How do I research Sarah Kent married 1875 in New Zealand?

Question

She has a generic name, a generic husband (Charles Smitt / Smith), and no birth record inside New Zealand. I don't know how she got there because I don't know where to find immigration records. I'm genetically related to a descendant of hers so I'm hoping to get her back to a MRCA. Can anyone help me find more information on Sarah Kent? I'm in Australia and have looked at b/d/m nz but only found a marriage record that will only be sent by mail (!)? Thank you. kg

Answer 1

Hi Kellie,

You've likely found the 1875 marriage record indexed at https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search.  There's a matching record index at https://wilsoncollection.co.nz/ that records they were married at Knox Church, Dunedin.  At that time many immigrants were arriving at Port Chalmers (Dunedin) and living in Otago or Southland.

The closest thing to an official NZ Immigration passenger list is stored here: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1609792 . At that time it's not very complete, but there is one "Sarah Kent" recorded as arriving at Otago in 1874 (an unmarried cook from Middlesex).

There are also passenger lists here, which are not complete but not too bad: https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ourstuff/genealogy/PassengersPortChalmers.htm  Browsing the list for Port Chalmers in Feb 1874 leads us to the ship Carnatic (1874).  In the list there is a Sarah Kent, 22, cook from Middlesex.

Now that might not be YOUR Sarah Kent, but it's an example of a workflow to find immigrants.  If Sarah was born in NZ, it would likely have been before 1860 and birth records may be a bit sketchy at that time, but it's a reasonable bet she was an immigrant.

You can also search the Wilson Collection (link above) for electoral roll and burial records for Sarah Smith - may take some browsing but look for Otago or South Island records for clues.

I also search https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena#/ to see if they left a will (or divorced, etc).  And search https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers for a death notice or obituary.

Hope that's a start to find NZers.

Comments

Finally, in the 1871 census I get about 36 Sarah Kents (no middle name) born in Middlesex in the early 1850s: https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1538354

But you might get lucky and find a "cook".  

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Thank you! It very well might be right as my John Kent 1806 is from Marylebone, Middlesex. But Sarah Kent is like looking for a needle in a haystack and I don't like my chances. This is an xdna line and I broke through this line's brick wall using it. but only to find another brick wall. Thank you again and blessings from Kuranda. kg

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Thanks Danny but this link didn't work. Was there a specific register you searched? Thank you.

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Hi Kellie, it seems there's some rubbish at the end of the link. It's the England Census 1871.