Isabella Anderson (née Allan, 1826–1905) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

pioneer. She gave birth to the first Pakeha child born in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

Early life

Anderson was born in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

to John and Agnes Allan in 1826. The family of ten (four daughters, four sons and both parents) emigrated to

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

on board the ship ''New Zealand'', arriving in 1842. Two years later she married John Anderson, and her sister Janet married Alexander McKay, who had emigrated to New Zealand from Scotland with John and his father James in 1840. The two newly-wed couples and John's father decided to move to

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

as they had heard that a Scottish settlement was planned for the province. They hoped to start farming there. Just before leaving Nelson, they heard that the

New Zealand Company The New Zealand Company, chartered in the United Kingdom, was a company that existed in the first half of the 19th century on a business model focused on the systematic colonisation of New Zealand. The company was formed to carry out the principl ...

, which was responsible for planning the settlement, had closed and that all plans were on hold. However, as their preparations were already made, the group decided to make the journey regardless. The voyage took six weeks, on the chartered ship ''Ann and Sarah,'' arriving in Dunedin on 30 December 1844. Anderson gave birth to a son, named James after her father-in-law, shortly before disembarking.

Adult life

The Andersons settled in an inlet which would later be named

Andersons Bay Andersons Bay (sometimes spelt in the grammatically correct former form Anderson's Bay, and often known locally simply as "Andy Bay") is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located in the southeast of the city's urban area, sout ...

after them. Anderson's sister and her husband settled at

Port Chalmers Port Chalmers is a town serving as the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast of Dunedin's city centre. History Early Māori settlement The origi ...

and the sisters often visited each other by boat. Anderson learnt to shoot, and provided for the family by shooting native

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New Wor ...

. She was often accompanied on her shooting trips by a young

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

woman, Akina. On 30 December 1846, Anderson gave birth to a son, named John after her husband, who is considered to be the first European child born in Dunedin. In 1849, after John's father died, the couple moved to Port Chalmers and then in 1853 moved to

East Taieri East Taieri is a small township, located between Mosgiel and Allanton in New Zealand's Otago region. It lies on State Highway 1 en route between the city of Dunedin and its airport at Momona. It lies close to the southeastern edge of the Taieri ...

and later to

Tapanui Tapanui is a small town in West Otago in New Zealand's South Island, close to the boundary with Southland region. It is a forestry town at the foot of the Blue Mountains and the Pomahaka River. Popular pastimes include deer stalking and trout ...

. In 1862 they bought land at

Waiwera Waiwera is a small town in the north of the Auckland Region in New Zealand. Waiwera is 6 km north of Orewa, 6 km south-east of Puhoi, 23 km south-east of Warkworth and approximately 35 km from the Auckland City centre. The ...

and farmed there. After John's death, Anderson continued to farm the land until her death in 1905. There is a memorial to Anderson and her husband at the Andersons Bay Cemetery, where their children are buried. Anderson and her husband however are buried elsewhere.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Isabella 1826 births 1905 deaths 19th-century New Zealand people Scottish emigrants to New Zealand People from Dunedin Settlers of Otago