Evening all. My ggrandmother on my mothers side, Mary Agnes Stewart, was adopted out to a couple in 1863 in Dunedin. Does anyone know where those records are held, if at all? Hugh Moderator

Hi Hugh I am not sure if any official documents regarding adoption existed back then. If so it would have been done via a lawyer's office or some sort of personal agreement between the adoptive parents and the mother. From my reading of the time frame, many unmarried mothers left their children in the care of others but also paid for that care while they returned to work. Only sometimes was the child then taken in by the caring parents. there could be something in the Police Gazettes which are housed at the Dunedin Archives if you live in that area. I have the NZBDM microfiche that I could do a look up for you if you need that. I am assuming you have her birth certificate and know her birth name and that I am assuming from your message that Mary Agnes Stewart is her adoptive name. Sometimes the birth microfiche have notations next to the original information thus sometimes giving a clue to adoption or name changes and the years that it occurred. If I can help email me. Ailsa Ailsa Corlett ailsa@st.net.au http://home.st.net.au/~ailsa alternative email if having trouble sending to my normal email is: ailsacorlett@gmail.com >-----Original Message----- >From: new-zealand-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:new-zealand- >bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of hugh >Sent: Thursday, 3 July 2014 4:29 PM >To: New Zealand >Subject: [nz] McDonald in Dunedin > >Evening all. > >My ggrandmother on my mothers side, Mary Agnes Stewart, was adopted out >to a couple in 1863 in Dunedin. > >Does anyone know where those records are held, if at all? > >Hugh >Moderator > > >The List Guidelines > >http://new-zealand-l.blogspot.com/ > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to NEW-ZEALAND- >request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in >the subject and the body of the message

Hi folks, Re adoption in the early period of NZ settlement. My grandfather was born in 1879 and the story handed down was that his birth mother was a member of an entertainment troupe travelling to Aust and NZ (ie the forerunner to J.C.Williamson or its ilk) The birth father had refused to marry his girlfriend, no doubt prompted by his father who didn't want his son marrying a 'showgirl' The birth mother kept the child but found it difficult maintaining her job with the theatre company once the child reached the toddler age. Reluctantly she handed him over to a young couple disembarking from the ship at Bluff and they settled in Invercargill. The couple then had a baby of their own and found caring for two small children at the same time too confronting so they arranged for the Migration Officer, H.V.Lillicrapp (not sure of spelling) He then arranged for another couple to care forl the child and I understand that regular payments arrived from England to assist the family with the costs of raising the child. The couple who took on the child then discovered they were expecting a baby of their own and after the birth of their child they found it too difficult having two babies. The problem was resolved when Mr Lillicrap arranged for the child to be placed with Mr & Mrs William Stroud - migrants from Scotland who had one teenage daughter of their own. James subsequently went off to the UK after leaving school but we're not aware if he was able to locate his birth parent(s). He joined the British India Army in the early 1900s and then at the end of his term with the Army he and his English bride moved to NZ to start their new life. I am unsure if he was 'officially' adopted by the Stroud family but on his marriage certificate (from Bombay, India) it states his father as being Stroud from Invercargill, NZ Cheers Ainslie (in Adelaide. Sth Aust) ps Interested in the McDonald connection - the McDonalds were very close friends of the Stroud family and this has continued down through subsequent generations.