By Dr. Mike Gosling
Bula vinaka,
I have had several requests from individual family members for information on their respective “Fiji Father”, which they are finding very difficult to source. As Editor of this website I do not do research on Fiji families, relying on family members to research and write their article on their forebear.
However, it occurred to me that we could have a webpage where we collate this information for all to access and continue their research.
I am seeking sources of historical information that will enable readers to obtain information on their families. Please let us have your sources of information by adding it in the Comments section below. Additionally, would families seeking information on their forebears please post their request here. This will allow others who may have some information on your family to provide it here or contact you direct.
Vinaka,
Mike Gosling (Ed.)
National Archives of Fiji
Fiji Museum
Hi Mike
I have just stumbled across your site. My great grandfather is William (Bill) Borthwick who discovered gold in Lautoka in the 1930s and is buried in the area.
While I have found some essays on his gold discovery and partnership with Pat Costello, I am finding it very difficult to get any information on whether he was there with family. His wife (wives) are a bit of a mystery.
I know my grandmother lived in Fiji from age 13 (so approx 1912) and was married and had her first children there but nothing is known about her mother.
Do you have any good sources I could try for residential addresses, school records, or death notices, obituaries, etc?
Thanks for your help
Alison
Hi Alison
I am your cousin and hope you have had some luck with this. We know he died June 1944 aged 84 (from Trove site). His wife, if they were ever married, is very much a mystery. On Nana’s birth certificate the name Walker appears which seems another puzzle or it may have been her biological birth name. I believe her adoptive mother’s name was Margaret but that goes nowhere in my searches. I have a photo of him if you would like to see that. The other curious thing is that he went to school either with JM Barrie or around the same time.
Good luck with your research it is such a vortex
Jenny
Hi Mike, I’m finding your site very interesting, having just returned from Suva on a research trip. My interests are on my maternal side: Nancy Morton (died 1875 Suva), her children; Thomas James Morton (pilot for Union SS Co., lived on The Extension Riley/Knollys Sts), & daughter, Marion (married George Boyes Evans on Levuka 1869, died Naviti 1870), & granddaughter, May Bessie Evans (born Naviti 1870). Morton who co-founded the Emporer Goldmine in 1934. On my paternal side: Ida, Francis & Donald Dunstan.
Regards
Marilyn
James Butler Swann (1834 – 1901) Buried Levuka 2nd great-grandfather Arthur James Swann (1857 – 1926) Buried Suva son of James Butler Swann Myrtle Evelyn Swann (1891 – 1984) Ashes Suva daughter of Arthur James Swann Betty Frances Isabel Crabbe (1922 – ) Born Cicia daughter of Myrtle Evelyn Swann Arthur Ross Gregory The son of Betty Frances Isabel Crabbe
I am looking for a beautiful woman who back in 1969-70 helped a good friend of mine while they were in the United States Armed Forces Unit in Fijji. Her name was Emily Pickering and all I can tell you is she gave birth to a son in 1970. We had a picture of her but it is worn pretty good. Can anyone help me find information on this wonderful woman?
There is a facebook page on the Pickerings from Fiji – https://www.facebook.com/groups/pickeringfamilies/
I am sure one of them will know.
Diana. If you have not yet heard from or of Emily, please email me.
Hi,
I am trying to track down any information that you may have regarding Arthur Wilson (parents Matthew and Ann Wilson). I believe he may be my great grandfather. My grandfathers name was Charles Wilson (dob April 1908) and was raised in a Methodist orphanage in Fiji. His mother was Indian and father was European.
Thanks
Raylene Wilson
Charles Wilson from Fiji is my nana… Found your name in a search… Would love to chat more if you are still searching.
Hi,
I would love to chat.
My email is raylenezt@hotmail.com
Hi, sorry if morbid, but my dad Tom Allan used to know a Wilson in Suva who was the …hangman.
Hello. My name is Steve Macomber. Originally from Boston, MA USA. I am related to John Macomber who left Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA for Fiji in the early 1800s. My father visited Fiji years ago to connect with other Macombers there and I hope to do the same (with my wife and three children) in the near future.
All the best!
Steve
Captain Voss and the Tilikum
In 1901 Captain John Voss sailed a native dugout canoe from Victoria British Columbia Canada to Suva. I am researching him and his voyage and have found a number of references to people he met in Suva. I am hoping that you will be able to tell me something about them Captain Wooley (port harbour master?) Dr. Carvey (Port Medical Officer?) Mr. Horne (who accompanied them in the patrol boat) The Governor and his wife (names unknown to me)
Do you think you or your colleagues can shed any light on these folks? Thanks in advance to you for any help at all.
Since my original post I have found out that the Governor was Sir William Lamond Allardyce GCMG (1861-1930) then Acting-Governor of Fiji. Finding the identities of the other individuals will be much more difficult and possibly impossible from this great distance.
I want to find out more about family ancestry. This is what I have been told so far…
My father’s mother’s father’s grand father was Ratu Jale Nacagilevu a Chief of Kadavu. He was one of the 4 chiefs that signed the Deed of Session document when Fiji was seeded to Great Britain more than 100 years ago. Fiji became Independent 1970.
Ratu Jale was married to Nina La Saque (a French Woman). Their son Ratu Jale Na Rokette married Margaret Randolf who had a son called Eliki (Eric)Na Rokette who married Lice Pickering and had Nanna and her sisters Nina and Annie and brother Charlie.
Lice Pickering’s grand father was Charles Pickering who was deported from London for counterfeit. POM= Prisoner of Mother England. He had a child from an Irish prostitute from the same ship.
Charles Junior jumped ship in Fiji and impregnated 8 different women. One of them had 3 daughters; Lice, Emily and another lady.
I am actually wanting to find more about Nina La Saque and was hoping somebody might know something.
Bula Leanne!
I am fascinated with your story, because you posted it, my husband happened to stumble on it, luckily for me, we may be forever linked, as in “we are related”. Anyway my mum’s name was Mareta, but I saw documents that had her name as Margaret Williams and Margaret Randolph. Her first cousin’s name was my uncle Charlie Rockette. My mothers sister, Aunty Lice, and they had a brother Uncle Buoi? I am not sure of the spelling, I think it’s Kiribati. Growing up, we called him Uncle “Boy”. Anyway, I don’t know much about my mum’s family history, she passed away when I was 12. However, I just missed a big Randolph family reunion this year in Fiji, organized by my cousin Florence Moore. I gave her your website to reply to you. My name is Joanna (Kliemann) Sztuk. My maiden name is Kliemann, my dad is Kiribati/German, also deceased. I am on face book: Joanna Sztuk, or email me please: josztuk@yahoo.com
I am living in Maryland, U.S.
I know I will be hearing from you soon…
Take care
Hi, I was unfamiliar with the relevant location to enter my post so I posted my request in Kailomas In Fiji
This is the post “I am hoping someone may help in tracing my ancestors who lived in Fiji.
In Sep 1872, William Edward Mackie sailed from Sydney to Fiji on the Scotsman. I believe my great great grandmother Helen or Ellen Marion Blanche Mackay born Mackie, his sister, then possibly separated, widowed, or newly remarried, accompanied him on the voyage. At some time before 1876 she married Richard Leigh either before she left Sydney or in Fiji.
The Fiji Times records that in Feb 1874 Richard Leigh & William George Weston whom Helen married in June 1876 in Loma Loma, were jurymen on the inquest in Levuka into the death of William Brewer, co-owner of Brewer & Joske’s Sugar Mill & Plantation.
According to an 1884 birth certificate Helen appears to have borne an unnamed son (deceased by 1884), possibly in Fiji to William Weston, then had two daughters to him in Queensland. His occupation was recorded as Master Mariner.
It is possible he may have left Helen sometime after 1887. A William Weston sailed on the Ovalau from Levuka to Auckland in 1892. In 1893 a William Weston, seaman, drowned in Sydney. According to my cousin Loloma, one of her grandchildren Helen operated a trading post in Fiji. Helen died in Brisbane in 1943 aged 97. Her brother possibly left Fiji for New Zealand & may have died there in 1879.
Your help would be most appreciated, thanks Candy”
I am trying to find a childhood friend of mine from Vatukoula, Gwen Grey who attended St Joseph Secondary School. Her younger sister Edwina attended Xavier College.
Edwina became a nurse and now she is in Australia. Check FB for Edwina Caesar and you can message her to find out about your friend if this is the right Edwina. 🙏
I would like to know if anyone has a photo of Benjamin James Traill, my wife’s grandfather.
When we were in Fiji last time we saw a photo of him hanging on a wall in Levuka, maybe Alice Johnsons house or another relatives house but have forgotten who.
Benjamin was my mother-in-laws father (the late Lola Marjorie Fraser, nee Traill of Levuka.
Any info on Benjamin would be gratefully appreciated.
Dale Mulligan
Hi Dale,
I’ve just come across this page after searching for info about my ancestry. My great grandmother is the late Vera Waring (nee Eastgate) who is the daughter of Christiana Traill, who I believe was a daughter of Benjamin James Traill. A trip is being planned to Fiji later in 2020 and it would be great if you had any knowledge about the family to share.
Thanks,
Tayla Pearce
I would like to know if anyone has information regarding John William and Alice Anne Groves (nee Rogers), married 16th June 1895. He was a baker and she d/duties. He was living at Nausori, Fiji and she in Suva, Fiji.
The question is why they were in Fiji and how long did they live there for before returning to NZ.
Bula vinaka!
I’m helping a friend with her mothers research. Trying to trace a Henry (aka Enelē, maye a Sāmoan form of Henry) Wilson. All her mother can remember is that he was born in Fiji and that his mother may have been of Sāmoan descent as she (the mother) left Fiji with her son (Henry) and went back to her family in Vailele, Sāmoa. Mothers name could have been Maselina. Henry married 3 times to Sāmoan ladies in Sāmoa but it’s his parents we’re trying to track down.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Hi All ,
My Great Great Grandfather was James V Tarte of Taveuni. He arrived in Fiji in 1869. I am trying to find information on his wife (Great Great Grandmother Clarissa or Clara as she was known). All I know is that they were married in Levuka. It is reported to be the first European marriage/wedding in Fiji. Does anyone have any info or can anyone suggest where I can look to find info on this marriage. I am trying to find out more info on Clarissa.
Many Thanks
Dave
My grandfather was Dr Paley and I spent many visits to him as I grew up the first in 1947 and many more since. After he died I did visit again but I found that Suva was not how I remembered it. His home in Hercules Street Suva had gone and it was not the place that I remembered. I would love to hear more of the Suva history that I remember.