NSW Unasisted Immigrants 1826-1922 Look Up Please

[SueChris]

Hi, Would someone be able to help me with a look up please for

Mrs Ellen HURRION who is on this NSW Passenger List for Unassisted Immigrants but I can not access the info on this website.

If this is the right person then it will give us the answer to one of our family mysteries as to where she went. 

Hoping someone is able to help. Thanks very much

Sue

[PrueM]

Hi Sue 

Here is the information from the passenger list index:

Mrs Ellen HURRION, arrived Sydney on 25 Aug 1881 on the Wakatipu

Hope that helps
Cheers

Prue

[PrueM]

P.S.  A quick check of the newspapers on the NLA's website shows that the Wakatipu was a regular steamer between NZ (not sure where) and Sydney.

[SueChris]

Thanks Prue look very promising as Hurrion is a very unusual name and I would be surprised if there was another Ellen Hurrion in NZ at the time. 1881 is spot on. They lived in Taranaki.

 Her husband was Henry Mercer Hurrion although when they arrived in NZ in 1875 they dropped the Hurrion and became Mercer. This was because Henry was born before his parents married so was given his father's surname as his middle name and his mother's name as his surname  I have never been able to find out what happened to Ellen as Henry remarried in Sydney in 1885 so something happened although on his 2nd marriage cert he called himself a bachelor!  May be legally Ellen could not enter Australia by the name of Mercer as her marriage cert was under Hurrion. The same would have applied to Henry and the children born in Kent were registered under Hurrion, the children born in NZ were registered under Mercer.

 Would you mind checking to see if you can find her husband and children listed on the same ship?

Henry or Harry Mercer
Children
William
Mary Ann
Ada
Alice
Frederick
Charles
Edward

I have checked the NSW BMD site many times looking for Ellen (she was christened Mahala, but was also called Amelia and Alice on some census records) but have never been able to find a death. It is possible if it is on as Hurrion that this has been transcribed incorrectly. This name has been spelt Hurrirn, Herrion, Hurrien on other records. Doesn't make things easy.

Thanks very much for your look up.

Sue

[SueChris]

I've just checked the birth cert for Edward and his birth was Nov 1880 not 1881, so this is looking very promising.

Ellen may have left the family and gone to Sydney on her own, so if someone is able to check for the other Mercer family members that would help me work this out. The fact that she has gone back to using the surname Hurrion makes me think she has left her husband and children in NZ.

Thanks

[PrueM]

Hi Sue 

Ellen is the only HURRION in the entire index of Unassisted Immigrants, I'm afraid 

Cheers
Prue

[SueChris]

Thanks Prue, but were the rest of the family as listed above under Mercer for their Surname?

Thanks

[PrueM]

Oops! 
Sorry Sue, I should have read your message properly!

I checked for Mercers, but nothing really stands out.  There are none of the forenames you listed, and a search for just "Mercer" throws up a few possibles but no way of knowing really, as no initials are given.  There don't seem to be any matches for a Mr Mercer and several children.

Of course Henry and children had to have arrived sometime before 1885, but they don't appear in this database unfortunately. 

Prue

[SueChris]

Than you very much. I suspect maybe only Ellen went initially - now the challenge I have is finding what happened to her.

Thanks for your help. I guess I am lucky in that she is listed in full with a christian name.