Inspired by a portrait that hung on my wall in New Zealand - my search for the mystery of my Great Grandmother’s story took me from the wilds of Caithness and wind swept Orkney Isles to the rugged land of Otago, 12,000 miles away. After arriving penniless in 1874, my ancestors courageously battled against extreme conditions near the goldfields in Moonlight where my heroine falls deeply in love at too young an age …
NZ Law Family 100th Anniversary, 1922 - 2022
This year marks the 100th Anniversary of when my Law family ancestors arrived in NZ. I would love to know your line of descent if we are related and to hear any stories you may have. It would also be interesting to know if your ancestral DNA has been tested as we could be cousins!? Please feel free to make comments below or email if you have questions. Thanks for watching.
Mysteries, Motives and a Lawless Past has more details about the Law story from Scotland to Dunedin and discusses theories when the surname Knox was used rather than Law.
Orkney Ancestors who went to NZ - see November WDYTYA Magazine
In this month’s WDYTYA magazine, the Reader Story is about my Harcus ancestors who left Eday and sailed to the New World in the 1870's. Quote from the article, "along the way Bo found heroes, pioneers and a victim of a modern day plague and even took to the sea herself..” You may find it entertaining. More details also on www.rootsroutes.com.
Cape Horn Landing
It had always been a life-long ambition to visit the notorious Cape Horn located on Isla Hornos at the southern end of Chile in South America as I had always loved the stories of ancestors who left the UK on clipper sailing ships bound for the New World. The Nelson was a clipper sailing ship which brought my GG GF Robert Harcus and his family from the Orkney Isles to Port Chalmers, Dunedin, NZ in 1874. The journey time port to port to NZ took a respectable 91 days, normally these voyages would take about 100 days. Before the Panama canal opened in 1914, the clippers used the Cape Horn route on their return journeys and many seafarers were lost in the perilous seas of the Drake Passage when rounding the Horn. The Nelson made it to Cape Horn in a fast 19 days on her return from NZ in 1875 and successfully rounded the Horn.
In March 2020, we landed on Cape Horn. After clambering into inflatable Zodiac boats at the stern of our cruise ship, the Stella Australis, we held on and sped off to our landing point at the bottom of a cliff.
We were lucky the weather was favourable for the landing early that morning and once the rope was secured we stepped onto the rock and climbed up many steep steps to the grassy headland at the top. The panoramic view was stunning and we walked to the giant Cape Horn Monument, the Lighthouse and tiny chapel Stella Maris also dedicated to those who had lost their lives rounding Cape Horn. Of course the clipper ships would not be bothered with the views or landing on this inhospitable rock, their task was to round the Horn as safely as possible and to never look back. It was an awesome experience to finally visit this part of the world before Antarctica, at a latitude of nearly 56 degrees south and one I will never forget.
The Delusions of Robert Harcus junior
The story of the second son of Robert Harcus. He was a Mounted Rifleman in the Ninth Contingent of the South Island Regiment who fought in the Second Boer War in South Africa. On his return in 1902, he was never the same and many years later began to experience great powers and grandiose delusions. He never knew the cause of his insanity and died a slow death in Seacliff Mental Asylum of paralytic dementia due to Syphilis infection.
To read his story, please go to RootsRoutes My Story, The Delusions of Robert Harcus junior
Private James Harcus - A NZ Hero in WW1
James was the youngest son of my GG GF Robert Harcus from Eday, Orkney. It is a story about James’ war experience in Egypt and Gallipoli after volunteering for service in 1914 and his return home, injured, to Dunedin, New Zealand on a troop ship in 1915. He suffered a gun shot wound to his foot after serving just 9 days with the ANZAC against the Ottomans on the Gallipoli peninsula but he survived. Gallipoli has been described by veterans as one of the worst places to serve in WW1.
Please see www.RootsRoutes.com, My Story, Private James Harcus - A Tale of Everyday Heroism
More information on Private James Harcus can also be found at the AucklandMuseum Online Cenotaph. The official NZ site to commemorate those who served for New Zealand.
Grandfathers can Change your Life - a story published by the NZSOG
An article about my father’s father, James Law is now available in the August 2018 edition of the New Zealand Genealogist Magazine published by the NZ Society of Genealogists. This story explains mysteries about his surname and the profound effect he had on my life. I owe many things to James, the man I never met, and found a whole new family!
For further information please contact me.
Robert Harcus story in the Orkney Sib Folk News
An article on how I unravelled the mystery of my GG Grandfather Robert Harcus from Eday, Orkney, who rode a white horse in Macraes Flat, Otago, NZ, can now be found in the June 2018 edition of the Orkney Family History Society Newsletter, the Sib Folk News.
For further information please contact me
ANCESTRAL ROOTS in ORKNEY
It was after I started researching the legend of the man with a long white beard who rode a white horse in Macraes Flat, Otago, New Zealand, that I discovered he was my GG Grandfather Robert Harcus from a tiny island called Eday, in the Orkney Isles, situated not far from County Caithness, in Northern Scotland. He was selected for 'assisted immigration' and travelled on a sailing ship, the Nelson, from Glasgow to Port Chalmers, Dunedin in 1874. The colony NZ, needed labourers, farmers and families and many thousands of immigrants came to NZ in those days. His story once he arrived in NZ is one of courage, tragedy and love. To read more, please go to RootsRoutes My Story
New Information on Earliest 'Law' Ancestors in Co. Antrim, Ulster
Evidence was found in Valuation Revision Books for Glenwhirry, the oldest Parish land valuation records 1828-40. A John Law was identified owning a house and grazing animals in 1835 in the Jockeys Quarter Townland in Lower Antrim. It therefore places him and Thomas Law, GGG GF living and working in the same area around the time Thomas married in 1842. They may well have been related.
THE ULSTER SCOTS
Many protestant settlers from Scotland and England went to live and work the land in Northern Ireland in the 17th and 18th Centuries during the 'Plantation of Ulster'. Find out more in the new 'Law Story Goes Irish' and discover some of the reasons why Law Ancestors went to Antrim, Northern Ireland, where they lived and why they returned to Scotland about 1850. Please let me have any comments or questions. I hope you enjoy!
The Panama Canal Today
The Panama Canal has not changed for a hundred years i.e. since its construction was completed by the USA in 1914. This waterway across the Isthmus of Panama, connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and greatly shortened the journey time our ancestors made to NZ or Australia as ships could bypass the long journey around the tip of South America. The 50 mile long passage taking 8-10 hours, is based on a system of three Locks (Gatun, Pedro Miguel, Miraflores) which raises ships 85 feet above sea level. It was the largest engineering project of its time and over 25,000 men died during its construction due to rampant tropical diseases, heat and challenging terrain. Currently the canal is being expanded to allow larger than Panamax vessels to transit the canal and work should be completed in 2016. See also RootsRoutes History section.
Sea Journeys by Ancestors
The Remuera, operated by the New Zealand Shipping Company was the first Passenger Steam ship to pass through the Panama Canal on it's return from New Zealand to London in 1916. Prior to this, the route went via Tenerife (Canary Islands), Cape Town, Hobart then on to NZ Ports. Journey time was dramatically reduced using the Panama Canal. It is likely, ancestor Margaret (Law) Gardner, the sister of GGF Thomas Law, emigrated from London to NZ on the Remuera in 1912.
Attic Treasures
Hidden away for over 20 years in the corner of my mother's house in Dunedin was a small brown box containing original Family History documents dating back to 1919. Lesson learnt, never stop looking folks!!
My brother and nephew found the 'treasure' by chance just before the house was sold and shared the info with me. The documents included my 'Law' grandmother's Death Certificate, Margaret Dryden, died 1 Feb 1973 and confirmed her parents names, George Dryden and Annie Thomson. The other documents were evidence my grandfather, James Knox Law was raised to 'Master Mason' on 21 Oct. 1919 (after his apprenticeship in the Lodge of St. Clair of Dysart No. 250, part of the Grand Lodge of Scotland) and then on 11 March 1920, a further document confirmed he was admitted as a 'Mark Master'. He had also signed both documents as James K Law. These predated a certificate I had for his enrolment as a 'Life Member' to the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland, 23 Nov. 1920.
It was more evidence my Grandfather was using the surname Law in 1919 before he came to NZ in 1922. If anyone has further documents they would like to share on any member of the family who came to NZ please get in touch or comment on this Post.
My Ancestral DNA test Results
I hoped by taking an autosomal DNA test which covers both paternal and maternal lines, I would discover more about distant family origins in Ireland. DNA can help predict where our ancestors once lived as our DNA travels with us. A 'genetic signature' of the regions we came from around the world can be found and used to predict our 'ethnicity'. The test I took indicated Ireland and Great Britain could be identified which was of particular interest.
Results estimated my ethnicity as: 47% Ireland, 39% Europe West, 7% GB, 4% other.
I got very excited to see 47% Ireland (as the Laws' lived in Ireland many generations ago and came back to Scotland around 1850) but when I looked further, Ireland was described as a 'Region' which included Ireland/Wales/Scotland so I could not definitively say I was 47% Irish. It felt like this test had redefined the map and confused matters but the migration of populations across Western Europe to the British Isles needs to be understood. These people originated in central Europe, as far back as the Iron Age, 500 BC and the many tribes, collectively known as the 'Celts', expanded via France to England, Ireland, Scotland. The Region of Ireland to this day, remains one of the last holdouts of the unique Celtic people and ancient Celtic languages.
I now knew I was mainly Celtic which made sense but a further Y-chromosome ancestral DNA test from a male 'Law' family member could help to estimate male paternal ethnicity and narrow down our ancient Law DNA ethnic origins.
More will follow on the Law DNA story! Please comment on this Post and I will be delighted to receive any suggestions or questions.
Another Theory - Surname Change to Knox
A descendent from Thomas Law (son of GGF Thomas) and Christine Beall who married in New Zealand suggested that when they left Ireland after the potato famine and worked in the mines of Scotland, the Irish were not favoured and they may have taken their mother's surname, Knox, as it sounded more Irish? Results of my Ancestral DNA Ethnicity tests may also help to prove or disprove Irish origins. See more discussion of this theory in My Story > Mysteries, Motives and a Lawless Past (Theory Five).
Latest Theory on Surname Change to 'Knox'
The second eldest living relative of Elizabeth MacKay and John Law (first son of my GGF Thomas) confirmed that Thomas (GGF) was a deserter and remained in Scotland, when home on leave, to marry Janet Myles who was pregnant. This line of the family firmly believe that this was when the name change to 'Knox' occurred. It is a valuable clue and gives a possible time-point for desertion prior to the wedding of Thomas and Janet in August 1892. See more information and discussion in My Story > Mysteries, Motives and a Lawless Past (Theory Four)
Launch of 'Law Story' on RootsRoutes website
It's taken years but I am finally getting somewhere after the launch of the 'Law Story' in December 2014. The 'Law' family history began in Scotland and Ireland and travelled to New Zealand. There have been lots of mysteries to solve and I would like to thank everyone for their help so far. Please continue to send comments and I will post new information in the Journal section.
RootsRoutes - help to trace Ancestors in UK/Ireland
If your ancestors emigrated to the New World, NZ/Oz/US, www.rootsroutes.com can help give you clues, guidelines regarding the problems and mysteries often encountered in Family History research! See 'My Story' of how I traced the Law Family lineage in Scotland. Do you need Help with Your Story?