Mcleod Norman 1779 1886

edmondsallan - Hello - This person is a distant relative ( by marriage ) and comes under the " Extended family " Nothing like bringing in a bit of that " canny " Scotch blood. I can't remember - " isn't their something in the liquor line , made with their waters from their rivers . I hope no one relative ,copies them by using the mighty " Waikato " !!!
Yuk - where we up to . What is on today says I looking at my daily work file Yes - their we are . We are going to travel to " Waipu " Northland NZ.
Norman McLeod was born probably in 1778 or 1779. Although no records of his birth and marriage have been found he is said to have been born at Stoer Point, Sutherlandshire, Scotland, the son of Margaret and Daniel McLeod. His father was a fisherman. Norman married Mary McLeod, probably his cousin, about 1812. They had nine or ten children, only five of whom survived their parents.He enrolled at the University of Aberdeen in 1807, graduating in 1812; He then spent two years at the University of Edinburgh. McLeod emigrated in July 1817 to Pictou, Nova Scotia, on the Frances Ann Late .In 1848 McLeod received a letter from his son, Donald, who was living in Australia. Donald wrote in such glowing terms of Australia's climate and conditions that many people from St Ann's and the neighbouring communities decided to emigrate. In 1851 McLeod set out in his ship, Margaret , arriving in Adelaide in April 1852. A second ship, Highland Lass , followed six months later. The 300 migrants arrived in Australia at the height of the Victorian goldrush. They found that good coastal land was available only at exorbitant prices. After a number of their group, including three of McLeod's sons, died in a typhoid epidemic, McLeod wrote to George Grey, governor of New Zealand, about obtaining a block of land on which all the Nova Scotian migrants could settle.
The first group of Normanists arrived in Auckland on 17 September 1853. One year later they began to settle on allotments on the Waipu River in Northland. Four more ships followed from Nova Scotia, Gertrude (1856), Spray (1857), Breadalbane (1858), and Ellen Lewis (1860). More than 800 people took part in the migration. McLeod's 13 years in New Zealand were much less public and contentious than those of his previous life. He did not seek new converts, concentrating instead on providing spiritual guidance for his followers and an economic base for his family. He did not teach or serve as a magistrate, although the Nova Scotians followed the St Ann's tradition of instituting regular education and worship immediately on settling at Waipu. Mary McLeod died there on 7 March 1857. McLeod's uncompromising sense of moral righteousness committed him to guide his followers personally and to ensure that they could live together in material comfort and religious freedom. Norman McLeod died at Waipu on 14 March 1866. I never knew how " Waipu " got developed. ThE river flats their , being a farmer at one stage in my life ( 20 yrs )was said to be very fertile and still is today . Well readers that closes a question , I have had unanswered for years .
Till we meet again - Regards - edmondsallan