Antipodes Bound

Margaret Nelson Hamilton was born in Londonderry in 1852. She was the oldest child of Margaret Graham Hamilton. On June 10, 1884, at age 32, she married Robert Newton Gordon. Soon after their marriage they left Ireland for New Zealand where they settled in the city of Dunedin in the southern reaches of the South Island. A year later their oldest son, George Stephenson Gordon was born in Dunedin. Four more sons followed. The youngest, Robert Hamilton Gordon being born in 1907, when his mother was 55 years old.

Dunedin and Environs

Dunedin

Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Dunedin is situated at the head of Otago Harbour. From the time of its foundation in 1848, the city has spread slowly over the low-lying flats and nearby hills and across the isthmus to the slopes of the Otago Peninsula.

The Otago Peninsula is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula runs parallel to the mainland for 20 km, with a maximum width of 9 km. It is joined to the mainland at the south-west end by a narrow isthmus about 1.5 km wide.

 

 

George Stephenson Gordon

George Stephenson Gordon

In 1912 George Gordon, at the age of 27, married Agnes Bertha Kinnear in New Zealand.  Soon after they left for Australia. George was working as an engineer in 1914 in the then town of Colac in the State of Victoria. George's first three children were born in Victoria; Donald in 1913, Hilda in 1916 and Phyllis in 1918.

Two months after Phyllis's birth, George's brother 2nd Lt Aldwyn Remington Gordon was killed in France during WW I. George and his family returned to New Zealand where his two youngest sons were born; Wallace in 1921 and Rodney in 1928.

According to his granddaughter Marissa, George Stephenson designed and manufactured the 'Gordon Vacuum Brake' - a popular milking machine - of which he sold many to Ireland.  He had a shop set up in Auckland selling these also.  He had various other patents - strangely one for a hairbrush too!

George died at age 79 in Auckland on New Zealand's North Island in 1964 .

George's Children

Donald K Gordon

George's first born was Donald Kinnear Gordon. He was listed as married and working as an engineer according to the 1946-54 Auckland, NZ electoral roles. Donald had a relatively short life, dying in Auckland at age 43 in 1958. Donald was survived by a wife (Gladys) and two daughters whose names remain private. Donald's next siblings were two sisters; Hilda Bertha Gordon (1916) and Phyllis Leslie Gordon (1918).

Hilda Gordon

Hilda moved to the United States in 1953 at the age of 37, crossing the Canadian border at Niagara Falls. She was already married to Judson Titchen at that time. She became a resident of Wyalusing, PA where she died in 2005 at age 89. She had two daughters (Roslyn and Jackie) who still live in Pennsylvania. 

Phyllis Gordon

Phyllis married Frederick Day before 1940 and they settled in the Auckland area. Frederick listed his occupation as a plasterer in the Auckland Electoral rolls for 1949. Frederick died in 1968. Phyllis in 2006.

They had four sons and two daughters. Graham Ronald Day (1940) married and had 3 sons and a daughter. He died in Auckland in 2012.  In 1981 Phyllis and her son Colin Gordon Day (1948), a painter who never married, plus the two other sons, John Frederick Day (toolmaker) and Rodney Paul Day (carpenter) were living at the same address on the North Island in Waikato, Matamata NZ. The men were all working in construction. Colin died from cancer in Hamilton, NZ in 2002. Rodney married and had one son. John married with no children. Of the two daughters, Alison married and had one daughter, Lynette married and had two daughters and a son.

Wallace McGregor Gordon

Wallace McGregor Gordon had 4 sons and lived 85 years, dying in Auckland in 2006. In 1940 at the beginning of the second World War he was a rope maker at Fort Takapuna Artillery Yard in Devonport. At the end of the war he was assigned to an armed infantry brigade. 

For more than 40 years (until at least 1981) Wallace lived in his parent's former home in Remuera, Auckland. [Looks like a nice home and a good neighborhood on Google maps.] By 1954 he was sharing the home with his wife Norah Gordon. During that period he listed various occupations in the Auckland Electorial roles, including shoemaker, laborer and roofer. Norah and Wallace had four sons. By 1978 a student, Stephen Paul Gordon (presumably one of his sons) had joined the household. 

Rodney Keith Gordon

The youngest of George's children was Rodney Keith Gordon, born in Auckland in 1928. Rodney missed the war since he was age 12 when it started. After the war he worked in various construction occupations, like tile maker, laborer, and filter hand (whatever that is?). He lived during those years in various parts of Auckland until at least 1981. He may have worked in Melbourne, Australia part of that time. He and his wife Zenaida raised three daughters (Marissa, Myra and Vilma) and had three grandsons at the time of his death. His obituary indicates that he was a very popular fellow. He died in 2016.

 

World War I - Aldwyn and Leslie Gordon

Aldwyn Remington Gordon

Two of Margaret Gordon's five sons ultimately died from their experience fighting in Europe during World War I.  The first being George's brother Aldwyn who died of wounds received fighting in France on August 26, 1918.

The second was Lance Corporal Leslie Graham Gordon who left Wellington, NZ with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force for England in May 1916. He succumbed some 15 years later (1933) at age 40 from the effects of poison gas received on the fighting front. Although Leslie married Helen Elizabeth Nelson in 1924, neither brother had any children.

 

Margaret's Two Youngest Sons

Margaret Nelson Hamilton's last two children were sons; Gordon Clanmore McDonald Gordon (1897) and Robert Hamilton Gordon (1907). Gordon spent his whole life in New Zealand, living in various places before he settled in Auckland. He started out as a clerk in 1919, then was a traveling salesman and was a clerk again by 1957. He died in Auckland in 1963.

In contrast, Robert moved to Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in his twenties. There in 1936 he listed his occupation as an evangelist.  He appears to have spent most of his Australian life saving souls in Sydney and its suburbs. In 1971 he died in St Leonards, a suburb of Sydney.

Both men married. One Family Tree indicates possible children, but does not identify them. The unknown offspring are six (3 girls and 3 boys) for Gordon and two boys for Robert.

End of the Story?

The story of the Gordon descendants in New Zealand ends our story of the Anna Love family diaspora from Ireland. Given that New Zealand is about as far away from Ireland that you can get in this world, it is probably a fitting ending to our story.

Nevertheless, should new information of significance be revealed on the web, future additions to the story may well appear.

Hamilton Bonanza

Location of Robert Hamilton 45 Foyle St merchant house in Londonderry

Margaret Graham, born in 1820, was the oldest of the two Graham sisters who remained in Ireland.  On June 13, 1849 she married Robert Hamilton in Castlederg, Ireland. Two daughters (Elizabeth Donnell and Margaret Gordon) and a son (Robert Hamilton, Jr) survived infancy.

The parents lived on Foyle Street in Londonderry, Ireland for the rest of their lives. The historic Derry map on the left above shows the 45 Foyle Street location of the Hamilton family home, merchant house and business.  As can be seen in the map, the location was near the Derry Bridge and between the old city wall and the River Foyle.

Subsequently, according to a 1910 town directory,  that address was the location of P. Sweeney's restaurant. Today, the location, thanks to "urban renewal", has been swept clear of historic structures and is the site of a tourist center.

Robert Hamilton's Estate

Robert Hamilton Sr. was 76 years old when he passed away in 1893. His wife Margaret Graham Hamilton, daughters Elizabeth and Margaret and son Robert, Jr inherited his estate. The Irish records estimated the value of the estate as £18,700. Taking into account changing values over time, this is the equivalent to £2.25 million in pounds today or $2.47 million in dollars. However it is measured, Robert Hamilton built up quite an estate over his lifetime.

The estate bequeathed to his wife and children included the house and business located at 45 Foyle Street in Londonderry plus a home and farm called Castle Farm in County Donegal.

"The Castle" in Newtown Cunningham

A December 1901 For Sale notice stated the farm contained 140 acres of land "in the highest state of cultivation" about six miles east by road from Londonderry and a five minute walk from the railroad station in Newtowncunningham. According to the 1901 Census the house contained brick or stone walls, 15 windows in the front, and 19 rooms. 

No present day record or photo could be found for a Castle Farm. However, Wikipedia does mention for Newtown Cunningham: "The village's architecture includes stately Anglo-Irish "big houses", now known as the Manse and the Castle, which reflect the village's colonial and Presbyterian history."  

Until a better alternative arises, I am assuming this building pictured above is "The Castle"  of the Castle Farm mentioned in Robert's will.

 

Robert Hamilton Sr's Will

Winding up the estate

Robert Hamilton Sr's five page will is an excellent example of micromanaging from beyond the grave. Given all the asides and process directives included to assure his wishes were implemented into the future, it is a difficult document to understand.

My simplified take on the will is that the estate was bequeathed to his family as follows:

• Castle Farm to Robert Jr. subject to his continuing payments on the mortgage.
• Family Trust established under the direction of Robert Jr and two non-family businessmen to own and manage the Foyle Street business for the benefit of Robert Jr and to assure sufficient funds for the other bequests.
• £500, first choice on home furniture and a £100 annual income to his wife Margaret for the rest of her life.
• £2000 (equivalent to £252,000 today) each to daughters Margaret Gordon and Elizabeth Donnell.

In May 1897, following the death of his mother Margaret in April of that year,  Robert Jr announced in in a Statutory Notice to Creditors (shown here) that he was no longer interested in running his father's business and would wind up its business and affairs. Said Notice indicates that after July 1897 the remaining assets of Robert Hamilton Sr were to be distributed amongst the "Parties entitled thereto".

Robert Hamilton Jr's Death

 

Robert Hamilton Jr  Death Certificate

Following the liquidation of the Foyle Street business and property, Robert Hamilton Jr and his wife Maggie McCandless Hamilton moved to the Castle Farm in Donegal.  In 1901 the farm was sold. Robert and his wife then disappeared from the record until 1918. That year a death certificate documents his death as a widower in Memphis, Tennessee. There is no record of any children.

Elizabeth Lucy Hamilton Donnell

Elizabeth Lucy Hamilton, Robert, Jr's sister, was the youngest child of Margaret Graham and Robert Hamilton.

William Donnell

In 1883, at age 25, she married a 41 year old Londonderry ship agent named William Donnell. She was his second wife.

The first wife, named Louisa Augusta Marshall, died in 1881, leaving William with four young children, the youngest about a year old.

William Donnell died on Dec 9, 1925. Elizabeth Hamilton lived until 1938, enabling her to help raise all of William Donnell's children. 

Elizabeth and William had an additional two children between them; Aileen Grahame Gwynne Donnell (1886) and Eric Douglas Donnell (1888).

Aileen married Alfred Gardiner in Londonderry in 1910.  They gave birth to three daughters (Oonagh, Brenda and Kathleen) in their first 10 years of marriage.  Aileen and Alfred died in Bristol, England in 1945 and 1959, respectfully.

Eric Douglas Donnell married Olive Margaret Ramsden-Tagore in 1918 in Cuckfield, Sussex, England. They had two children: Leslie Eve and Desmond.


Margaret Nelson Hamilton


Margaret Graham Hamilton's other daughter was Margaret Nelson Hamilton. She married Robert Gordon and her story is told in the next post: Antipodes Bound.