
Grace, also know as Grizel, was the oldest child of Fleming and Elizabeth and she was born on the 1 November 1831 at Bressay, Shetland, Scotland . She would have spent her younger days both at Bressay, then at Scalloway, which is on the west coast until the family moved again, but this time to Fort Charlotte in Lerwick.
Grace is listed as being a Dressmaker aged 19. At some point, she met James Robertson, who was a sailor and married him on the 12 November 1857 at Lerwick. She and James had a daughter together, before Grace emigrated to New Zealand on the ‘Victory’ in 1865.
Grace and her daughter were taken by lighter from the ‘Victory’ to Oamaru Harbour and were welcomed by James in the dinghy.
It would be good to point out that several of her siblings also emigrated to New Zealand – James and Fleming, and that some of other siblings left Shetland for mainland Scotland.
Grace and James had 6 children with all of them surviving to adulthood.
Born | Name | Children | Died | Notes |
6 Aug 1858 | Elizabeth | 5 | 23 Dec 1924 | Dunbar/McBride |
8 Feb 1866 | Grace | 5 | 13 Nov 1947 | Young |
24 Nov 1867 | James Allan | 3 | 1 Nov 1944 | Hyslop |
21 Oct 1869 | Katherine Paterson | 5 | 22 Jun 1924 | Frame |
1 Apr 1871 | Fleming | 7 | 21 Jul 1934 | Ross |
20 Mar 1875 | Janet | 4 | 13 Jan 1953 | Hyslop |
Grace died at ‘Chalgrove’ farm, Waianakarua on the 16 June 1895, predeceasing her husband by 5 years. She is interred in Otepopo Cemetery.
