Jewel and Ian Fyfe's Family History Page

MCHARDIE FAMILY

The McHardie family was the earliest of my pioneering families to arrive in New Zealand. The family embarked at Blackwall on 16 October 1840 and left Gravesend, London on the “Lady Nugent” on 17 October, arriving in Wellington on 17 March, 1841. Mr George Hilliard, Surgeon- Superintendent on the ship, wrote a diary of the voyage, which is held by the Turnbull Library, and which I have transcribed.

The family consisted of David McHardie, aged 39, his wife Elizabeth, aged 40,sons David jnr and Alexander, and daughter Janet (Jessie) aged 3.

David was allocated 13 acres (approximately 1/7 of a hundred acre block), partly on the flat and partly on the hill, approximately where Wairere Road on the western hills of the Hutt Valley now is. David jnr had 13 acres alongside.

Things did not stay as idyllic as they were at first, and in 1846 fighting with the local Maoris broke out over land ownership. My great-grandmother Jessie McHardie was a girl of 9 at the time, and as an old woman told her grand-children of the events.

Eventually David, together with other former Kirriemuir families, took advantage of the “Manchester Settlement”. and took up land just north of Bulls in 1865. McHardie Road is still there, and street-names in Sanson record the names of other families who moved there - Farmer, Milne and Speedy.

About this time Janet McHardie received an offer of marriage from James Saunders of Featherston, who was eleven years her senior. She turned him down, also by letter, but must have reflected on her decision, and changed her mind. In order to get to Featherston before the letter, she walked over the Rimutakas, at a time when there was no proper road, to accept the proposal in person. They were married in Wellington early in 1865. Janet’s ability to walk long distances was legendary, and when she was in her seventies walked 33 miles from Collingwood to the flax mill at Patarau on West Whanganui Inlet to “see how her boys were getting on.”

Back in Kirriemuir, Angus when David McHardie applied for assisted emigration with the New Zealand Company in 1840, he gave his occupation as sawyer, although he had been a weaver in his home town. Presumably there was more call for sawyers in the new colony.

David McHardie married Elizabeth Cunningham at Airlie on 9/11/1823.
Their children that we definitely know about were:
David McHardie baptised Airlie 27/1/1825
Elizabeth McHardie “ Kirriemuir 24/6/1826
Jean McHardie Kirriermuir 5/10/1828
Alexander McHardie Kirriemuir 18/7/1830
Janet McHardie Kirriemuir 18/6/1837

DavidMcHardie was baptised on in Kirriemuir on 24 October, 1801, the eldest child of Robert McHardie and Elizabeth Crabb.
Other children of the marriage, all baptised in Kirriemuir, were:
Isabel McHardie 19/9/1803 married David Smith. (came to New Zealand)
Alexander McHardie 12/4/1807 Mary ? came to New Zealand
William McHardie 16/5/1810
Charlotte Euphan McHardie 10/10/1815 married Michael Matthew
James McHardie 31/10/1817 married Ann Gordon
George McHardie 1/7/1821 married Janet Mathers.
John McHardie 21/5/1823 (came to New Zealand)

When Alexander McHardie was born in 1807, Robert McHardie’s address is listed as “in camp”, so presumably he had been called up by the Army during the Napoleonic Wars.

Robert McHardie was born in the parish of Lintrathen, just west of Kirriemuir, in 1780, the second son of Alexander McHardie and Elizabeth Peter. The older brother was David. was born April 27 1778.Alexander McHardie and Elizabeth Peter from Auld Allan were married the same day. Auld Allan is a remote farm north of Lintrathen. . Elizabeth Peter was born 18/10/1747 at Lintrathen daughter of John Peter.

In the 1841 census of Kirriemuir there is the following entry:

Southmuir, Kirriemuir
Robert McHardie 55 Wright
Catherine McHardie 30
Jean McHardie 4 months

Robert McHardie married Katherine Anderson in Kirriemuir on 4 August, 1838, this being his second marriage.
Also in the same area is:

George McHardie 15 Linen Handloom weaver

When we visited Kirriemuir in May, 2002, we saw the cottage in Brechin Road where playwright J.M. Barrie was born in 1861. On the side of the house is a sign saying :”3-12 Lilybank”, Lilybank being the alley which runs alongside the Barrie house. As Lilybank was the name David McHardie gave to his farm at Bulls, N.Z., there must be a link between the two places.

It is difficult to trace the family back any further. McHardie is an Aberdeenshire name, with most people of the name originating from either Strathdon or Crathie and Braemar. The name is said to originate from an Earl of Mar named Gartnaigh who lived a about 1300.

There is possibility that David and Elizabeth were related through the Crabb family, as Elizabeth’s mother was Jean Crabb.

CUNNINGHAM FAMILY

We have a record of the Cunningham family in Ruthven parish over four generations, but the family may go back much earlier as the records start only in 1744, although the parish is much older than that.

At least three generations of the family lived in the farmtown of Balbirnie, just east of the village of Ruthven.

David Cunningham born 29 Oct ober 1778 Ruthven, is the son of David Cunningham and Margaret Anderson. David and Margaret were married 12 December 1777 at Ruthven . Other children were all born Ruthven :
John Cunningham born 22/6/1788
Elspeth born 2/7/1790
Janet Cunningham born 29/10/1791
Thomas Cunningham born 30 October 1796

David and Margaret were buried in Meigle, Perthshire, and the inscription on their gravestone reads.

Sacred to the memory of David Cunningham late farmer Balbirnie Ruthven who died 6th Dec 1816 aged 72 also Margaret Anderson his wife 7 march 1824 aged 70 and their son William 27 Aug 1799 aged 19 This stone erected by David James Andrew John and Thomas Cunningham

When we visited Meigle in April 2006, we went to photograph the grave. It had been cleaned up, and was relatively easy to read.  Alongside, and clearly part of the same plot, was another stone, very old and lying on the ground face-up. On it was inscribed “Here interred is David Cunningham and his spouse Janet Hay. He was removed by death 24 May 1688 and of his age 58 years and she the 13 October 1676 and of her age 46 years.” Below the inscription are representations of (from left), crossbones, a skull and crossed shovels. Below this again is more writing, but we could not decipher it.   

Parish records do not go back this far, but I would estimate that this couple must be three generations earlier.

David Cunningham senior was born 21 August 1745, the son of David Cunningham and Else Marshall. They were married 28 November 1735 at Airle, Angus. Other children of the marriage were:
Janet Cunningham born 17/7/1748 and Jean Cunningham born 6/7/1754

Margaret Anderson born 24/12/1751 at Alyth , Perth, was the daughter of William Anderson and Janet Gilrooth.
Returning to the Anderson’s, the siblings of Margaret, (with baptism dates) in Bendochy parish:
 John                 5 February      1744
  Elizabeth           12 January        1746
Gilbert               22 March         1747
Jannet               19 March         1749
Agnes               24 May            1752
Martha             15 January        1758

Parents William Anderson and Jannet Gilrooth were married in Bendochy parish, 6 May 1743

Jannet Gilruth was baptised in Bendochy on 16 October 1719, daughter of James Gilruth and Elizabeth Morice, who had been married in Bendochy on 09 March 1708.