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Re: Patrick Sinclair of Fort Michillimackinac



At 18:38 29/02/00 -0800, you wrote:
>Thanks Margaret,
>
>I would be very interested but please don't go to too much trouble. 
>Actually I believe John like William also came to New Zealand.
>Is Latheron far from  Wick?
>Do you know anything much about the Lyall sept, ie how it came about?
>Was there much happening around wick in the 1840's ish that would have 
>made the likes of William and John leave Scotland to come to Australia and 
>New Zealand?
>Thanks Heaps,
>Jenny
>
>Jenny,


I am amazed that you, a New Zealander, should know so little about the part 
the Sinclairs played
and still play in the affairs of your country:

         The Hon. Andrew Sinclair was Colonial Secretary for New Zealand 
from 1844 to 1861
         James Sinclair from Nybster, nr Wick and his wife Christina 
Sutherland were the founders of Blenheim
         John Sinclair who was born at Latheron in Caithness (where my own 
family and that of Margaret comes
                 from) was Mayor of Invercargill.  His parents emigrated to 
New Zealand in 1859 and took up
                 land at Taeri which is about 28 miles from Dunedin.
                 This John Sinclair married a Jessie McIntyre who was born 
in Argyll in Scotland.
         Roland St Clair who wrote "The St Clairs of the Isles", which is 
considered to be the definitive work on
                 the St Clair/Sinclair family, emigrated to New Zealand 
with his parents in 1865.  At the age
                 of six he was highest in his class at Newton Academy which 
was an Auckland Primary School
                 and at the age of 12 he was the highest of all pupils in 
the State schols of Wellington.
                 He was a keen swimmer and rower and founded the NZ Amateur 
Swimming Association in
                 1890.  He set up swimming centres throughout the whole of 
Australasia.  In compliment to
                 him the St Clair Cross was introduced to honour those who 
were responsible in saving lives.
                 in 1892, he met with an accident which compelled him to 
use crutches for 9 months during
                 which time he wrote "The St Clairs of the Isles".  The NZ 
Government ordered up 500 copies
                 of this book so you are bond to find it in various 
libraries.  The book was published in Auckland
                 by H. Brett, General Printers and Publishers, Auckland 1898.
                 Roland's family came from Orkney

James Leask Sinclair and his, wife, Mary Mowatt travelled to NZ in the ship 
"King of Italy" in 1865.  He was
                 given a crown grant of 180 acres of land at Hokianga.  He 
held various posts in the Educational
                 Department but eventually settled  at Otahuhu where he 
died.  He was a great writer with a
                 vast library of 3,000 books which he left to Auckland 
University College.  They had 12 children
                 all of whom (apart from William who had died on the "King 
of Italy" on his way to NZ) settled
                 in NZ

>By the end of the 19th Century, there were over 1,000 Sinclairs in New 
>Zealand.  Today, there may be 20
  times that number which should allow you to form a Clan Sinclair Society. 
A quick look at the Auckland
Telephone Directory of 1995 shows numerous Sinclairs as does that of 
Warkworth-Wellsford, Northland,
Bay of Plenty, Waikato, King Country, Thames Valley, Wairarapa, Manawatu, 
Wanganu, Gisborne,
Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Wellington, Nelson and Bays, Christchurch, Timaru and 
Oamaru, Marlborough,
West Coast and Buller, Dunedin, Southland, Otago, Invercargill, etc.

Today:

Susan Sinclair is the present Member of Parliament for Titirangi 
Constituency and can be contacted on
                 Tel: (09) 818 1115

Camilla, the daughter of the late Robin Sinclair, the 2nd Viscount Thurso 
of Ulbster, is also a resident of NZ
and would be an excellent person to help in establishing a Clan Sinclair 
Society.  If this interests you, her
name and address can be supplied to you directly by our Chief, Malcolm 
Sinclair, Earl of Caithness.
Incidentally, she is of the same family as Major General Patrick Sinclair 
of Fort Michillimacinac fame which
brings us back to the reason for your contribution to the Sinclair 
Discussion list in the first place.  The wheel
has gone full circle.

Hope this will give you some encouragement and realise that you are not the 
only Sinclair voice in NZ - a
country which has been seen as another Scotland in the Southern Hemisphere.

Niven Sinclair (who is directly related to numerous Sinclairs in Canada, 
U.S.A., Australia and New Zealand
                 and who has a house in Latheron, Caithness from where they 
all originated).

>>From: milamba <milamba@milamba.com>
>>Reply-To: sinclair@mids.org
>>To: sinclair@mids.org
>>Subject: Re: Patrick Sinclair of Fort Michillimackinac
>>Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 07:24:07 +1100
>>
>>Hi Jenny,
>>
>>The William I was looking at had a brother John born in 1825, but in
>>Latheron.  No mother is mentioned.  I'll hunt a little further for you if
>>you'd like.
>>
>>And yes, Lyall is a Sept of Clan Sinclair.
>>
>>Regards
>>Margaret
>>
>>
>>At 06:49 AM 01/03/2000 , you wrote:
>>>Dear Margaret,
>>>
>>>Do you know any more about the people you mentioned. I think William may
>>>have had a brother John. On William's death certificate it says that JAmes
>>>would have been a farmer. William was either born in 1822 or 1823 in Wick.
>>>
>>>William married in wick, in 1850 to Barbara Lyall - that is a sept of
>>>Sinclair is it not?
>>>Her parents were Henry Lyall and Janet Sinclair.
>>>
>>>Jenny
>>>
>>>
>>>>From: Margaret Stokes <milamba@labyrinth.net.au>
>>>>Reply-To: sinclair@mids.org
>>>>To: sinclair@mids.org
>>>>Subject: Re: Patrick Sinclair of Fort Michillimackinac
>>>>Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 17:14:39 +1100
>>>>
>>>>Hi Jenny,
>>>>
>>>>There was a James Sinclair that married Margaret McKay on 14 March 1822 at
>>>>Latheron
>>>>and a William Sinclair christened Feb 1823 to a James Sinclair of that
>>>>area... Could that be them?
>>>>
>>>>Margaret
>
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