From: Tony C
To: Jan
Subject: "The Parkhurst Boys"

Hello Jan,

I was reading through the website and in a series of correspondence you had entitled "Firth's Enquiry" mention was made of two Parkhurst Boys, Joseph WILLIAMS and Fredrick DAWES (changed his name to WILLIAMS).

My interest is that I am a mature Postgraduate at Southampton Unioversity here in the UK researching for a PhD on "The Parkhurst Boys", essentially attempting to write Biographies (life histories) for as many as I can. Tracing the 123 who landed in Auckland in 1842 and 1843 aboard the "St George" and the "Mandarin" has been extremely difficult and the two mentioned are ones that who "vanish" so to speak after they arrived.

I wonder if there is any possible way you can help, either from your own knowledge or people you are in contact with who are interested. I have tried so many avenues in NZ, sadly with little success.

My regards

Tony C

From: Jan
To: Tony C
Subject: "The Parkhurst Boys"

Hi Tony,

Unfortunately I know very little about the Parkhurst boys. I didn't know of their existence until Kerry emailed me about trying to trace his family roots... But he did have some documentation which he got from somewhere so I've emailed your enquiry on to him.

I think its very sad that these boys were uprooted from their families and sent away to live in some far-away land... especially when it sounds like many of them were not hardened criminals at all but maybe only slightly gone astray youths - but perhaps many of them did have the opportunity to make a new start and begin a life over in New Zealand without their past deeds hanging over their heads.

Anyway as I said I've forwarded you email to Kerry and I know that he was due to go to England around about now so I don't know if he'll be checking his emails while he's away or not. So you may have to wait until he gets back.

It's fairly amazing how the internet opens up these avenues for historical research.
My website is fairly insignificant when it comes to the scheme of things -being mostly to document little bit of history from my town and the people who have lived here - but I have found it interesting that people from the other side of the world often have enquiries about an ancestor which sometimes can lead to intersting results... it also brought Kerry here in New Zealand(a Firth Descendant) in touch with two distant cousins over there in England.

I hope Kerry can help you - But if you like I will add your request to the website and we'll see if anyone else out there responds and can help you out??? Let me know if you want this and I'll put it on - sometimes we get a response and other times not but I think it's worth a shot.

Regards
Jan