Family History (3) Smith Family from Scotland

William Taylor Smith (1844-1902), was born in Scotland in the parish of Rothiemay, in East Banffshire. Rothiemay is a rural area of small farms, villages and forests about 9km north of Huntly. Our family has been traced in Rothiemay as far back as William Taylor’s great-grandfather, William Smith, who married Margaret Frazer in Rothiemay in 1751.

Photo: Coldhome, Rothiemay, Scotland

William Taylor’s parents were John Smith (1807-1887), and Euphemia Wilson (1807-1893). John Smith was a crofter (farmer) who lived at Burnside of Coldhome in Rothiemay and had 7.5 acres of land (30,000 m2) .

John and Euphemia had 3 daughters and 6 sons, but only one child remained in Scotland. The 2 other daughters moved to England, 2 sons emigrated to the USA, and 4 sons emigrated to Canterbury, New Zealand. The choice on New Zealand may have been influenced by news of discoveries of gold.

Picture: Gold Mining town West Coast, New Zealand,1866

William Taylor Smith was their youngest son and when he was only 19 he traveled from Scotland to New Zealand, arriving at Lyttleton on the ship “Brothers Pride” in Dec 1863. 44 of the 371 passengers died the voyage. His brother Hay had arrived at Lyttleton in Jan the same year, and his brothers George and Charles followed in 1864. He first worked in the west coast gold-fields 1863-1867 .

Photo: Mt Somers from near Staveley

Around 1867 he started as a bullock driver. He worked at the farm ‘Buccleuch’, where his brother Hay was working, and other farms in the Mt Somers/Staveley area. This area is where the Canterbury Plains meets the foothills of the Southern Alps It is also near the location used for filming ‘Edoras’ in the Lord of the Rings.

Photo: Bullock team pulling a wool wagon across a stream, Canterbury,1890s.

William Taylor Smith and Hannah Graham married in 1869 at Lyttleton and settled in in a sub—division of the ‘Buccleuch’ property which they later bought and called ‘Birchlands’. They built up a successful transport business using bollocks and then horses, and also bought and farmed properties in the Staveley area.

Photo: Bullock team and wool wagon, Canterbury, 1880s.

William Taylor became known for his competitiveness, strength, perseverance in getting wool out of remote high county sheep stations, like Mesopotamia. Messapotamia station is well known for being remote, and famous because the English writer, Samuel Butler, lived there 1859-64 and wrote about his experience.

Photo: Mesopotamia Station, showing house, group and surrounding land, 1871.

William and Hannah had 11 children (4 sons and 7 daughters) and 58 grandchildren. The sons all became sheep farmers in Canterbury, and their daughters married local farmers.

Painting: Sheep station, Canterbury c 1890. By Francis Fortescue Croft Huddleston.

Their 2nd son was called William Taylor (1875-1945) just like his father and was known as ‘Willie’. He is my great-grandfather. Their 4th daughter was called Hannah (1878-1955) and was known as ‘Tottie’ to distinguish her from her mother.

Photo: Hannah and Williams Family, Birchlands 1898.

Photo: Birchlands 1898 (detail). Hannah and William are seated. 'Willie' is standing behind Hanna on the left, Tottie standing behind Hannah.

In 1902 William Taylor traveled to Auckland to buy horses but he disappeared from the ship “Zealandia” somewhere between Napier and Auckland. It was believed that he fell overboard, and may have been robbed for his money.

Photo: The clipper ship Zealandia