Trying to find my Great-great-Grandfather,Thomas Christie, from Norway.

Question

Thomas was born in Oslo(Christiana)Norway in circa 1797.He came to Australia in the 1820's.Other more experienced geneologists(to mention Don and Jill Mills,Peter Jones,Tony Hall)have researched Norwegian Genealogy sites with no success.

Answer 1

I saw your post and I thought I could help.  I went to Find a grave.com and I found this.  But I do think it is him but only you would know that. But Let me show you what I have:   Thomas Christie b. 1797 Norway died 4 April 1862 -64 - 65 years of age.   New South Wales, Australia.  St. Thomas Cemetery, Hawkesbury city, New South Wales, Australia.  Find a grave memorial #  155721917.   Son:   Thomas John Christie  -  Find a grave memorial #  155721938.  I hope that I have help you, I didn't do much research but I can do that now and see what I can find. But I do believe that is them. But Let me know.  It didn't really mention a wife but he must have been married at least once. I will try to find that out.  Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.  Nancy

Comments

Thank you So much for your reply Nancy.You are correct in the information you have mentioned.I do have this information as you posted including the Find-a-grave as well as more on his wife and children(His tenth child,Jacob,Is  my great-grandfather).My biggest problem is the brick wall from Norway.Since my post,some have offered to look at the sir-name,as apparently,Christie is the Anglicanised version.Something about 'son of' the fathers name or 'daughter of'the mothers name.etc.

Thank you again for you help Nancy.

Regards Gary

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Thomas Christie b. about 1797 -Norway   Source: Document - Death Certificate    Source:  Website - on the Net - Cemetery Register.  

IMMIGRATION;    Between 1820 and 1830  ( age 23)    Sydney Cove, Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Source:  Broadbent, Denise, Letter to Marion Purnell, Aug. 2009   Source:  Monograph: The Pragmatic Pioneers/ by Dennis Bruce Gosper,  Publication: Parramatta North {N.S.W.} D. B. Gosper, 1991

Note:  J. T. Christy, a grandson of Thomas Christie was a prolific writer on the subject of the early history, the following article appeared in his column "A Bit of River History" by Chris, in the Herald in 1905.

" Captain Thomas Christty was a native of Norway, came to Australia in the early twenties.  He was at sea from, boyhood, and sailed to Sydney as a mate on a sailing vessel by the name of the Royal Oak.   While at Sydney, the vessel's deck required caulking, and the whipwright who came on board to perform the work was a  Mr. George Peat.  A warm friendship sprang up between the two, and during a conversation Peat incuced Christie to  remain and try his luck in this country...…..

After due consideration of the matter Captain Christie made up his mind he would stay, and Peat took him to where he could purchase a small vessel to start the trade with at ….. and on her maiden trip  up the,  Captain Peat, with his wife and family were passengers for Lower Portland. 

Wife:  Mary Lamb 

23 Sept 1833  (age 36) 

Greater Sydney, New South Wales, 

Australia.

address:  Scots Church, Elizabeth Street

Note:  The house in which they lived and in which Thomas ended his days was built some time in the 1830's.  It was originally intended for a pub and was conducted as such under the name of the "currency lad" for a number of years. 

1841   (age 44)

Lower Portland Head, Hawkesburg, New South Wales, Australia. 

Source:  Website-  New South Wales  Census 1841

4 April 1862  (age 65)

Cause of death;  disease of the heart 

Note: Thomas was recorded on his death Certificate as having been in the colony for 35 years. 

7 April 1864  ( 3days after death)

New South Wales, Australia 

Cemetery:  St. Thomas Cemetery  source: Website - on thje Net - Cemetery Register.

https://australiaroyality.net.au/individual.php?pid=157446

  

Found this I hope this helps.  It has a lot more on there you would have to go there to see what all it has. If you need any other help, just let me know. I will be glad to help. 

Answer 2

The best site for searching is the Norwegian Digital Archives. Maybe start your search looking for patronymic names Kristiansen or Christiansen. Be aware that if this turns up your Thomas then in the next generation back you will be looking for his father with first name Kristian/Christian and last name based on his father's first name. You also need to understand that locational names may be added to distinguish between several people of the same name and may change as they move to different locations. You can read more about Norwegian naming conventions in the Norway Project FAQ.

Answer 3

Hi, there are long-standing connections between the Christies of North East Scotland and Norway, particularly through Andrew Christie who moved to Bergen in the 1650s and one of the first prime ministers of the Norwegian Parliament was a Christie. One reason,possibly, was the long-standing Jacobite/Episcopalian loyalties of the Christies (who fought on Mary Queen of Scots side at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547). The political tensions of the mid 17th century between Jacobites and Parliamentarians meant Scotland wasn't a healthy place for them, hence the reason so many emigrated around that time.

Scotland.  Clan Christie, said to be a sept of clan Farquharson, was first sighted in Fife in the 15th century. A Christie farming family in Cupar can trace their Fife ancestry to the early 1600's.  But the main home of the Christies has been further up the coast, in Angus and Aberdeenshire.  John Chrystie was listed as a burgess of Aberdeen back in 1530.

Political and religious tensions in the 17th century caused many Christies to leave this area, among them being:
 

Andrew Christie to Norway in 1654; Alexander Christie/Christy to Ulster in 1675; James Christie to America in 1685; and another James Christie who sailed from Leith on the ill-fated expedition to Darien in Central America in 1698.

Christies in Aberdeenshire may have been farmers, such as James Christie of Gallowgatehead:

 

 

"Mr. James Christie, who died at the ripe age of 93 and was interred on July 30, 1808 at St. Peter's cemetery in Aberdeen, farmed on the land of Mr. George Moir of Scotstown for fifty years.  He had three successive leases and just survived the expiry of his third lease."

They may have been fishermen.  There was a 19th century Christie family at Skateraw up the coast near Stonehaven.  They were captured by the painter George Washington Brownlow in his 1865 picture of them mending their nets.  Family records show some of these Christies tragically drowned at sea. 

They could also have been seafarers and merchants.  The ports of Aberdeen and Montrose were linked in trade with the Hanseatic League ports in Norway and the Baltic.  Alexander Christie was provost of Montrose in the late 18th century and also a wealthy merchant (unfortunately ruined when the wars with Napoleon halted trade).  His brother William was the first Unitarian minister in Scotland.  Agnes Short's novels such as The Dragon Seas describe a fictional Christie family of merchants in mid 19th century Aberdeen.   

Norway.  Christies from the northeast of Scotland came to Bergen in Norway, most notably Andrew Christie who arrived there in 1654.  This Andrew Christie was the forebear of a notable Norwegian Christie family, from WFK Christie, the first president of the Norwegian parliament, to WH Christie, Norway's Minister of Health in the 1990's.  This family maintained their cultural links with Montrose and Aberdeen for many generations.
If you want I can send you a pdf of a piece I wrote on The Christies of Skateraw. Email me at christie@btclick.com