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Hi Kerry,

Thanks for making contact to an old post. I actually have a fair amount of information about James and Christina, and their children who were born in New Zealand and Paisley (before they left for NZ in 1852). Actually Christina had another daughter Elizabeth, born in Edinburgh in the late 1840s, from her first marriage and James had a son Benjamin, born in Gibraltar in 1840. I would be interested in hearing how you are related to the family and whether you might have additional historical material that I don't have. I may be able to help in return. Maybe we can correspond a bit more by PM?

Thanks and kind regards, Brian

Hi Ken,

Many thanks for your suggestions. Yes, James was born near Cookstown, Tyrone. I have no evidence that he was married to Benjamin's mother. He did marry later in Paisley in 1851 to a Scottish lass, before emigrating to NZ in 1852 as a Fencible soldier.

I'll follow up on your church records suggestions.

Thanks again,

Brian

Hi John,

I came across your post by accident, so have just joined rootschat to give you some of the details I have. Benjamin Palmer was the step brother of Christina. He was a miner in Thames during the gold rush. The other witness listed at the marriage, Elizabeth Palmer, was Christina's step sister (there were two Benjamin Palmers in the Thames area at this time-hence some confusion-the other Benjamin was married to Mary (nee Picket) and they had a family in Thames. They are the ones buried in Shortland Cemetary, Thames).

The Benjamin and Christina and Elizabeth Palmers of this post are the children of James and (sometimes Janet) Christina Palmer (was Orr, nee Stewart), who came to NZ as a Fencible on the Berwick Castle in 1852. They were married in Holy Trinity Chapel, Paisley, Scotland on 5th January 1851, and were living at 9 Brick Lane, Paisley at the time of the 1851 UK census (you can check out the Lane on Google maps, street view). James’ occupation is listed as nightwatchman on the census form. James Palmer was born in Ireland, near Cookstown, County Tyrone, in about 1805, and served in the 1st of Foot Regiment, serving in the West Indies and Gibraltar. He was discharged in 1844, due to ill health. Christina Stewart was born in Glasgow in about 1823. On arrival in NZ they settled in Howick, living in Gibraltar St for a while on James’ allotted land. They had 15 children between them, 13 of them together. They are buried in the small churchyard of St Johns Theological College, Auckland.

Christina (the daughter) was born in Paisley, Scotland on 1st May 1852, shortly before their departure to NZ. Benjamin was born in 1940 in Gibraltar, while James was stationed there in the army (obviously born to another woman). Elizabeth Palmer, the other witness to the marriage to James Harvey, was born in Edinburgh in about 1847, while Christina (the mother) was married to Orr.

Christina married James Harvey on 11 April 1873 in Thames. He was born in Birmingham on 6th Oct 1843. They had 3 children, James Charles, Elizabeth Alice and Ruth. Husband James died 19 Sept 1878 in Fielding. Christina remarried Richard Organ (son of another Fencible, Richard Organ) on 9 August, 1883. She had another 4 children from this marriage. She died 27 May 1929 and is buried at Purewa cemetery, Auckland. I have details of all her children.

I can find no sensible dates for Benjamin Palmer’s marriage or death in NZ. There is a Benjamin Palmer listed as a passenger on the vessel “Rotorua”, headed from Auckland to Sydney on 28th July, 1879, so maybe he headed off to make his fortune on the goldfields of Australia.

I am descended from William Walter Palmer, one of Christina’s many brothers. Let me know if there’s any particular information you need-I have information on all Christina’s siblings.