History

The Campbells have a long and proud history, famously full of bloodshed, betrayal and revenge. The story starts in Scotland around AD 1260, and from 1840 switches to New Zealand when Moses and Jessie emigrated. Several generations later our family is still mostly located in New Zealand but is also scattered throughout the world. Like the Campbell family, this History section is a work in progress and will expand as more and more branches of the family tell their own story.

This section tells the story of the origins of the clan, their lands in Glenorchy including Auch, and of Moses’ and Jessie’s early life and emigration to New Zealand. The early history of the Campbells can be found on Wikipedia, Scotweb, Electric Scotland or in many other online sources (which don’t necessarily agree with each other), and there is a recent 3 volume history of the Clan by Alastair Campbell for those that want to delve deeper. For the history of our branch of the Campbells after about 1730 we are reliant on old family papers and recently digitised records.

Jessie kept a journal of her voyage to New Zealand aboard the Blenheim and subsequently wrote letters home, all of which we have copies of. In New Zealand the Campbells flourished in times of war and peace, depression and prosperity. Our story can be traced through myriad sources: old newspapers, journals, letters, certificates of births, deaths and marriages, and the memories of those still living.