Catherine Fitzgibbon, possibly from Cork

[johnbarr]

Hi,
I'm trying to trace back Catherine Fitzgibbon who emigrated to New Zealand as a 20yr old "Colonial Nominated Single Woman" on the sailing ship "Asia" from Cork, Ireland in 1874.  (not sure what that means but presume it is some sort of assisted passage for single women)

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Rody Lee]

I found this definition of Colonial Nominated:

The Immigration and Public Works Act 1870 provided 1,000,000 for immigration. The Act envisaged two kinds of immigrants, those recruited by the New Zealand Agent-General and those nominated by people already living in New Zealand. Those in the latter category were known as Colonial Nominated Immigrants. The nomination scheme continued until the early part of 1891. It resulted in the arrival of 31,693 people, all of who were sponsored by persons already living here.

at: http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/FamilyHistory/PassengerLists/WhichPort/

[johnbarr]

Thanks Rody, that's helpful and an interesting site.
Looks like they have a lot of records at Christchurch, but unfortunately, only on microfiche which means a visit in person. I'll have to be patient until I can find time to travel down there. 
I wonder if the records show who in NZ nominated them, that would be interesting.

Added later:
The staff at ChCh Library were very helpful, but apparently their microfiche record of Nominated Immigrants is very difficult to read, and yielded nothing.
Next I contacted Archives in Wellington, and received what appears to be a 'stock' reply asking for payment before they would start any search. I guess it will just have to wait until I am in Wellington.

[sarabeth]

Hello,
  My Fitzgibbon family came from Ballyporeen, Tipperary....I will look through my records and see if a Catherine shows up...Is that her maiden name or her married name??
    Sara Carroll

[johnbarr]

Thanks for the offer Sara.

Fitzgibbon is her maiden name.
Catherine travelled to New Zealand as a single woman on ship "Asia" with lots of other "Colonial Nominated Immigrants" in 1874, and shortly after arrival married Benjamin Thatcher, who was a single man on the same voyage. Shipboard romance    Passenger list shows her age as 20yrs, so we guess her birth year to be approx 1854.

Family oral history says she came from "Cork", but that is where the ship departed from, so could refer to that OR her birthplace

[sarabeth]

Cork was one of the major ports that our ancestors left from.  My ancestors left from there too.  She could have very well come from Cork.  Fitzgibbon is a common name so she  could have come from anywhere else.  Do you know her parents' names?  The names would be listed on her marriage record(hopefully). 

[johnbarr]

We are still trying to trace the origin of this woman.

The only extra information found since last post is this reference to some of the passengers on ship "Asia", which could include our Catherine.

Otago Witness May 9 1874 pg 17
Did 33 of the female immigrants by the Asia hail from the Reformatory at Queenstown, or did they not? Officers and and passengers declare that the ship did lie off Queenstown Harbour, and that then and there 33 girls were shipped from the Reformatory.

Would there still be any records of inmates of the 'Reformatory' from 1874??

John B

[annclare]

Guy's Directory shows an orphanage run by the Sisters of Mercy in Cobh/Queenstown at the time. I don't know if any records are available but you could write to the the convent of Mercy Cobh Co Cork to inquire.

http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/streetandtradedirectories/1875-6guyscountycity/1875-6pages290to361/GuysAlmanac1875Pages290%20to%20295.pdf

annclare

[johnbarr]

Good morning annclare,
thank you for your reply, and very informative pages on Queenstown.
It's  a shame there is no mention of a 'reformatory'. I'm not sure that an orphanage would be described that way.  Perhaps the reformatory was part of the Convict Depot mentioned on Spike Island
I'll try to find more details about that.

John  B