My Family Tree Families - Milne, Pearce, Murray and Favel

I am a sixth generation New Zealander whose ancestors come from good Scottish and English stock. I have been gathering information about my distant relatives for many years now. Where they lived, what they did, how many sisters and brothers they had, how long they lived and sometimes I am lucky enough to get a photo. I have spent a lot of time (my husband is very tolerant) looking for newspaper clippings which I  find gives very good accounts of their daily lives here in the deep south of New Zealand. I would like to share this accumulated information (I have lots of it) with anyone who is interested and hope a blog will help me do this. I did have a book in mind but a blog I hope will be a lot less challenging than publishing of a book maybe! Connecting with some distant relatives would be the icing on the cake (don't worry I will give you plenty of warning before I turn up on your doorstep). 

Who are my ancestors? On my paternal side John Milne and his wife Jane Dawson arrived in NZ in 1865 all the way from from Clatt, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and Frederick Pearce and his wife Clara Jane Cantello, who arrived much later in 1913, from South Wraxall, Wiltshire, England. On my maternal side James Murray arrived in 1866 from Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire, Scotland marrying Agnes McKay (someone who I know very little about) in 1869 in South Otago, New Zealand. John Favel and his wife Elizabeth Rayner left Wainfleet All Saints, Lincolnshire, England in 1850 travelling to New Zealand via Australia.

Over the coming months I will share with you My Family's Story. Search the blog archives and you find a wee something about each family. 

Murray Family - James and Mary Murray, Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire, Scotland.

My great great grandfather James Murray emigrated to New Zealand in 1866. Tracing James' family back in Scotland has not been easy with no recorded mother or father on his death certificate I have not had much to go by other than a very tentative link.

Over the years I have cobbled together a family tree, with information from other family trees on Ancestry.com, help from online researchers and one vital piece of information from a distant family member who's mother had visited a cousin Andrew Murray, Galston (my 1st cousin 3x removed) in Scotland in the 1970's. She had recorded details of her family in a diary. So this part of the story has no hard evidence but a lot of connecting the dots. The Scottish were very helpful in that they often used a naming pattern to name their children. Using names from their parents and grandparent and aunties and uncles. Scottish naming patterns.

The family which I think our James Murray belongs to is the Murrays of Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire.
STOPPRESS: This has been confirmed with DNA matches in Canada (August 2019).

James' father James was born in Mayo, Westmeath, Ireland in 1821. His mother Mary Bone was born on the 12th December 1812 in Kirkmaiden, Wigtownshire, Scotland. 

James and Mary were married in Kirkmaiden in 1839. They had 7 children follow Janet (1839-1900), Isabella (1842-1863), Jane (1845-1848), James (1846-1927), John (1850-1929), and William (1855-1887) and his twin Andrew (1855-1931).

In 1871-1881 James and Mary are lived at Glen Cottage, Ardwall, Stoneykirk and James is a shepherd. In 1891 James is retired and living at Drummantrae Cottage (Glen Cottage?).

Glen Cottage, Ardwell
Google Maps, 2016.

James passed away on the 21 July 1899 aged 78 and Mary the following year on the 27 December 1900 aged 88. James and Mary are buried together, along with their daughter Janet, at the Stoneykirk cemetery.