Leonard John Stuart

Pacific and Antarctic Ocean

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StuartC
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:43 pm

Leonard John Stuart

Post by StuartC » Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:04 pm

Hello Everyone,

Looking for birth place information for Leonard John Stuart, and fathers name.

What I know:
He was Born 10 Sept 1887 (WW1 Royal Flying Corps document)
Father - Unknown Stuart (Sea Captain, vessels between Aukland, NZ and East Coast Australia), Scottish origins. Died of fever at early age.
Mother - Sigrid Christophoson, born abt 1868, Akershaus, Oslo, Norway
He joined the Royal Flying Corps, in WW1(I have copy of RFC war records - no birth place details)
Gives permanent address in War record document as Suva Rewa, Fiji Islands.
Nationality stated in War record as New Zealander
Mother remarries John Thomson Collie in Suva Rewa, Fiji, Apr 1896 (Have confirmation of this)

Any help much appreciated

Regards
Stuart

trish1
Posts: 1320
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 3:38 am
Location: australia

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by trish1 » Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:30 am

NZ BDM indexes of that time are available online
https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Home/

This may be your birth record
1887/9745 Stewart Leonard John Sigrid Johanne John McMaster
You can change the dates on the search to get an exact birth date - which is 10th Sept 1887

The mother's name on the marriage, however, is different to your records - is there a Mork surname in her family records?
1886/2882 Segrid Johanne Mork John McMaster Stewart

Spelling seems to have changed on death index
1892/582 Stuart John McMaster 35Y

(I did check 5 Australian states with no success - Qld, NSW, Tas, Vic, WA - I have no cds for SA - which is not online)

Trish

trish1
Posts: 1320
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 3:38 am
Location: australia

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by trish1 » Sat Apr 17, 2010 3:55 am

I didn't find a birth for John in NZ - A possibility I see on the IGI for Scotland (civil births from Scotland at that time)

John Stewart - father Donald Stewart, mother Marion McMaster
born 14 Jun 1856 Hutchesontown Glasgow Lanark


Trish

StuartC
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:43 pm

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by StuartC » Sat Apr 17, 2010 7:26 am

Trish,

Thanks for the info. It has given me something else to investigate.

I think you have found the right person. I have not seen any "Mork" in her family, so that
begs the question was she married to someone "Mork" before marrying John McMaster
(Stuart?) Stewart?.

There is certainly some confusion over the name Stuart vs Stewart. My own research indicates
that it is Stuart, however who knows what the ear heard and the hand wrote !!

The Royal Flying Corps WW1 document for Leonard's surname is clearly "Stuart"

There is a Sigrid Johanna Collie (married to a John Thomson Collie) showing a birth of a daughter
Mary Sigrid Collie May 1909 in the New Zealand index for Wellington.

If you turn up anything else that would be great.

Best Regards
Stuart

trish1
Posts: 1320
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 3:38 am
Location: australia

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by trish1 » Sat Apr 17, 2010 8:42 am

I have not had alot to do with the naming of people using the patronymic naming system but that is probably where the surname of Christophoson originates and reverting to another name when immigrating could be quite possible. I would look for a father or grandfather Christophos Xxxxxx if researching Sigrid. If she was born c. 1868 she would be very young to have been previously married - pre 1886.

The NZ web site has details of what is contained on the certificates - I've not researched there at all so don't know if it is worth buying same. Something containing the parent names of John would definitely help with finding his birth.

I agree the Stuart/Stewart have to be interchangeable depending on who heard/wrote what. I did find when checking in Australia there were many more Stewarts than Stuarts at that point in time - no idea why this would be.

Trish

StuartC
Posts: 67
Joined: Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:43 pm

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by StuartC » Sat Apr 17, 2010 9:30 am

Trish,

Thanks for the above. Much appreciated.
I am off on hols today so it will give me things to think about and lookup
when I return.

Best Regards
Stuart

trish1
Posts: 1320
Joined: Mon Dec 26, 2005 3:38 am
Location: australia

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by trish1 » Sat Apr 17, 2010 12:37 pm

Enjoy the break :) It is the time of year for me to be jealous about the onset of Spring in the other half of the world.

Trish

Alan SHARP
Posts: 612
Joined: Tue Apr 06, 2010 9:41 pm
Location: Waikato, New Zealand

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by Alan SHARP » Sat Apr 17, 2010 11:03 pm

Greetings.

While brousing TS yesterday I saw a reference to the nz maritine index, which I had forgotten about. Just had a look and there are a number of references to both Stuart and Stewart as skippers/captians of vessels trading at NZ ports. Could be worth a look see.

alan.

StewL
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Location: Perth Western Australia

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by StewL » Sun Apr 18, 2010 12:40 am

Hi Stuart and Trish
Back then and even now, the spelling of Stuart/Stewart often depends on the person hearing the name and writing it down.
I often get documents etc addressed to me at work with the Stuart spelling :lol:
I have gotten used to it, and even when I politely correct it in a return message, it often comes back as Stuart :wink:
Stewart
Stewie

Searching for: Anderson, Balks, Barton, Courtney, Davidson, Downie, Dunlop, Edward, Flucker, Galloway, Graham, Guthrie, Higgins, Laurie, Mathieson, McLean, McLuckie, Miln, Nielson, Payne, Phillips, Porterfield, Stewart, Watson

Montrose Budie
Posts: 713
Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:37 pm

Re: Leonard John Stuart

Post by Montrose Budie » Sun Apr 18, 2010 4:52 pm

Hi Stewart

The original spelling, back in the 14th century was STEWART, deriving from the occupation of steward.

Since the French couldn't handle a 'w' like this, the versions STEUART and STUART became widespread.


As regards Sigrid Christophoson, that sounds like a patronymic, i.e. Sigrid, daughter of Christoph, although I thought that the usage in Norway, like it still is in Iceland, was that daughters took a matronymic surname, e.g. Sigrid Johannasdotter.

I don't know enough about Norwegian surnames to judge whether someone with a patronymic such as Sigrid Christophoson could also have a family surname such as Mork. Many such surnames derived from a place, even farm name.

FamilySearch, IGI, a patron submission, has the following entry -

SIGRID MORK
Birth: 1868 Oslo, Akershus, Norway
Father: PONTEUS LEONARD MORK Family (Hence the son's name!)
Mother: SOFIA CHRISTOFERSSON

From a look at a number of Norwegian names of the period, it looks to me like a fairly common usage was - {given name}{matronymic}{family name}, or, as here, the daughter adopting her mother's name, hence Sigrid Christofersson MORK.

Note that Akershus is a county, bordering Oslo, which has 22 municipalities, so to write Oslo, Akershus is meaningless!, - it's one or the other, not both.

mb

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