? Anyone who had
been to NZ before 1960's would be good newspaper fodder, especially in
middle America!
ecunningham@att.net

Chris Shearer Cooper

Re: American in New Zealand?

Legg inn av Chris Shearer Cooper » 28 aug 2006 02:00:20

I haven't heard of him being any sort of prospector ... but he did spend a
lot of time as a carpenter (and other things) in the coal mines, but mostly
as a union organizer.

He didn't seem terribly religious, so the missionary doesn't seem likely.

Yup, Fred + Suzie in Hutchinson in 1920! Can't wait for the 1940 census to
open up to see if we can find him there.

Fred left the family in the early 1930s and was never heard from again. The
Fred & Mildred you mentioned might be him, for all I know. Did it list his
birthdate/place?

I'm not sure which local newspaper to look in ... we know little about him
prior to him marrying Suzie in 1915. After their marriage, they moved a
lot - some 18 times in 16 years, so it's nearly impossible to guess where he
would have been when he went to New Zealand ...

Thanks!
Chris


"ecunningham" <ecunningham@att.net> wrote in message
news:44F1E81C.9070105@att.net...
Chris Shearer Cooper wrote:

Any ideas as to "most likely port"? If he was living in PA or IL, and
got the urge to travel to New Zealand, would it be (for example) faster
and cheaper to travel overland cross-country and leave from the west
coast (as opposed to leaving from the east coast)?

Chris: Did he have "gold fever"? Perhaps going to Alaska and then to
Australia & NZ? or vice versa? A missionary?? Methinks we need to better
track him in the US. Is he the Fred with Suzie in Hutchison in 1920
census? Also, a Fred & Mildred flew into Portland, Oregon in the 50's
from Hawaii.
Checked local newspapers and histories for his stories? Anyone who had
been to NZ before 1960's would be good newspaper fodder, especially in
middle America!
ecunningham@att.net




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