Arrival 1873/4 Port Chalmers Martin & Sarah Bourke

[Lucy2]

Hello bourke-shaw

Happy to be able to tell you that the BOURKE family were indeed aboard the ship "Otago" which arrived at Dunedin on or about 8 August 1874.

Oddly ?   ... they are indexed under the (unusual) surname of  HARTZ.
[I have some very scant notes on a BOURKE son who appears on the periphery of one of my families and so I know that his mother was Sarah KEELING (or KEALING) the wife of Martin BOURKE. ]

per "OTAGO" - arrived Dunedin 1874

HARTZ

- Martin - 35* years - occupation:  Ploughman - Nationality:   Limerick
- Sarah - 33 yrs
- Laurence - 13
- Fanny - 12
- Charles - 10
- William - 7
- Martin - 4
- Infant - 6 months
---------------------------------
Please see following post for some explanatory notes :

   ~  Lu

[Lucy2]

ooops  ... just having a few computer issues at the moment so will get back with some notes as soon as possible. 

   ~  Lu

[minniehaha]

Although shown as a ploughman on the 'Otago' passenger list, a snippet in the 'Otago Witness', dated 19.12.1874, under the heading EDUCATION BOARD, states Mr.Martin Bourke "who brought excellent certificates from Ireland....appointed probationer at Manuka Creek".

And later from the same newspaper, dated 27.11.1875, an appointment at Beaconsfield. [Of special interest to me as I am working on a history of the area.]

Minniehaha.

[Janette]

Further to Lu's reply 9# here is the passenger list

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11678-51611-78?cc=1609792

Cheers Janette

[Lucy2]

Hi bourke-shaw

Notes:

As can be seen in my previous post > HARTZ family to Dunedin, per "Otago" 1874 > the ages (35 [born c. 1839] and 33 years [bc 1841]) given in the ship's manifest for Martin (HARTZ) and his wife Sarah, don't quite "stack up" with the approximate years of birth calculated at the deaths of Martin and Sarah BOURKE.
[NZ Deaths:  1916 - Martin BOURKE - 79 years - bc 1837 //   1924 - Sarah BOURKE - 90 years - bc 1834. ]

Whilst I'm fairly confident that the HARTZ family are indeed Martin and Sarah BOURKE and children, I'm undecided as to whether the use of the name HARTZ (for the purpose of emigration) was "deliberate" ??      On the ship's manifest the family are also indexed as "HARTZ - Martin - 8 " (= 8 family members), and the two older children who were transferred to the single men's and women's quarters, appear again under those listings as 'HARTZ - Laurence and Fanny".   So not, I think, anything to do with a spelling error/ or mis-transcription, of the surname BOURKE.

The youngest "HARTZ" child, shown as "Infant - 6 months" is very possibly "Roger Harty BOURKE"*
born Tipperary, Ireland, on 1 October 1873 to Martin BOURKE and Serah [sic] KEELING.
[*  Roger Harty BOURKE died in New Zealand, aged 1 year, on 14 November 1874:   His namesake brother, (indexed as "Roger Patrick BURKE, Parents Martin & Sarah) was born (NZ) on 16 November 1875.   PapersPast has an obituary for the 2nd Roger Harty BOURKE - "Auckland Star" - 15 December 1934. ]

See continuation of "Notes" > next post    >>

   ~  Lu 


 

[Lucy2]

Notes:    HARTZ / BOURKE ... continued :

It was a relatively common ploy (especially with older men) to "tweak" their ages on emigration applications in order to meet the criteria set / or to be favoured by, the various authorities in NZ who were selecting immigrants.    Likewise occupations were often changed in order to gain selection for subsidised immigration.    Quite usually though, immigrant men who'd had all or part of their fares paid, were "bonded" to the occupation under which they'd been selected, for a period of time.

Edited to add:   Just considering the surname "HARTZ" (which doesn't sound at all Irish  ) ... and the christian name "HARTY", given to two of the BOURKE children 
They're rather similar aren't they ?
So there exists the possibility that a "change of surname" (from BOURKE) might have been deliberate ?    Maybe it was that the occupation of "schoolteacher" didn't qualify under the immigration scheme of the day ?   A "ploughman" say, or a "general labourer" would be more readily accepted.   [And it wouldn't be too difficult to revert to the BOURKE surname once in NZ. ]
    

   ~  Lu
       

     

[Lucy2]

I noticed that there are a number of BOURKE family trees published on the ancestry.com website.

None of them (from what I could see) appear to have picked up the details of the child named as Fanny (HARTZ) or BOURKE ... born c. 1863.   [None though have shown immigration details for Martin BOURKE and his family. ]

Fanny, may or may not be, the Fanny BOURKE who married in 1892 to a Henry BUTTERICK (indexed as BUTTRICK). ?    This lady was a school mistress at Wakanui school, North Canterbury, from 1889 to 1892.    (Given the occupation, she may be the daughter of Martin and Sarah BOURKE ?) 
Fanny BUTTERICK (death indexed as Frances BUTTERICK) aged 40 years, died in 1905.  Her obituary appears in the "Ashburton Guardian" - 28 January 1905 - page 3.  [She is buried at Ashburton cemetery ... but it seems somewhat odd that she shares a plot with a Sarah B. COOPER and that plot was purchased by an Edward B. COOPER in 1899    Can't see any family connection ?? ]

*   Which particular line of the BOURKE family are you following ?

   ~   Lu

 

[bourke-shaw]

 :)I am so, so impressed with the amazing information that you have all provided me with;  thank you soooo much! 
No wonder, as a newbie to this, I wasn't able to find out anything - the name HARTZ makes it really difficult (but sense in the way that you have explained it to me) - HARTY, is, I believe, Martin's mother's family name - Peggy Harty. I would be really interested in your ideas as to why they felt they needed to change their name. 
And the way you have explained the deceptive "ploughman" occupation makes good (if somewhat dishonest!!) sense. 
Thank you Janette, for the passenger list, which I have now photocopied.
Where is Beaconsfield, Minnehaha?  It would be interesting to know how long Martin taught there.
Re Fanny Bourke, Lu, I understand that she was named Frances - is Fanny an alternate name for Frances?  And, yes, she did marry Henry Butterick of Wakanui.  That does seem an interesting quirk to have her buried with Sarah Cooper - there must surely be some connection there? 

Lu - to answer your last question - Martin Bourke and Sarah Keeling are my great grandparents - so it is their line that I seem to be following with great interest.
Once again, I can't thank you all enough for sharing your time and energy and enthusiasm with me - its wonderful! 
Pam

[minniehaha]

Hi Pam,

Beaconsfield was about 20 kms north of Dunedin. Taking in the last of the rise of the Kilmog Hill, continuing along what is now State Highway 1 for about 1 to 2 kms. Maybe around the turn of the 20th century Beaconsfield amalgamated with Merton which abuted it.

As far as I am aware, the school was always at Merton and was never known as Beaconsfield school.

Mr. Bourke would have been one of the first to teach at the school.

Minniehaha.