The ROBERTSONS of Shetland, latterly, Waianakarua near Ōtepopo, Otago, New Zealand. The house in the image above is “Chalgrove”, named so by James Robertson and his wife Grace. The name “Chalgrove” was given to the district in 1865 and at the same time, Hampden was also named a district. James can be found as resident in “Chalgrove” in 1866 on the Electoral Roll of the time. As an aside, the two names Hampden and Chalgrove stem from a conflict in England in the 1600s, where the English King was defeated.

Grace Margaret Laurenson and James Robertson (centre) outside their home “Chalgrove” in Waianakarua taken in late 1880s. Son Fleming on horse. “Waianakarua – Land of Promise”, CWS Moore., “Waianakarua” 1983

My 2nd Great Grandmother Grace Margaret LAURENSON, born 1831 in Shetland, emigrated to Waianakarua, near Ōtepopo, New Zealand in 1865 onboard the ship “Victory”. She raised 6 children, all to adulthood, and died at Wainakarua in 1895. Her husband, James ROBERTSON, born 1827 in Shetland, died in 1900 also at Waianakarua.

Along with her husband, they were of the generation that dispersed across the world creating a Shetland diaspora through many countries.

Emigration

Obviously, older records are not as accurate or as available as they are today. So the records that surround Margaret and James are a little sketchy. That said, family anecdotes relate the story that James left Shetland after the birth of his first daughter, Elizabeth, born Shetland in 1858.

Robertson, James, Farmer, “Chalgrove,” Waianakarua. This old settler who has resided in the district for about forty years, was born in the Shetland Isles in 1827. He was brought up to country pursuits, but went to sea at the age of seventeen, served an apprenticeship of four years, and was before the mast till 1852, when he left his ship in Melbourne. After about eighteen years’ experience on the Victorian diggings, Mr. Robertson arrived at Port Chalmers at the end of 1859, and at once settled in the Hampden district, where he bought a portion of his farm at the first land sale. He has 340 acres of freehold in a good state of cultivation.

Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1907. Southland and Otago Edition, page 461.