Mary was born in 1840 Glasgow, Scotland to Henry Gillispie and Mary Rae. She emigrated to New Zealand on the “Robert Henderson” arriving at Port Chalmers 31 December 1870. The crew and passengers were forced to Quarantine for a week due to a scarlet fever outbreak on-board the ship.
For me these facts need more work because there are several questions about Mary (and John) that need answering:
1 If Mary arrived on the “Robert Henderson” in Dec 1870, she gave birth in Jan 1871 to a daughter Mary. That seems unlikely.
2 I cannot find any original manifests to the ship passenger list cited below at either Archives NZ or Familysearch. There is nothing in Paperspast or any corroborating information on Mary’s arrrival.
3 Given that the family did not hold a wedding at Greenlaw, then there is a suggestion here that perhaps Mary became pregnant to John, had the child and then married at the Registry Office. Possibly Mary had a child to another man? There are just so many questions about her.
DNA evidence links me to several living Browns; descendants of John and Mary.
Mary is registered with the following detail for the voyage:
| Gillespie | Mary Rae | Craigend Muir, Springburn, Glasgow | Domestic servant |
As appearing on http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ourstuff/genealogy/RobertHenderson.htm
There is interest in Mary Gillespie and her past prior to leaving for New Zealand. I have located one record on Scotlandspeople and that was for a Catholic birth of Mary Gillespie and her parents given as Henry Gillespie and Mary Rae in 1840.
The following is a Catholic wedding between John Gillespie and Mary Rae in Glasgow, 1840. The connection is unproven at this stage. Some in the family have suggested that Mary was of Irish stock too.
