Adamson’s of New Zealand
 
It is difficult to get a balance of the historical events in early times of New Zealand as there is no documentary evidence.  The Moriori people were known to inhabit the coastal areas north of Taranaki and the Bay of Plenty, but none had settled on the South Island.  Under the command of the Maori explorer Kupe around AD 950 a well provisioned group made landfall on the northeast coast of the North Island.  Over the next years many more Maoris arrived bringing fighting warriors.  The warriors beat the Moriori and advanced southward.  The Moriori who survived fled to the South Island and then were eventually pushed down into Southland and the Chatham Islands.  The Maori settled all parts of New Zealand during the next few hundred years.
The Dutch, led by Abel Tasman, “found” New Zealand in 1642.  Tasman’s men and the Maori warriors clashed and his journal and charts of the southern islands made a note to warn all mariners to regard the natives of this land as “hostile”.  In 1769, the first expedition led by Captain James Cook, arrived and he found he could trade for supplies in a friendly manner.  Later the same year, a French explorer, Jean de Surville sailed from Calcutta, India and he too at first found the people to be friendly, but later on had a conflict with the natives.  Over the coming years several incidents occurred.  Finally in 1840 the Reverend Williams and James Busby, the first British resident in New Zealand, aided in the purchase of land on behalf of the New Zealand Company and the creation of the Treaty of Waitangi between the British Crown and the Maori Chiefs of New Zealand.  The Treaty is still very important in New Zealand. politics.
In Great Britain as early as 1815, over a quarter of a million soldiers were demobilized and came back home into a glutted labor market of agricultural laborers.  Most of the unskilled found themselves out of work.  In an effort to relieve the situation and the signs of unrest, the government introduced a scheme to send some of the poorer groups of Irish, British and finally Scottish people to Canada, North America and also New South Wales in Australia.  Money was set aside under the “Poor Law Act” to give the immigrants an assisted passage.  The New Zealand Association was established in 1837 when emigration was seen as the only answer to poverty, unemployment and homelessness.  This association was dissolved and the New Zealand Company was founded for the purpose of a systematic colonization of New Zealand.  By 1839, 2000 white settlers were living in New Zealand.  By 1858 these colonization efforts had failed and the Company was dissolved.
Although first discovered in 1642 by the Dutch East India Company, the Dutch began to lose their supremacy at Sea and New Zealand was subsequently claimed by Britain in 1840 becoming a British Colony.  In 1907 it became a self-governing (Independent) Dominion and is now an independent member of the British Commonwealth.
Marriage records for New Zealand show that Ann Adamson, David Adamson and Jessie Adamson were married in 1840.  During this period, new settlements sprang up on both islands.  Many ships landed with immigrant passengers. 
Over these years, several Adamsons immigrated, some with their families.  Passenger ship records show that on December 16, 1865 Thomas and Margaret Adamson with four children sailed from London on the ship Victory, bound for New Zealand. The Victory arrived in Lyttleton on March 24, 1866.
In the year 2004, there were 335 listings of Adamsons in the New Zealand White Pages.
Of these there were 57 in Auckland, 44 in Christchurch, 34 in Wellington, 24 in Dunedin, 17 in Tauranga, 18 in Hamilton and 8 in Queenstown.  This indicates that the Adamsons can be found spread out all over New Zealand.
It will be our task to identify the immigrants and their descendants.
 
END

Jerry F. Adamson
January, 2005.
 

 

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