Ellison Family History
4 GENERATION CHART :
Thomas Ellison (English)
OUR MYSTERY MAN
We have not been able to find THOMAS ELLISON's parents, despite exhaustive searches. Tradition has it that he ran away from home to join a ship bound for the South Seas. It is likely that young Tom joined the crew of the Caroline as a cabin boy, perhaps 13 to 16 years of age. The Caroline was a whaling barque that departed London on 20 Nov 1828 bound for Sydney. The ship arrived in Sydney on 14 Mar 1829 , remaining for 3 months before heading off to the South seas to harvest whales. From 1829 until his death in 1840, his life is well plotted. Unfortunately, he drowned in a boating mishap when my great grandfather, Raniera was only a baby, and he doesn't seem to have left us any clues about his English family. The Shipping records from the port of London for 1828 have been lost or damaged, which adds to the difficulty in checking this lead.
As an interesting corollary to this, Tom Ellison , while playing rugby for the 1888 New Zealand Native Rugby team in England, had an interesting visit from an elderly gentleman after a match . The man was an Ellison, from Kent in England, and he was interested to know about Tom's family. Apparently, a close relative of his named Tom Ellison had run away from home, many years previously and the Family had never been able to find his whereabouts. Their enquires pointed to him boarding a ship for the South Seas. Knowing that Tom Ellison was from New Zealand, sparked his interest and initiated his meeting with our Tom after the game.
b: abt 1812 England
m: abt Sep 1835 Queen Charlotte Sounds,Marlborough,NZ
d: abt 17 Jun 1840 (28) Titahi Bay,Wellington
