My direct ancestors on both sides of my family mainly stayed in the area of Scotland where they were born. Those that did move away tended not to move too far, staying in the neighbouring parishes or counties. However, their siblings tended to be more adventurous! The exceptions to this are my two Irish ancestors - a 2 x great grandmother and a 3 x great grandmother, about whom I've written before, (see Irish ancestors), my 3 x great grandfather Joseph Gregory who moved from England to Scotland, and those who moved temporarily for work from Scotland to England like my great grandfather, John McAra (1827-1910)
John McAra was an iron puddler by trade and shortly after he was married he moved, presumably with his wife, and spent the best part of ten years working down in Durham in the north of England in the iron and steel industry there, before moving back to where he he was born in Lanarkshire. His two daughters were born in Durham and his one surviving son, my grandfather, was born after his return to Scotland. It is likely that John went to work in Durham on the recommendation of his uncle James Gregory, who was already working there in that industry at the time. But somehow Scotland and Lanarkshire drew him back!
Migration, whether temporary or permanent, was thus often driven by the search for work and often, when one family member was 'brave' enough to make the move, other family members would follow. So if we turn to some siblings of my great grandmother Jane Johnston, we find her sister, Ann Boston Johnston, was one of those who dared to leave. Along with her husband James Frew and three children under 5, Ann emigrated to New Zealand sometime in 1860. Her fourth child, Thomas Meiklejohn Bruce Frew was born on board the clipper ship 'Bruce' they travelled in and named after the ship's captain!
The ship's arrival in Otago was documented in the newspaper at that time:
ARRIVAL OF THE BRUCE
The Otago Witness September 15th 1860
The "Bruce" from Glasgow, chartered by Mesrs Holmes & Co., arrived off the heads on Wednesday. She is a remarkably fine clipper ship, of 2000 tons, and has a large cargo for this port, together with about 100 passengers, chiefly single men sent put as servants to Mr Holmes, who has made extensive purchases of land in Otago. We regret to learn that the Captain, having endeavoured to enter the harbour without a pilot on board, ran his vessel on shore outside the heads near the spot where the "Revival" was wrecked. She was, consequently, in a very dangerous position, and had it come on to blow would, in all probability, have been lost. Fortunately the tides have been low, and were rising. She swung off on Thursday evening, with the flood-tide, and was, yesterday, safely towed up to Port Chalmers by the "Geelong". On Thursday, her passengers were landed at Dunedin. The "Bruce" had no business near the spot where she went ashore, and would never have been there with any one on board at all acquainted with the harbour; but we hear it said that the Captain was misled by a red flag hoisted as a signal to the Custom-house, but which he took to be a signal so come on. This will have to be enquired into.
It is hard to imagine what conditions for this young family would have been like. However, during my research I came across an obituary in a newspaper from 1942 for one of the Frew's Scottish born children, James. It was a wonderful find, shedding detail not only of the journey to New Zealand, but of their start in life there, the work they did and the achievements of both James and his father John, my 2 x great uncle. They had brought along an Ayrshire cow that provided the family and the officers with milk on the voyage! Here are some excerpts:
John Frew and his wife Ann seem to have made a success of their new life, which certainly wasn't an easy one. When he died, John left 8 children and over 50 grandchildren!
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