NZBound

Hello and welcome to my genealogy quest, my name is HELENA GRACE BLOMFIELD, and I live in the NORTH ISLAND of beautiful NEW ZEALAND. This is my search for my Maternal GERMAN , FRENCH, ENGLISH, & SCOTTISH ANCESTORS "LANGE,MEIRES, BRYANT & SUDDENS etc.," ,who took that long perilous sea journey to the the wild unknown shores of a then strange and frightening country, the two ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND, beautiful NEW ZEALAND but at the time of our ancestors , those hardy brave souls who set out from EUROPE by the thousands to AMERICA, AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, it was also a savage land. That very long and sometimes perilous sea journey, with their families , children, babes, to the other side of the world, was an amazing act of courage. For it was a wild but beautiful savage land, they came to and a formidable task lay ahead for the early settlers to tame, this land of AO TEA ROA, LAND OF THE LONG WHITE CLOUD, NEW ZEALAND, ( NEW ZEELAND ) so named by ABEL TASMAN. This is my search for my maternal roots, the information I have is from my Mother NELLIE ROSANNA BRYANT, which I shall put online for other researchers.

THIS INFORMATION IS NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE.

Above are my Great Grand Parents, CAROLINE ROSINA HELENA WILHELMINE KRAENZLIN, 30 yrs and AUGUST GODFREY LANG ( LANGE) 34yrs of BERLIN they arrived in LYTTLETON SOUTH ISLAND NEW ZEALAND with their 2 daughters, CLARA HELENA HEDWIG LANGE 4yrs, ( my Grandmother) and MARTHA OLGA, 2yrs IN 1879 on the vessel HEREFORD from LONDON to LYTTLETON. As far as my mother can remember, her Mother CLARA told her they were on the deck of the ship mostly which would mean that they were GOVT. assisted immigrants, but, other information has been found to be incorrect so I am not 100% sure of this detail. My Mother always insisted the original name was LANGE, and as Christian names were altered from the FRENCH/GERMAN to ENGLISH, it is highly probable that the original name was the FRENCH/GERMAN spelling of LANGE which was changed to LAING in some cases as there was anti German feeling during the time of the second world war.....

Caroline Rosina remarried after Godfreys Langes death to CLAUS DIEDRICH MEIRS 1886l

My Grandmother.CLARA HELENA HEDWIG LANGE, left, who was aged only 4 yrs old when her parents CAROLINE ROSINA HELENA WILHELMINE KRAENZLIN AND AUGUST GODFREY LANGE, and one younger sister Martha Olga 2yrs , left GERMANY via LONDON in the year 1879, on the vessel HEREFORD, and took that long dangerous sea journey with thousands of other brave souls, seeking their fortune on the faraway wild shores of NEW ZEALAND. The LANGE ( LAING ) family landed at the LYTTLETON HARBOUR, SOUTH ISLAND NEW ZEALAND and the family settled at MARSHLANDS , with other GERMAN and POLISH MIGRANT FAMILIES.

Right CLARA LANGE'S ( BRYANT) youngest daughter, NELLIE ROSANNA BRYANT

From new information I can now tell you that our hardy LANGE forebears as far back as one can ascertain, came originally from FRANCE- ALSACE METZ LORRIANE- some of these borders have since changed after wars. LANGES my Mother said were FRENCH HUGENOUTS. There was terrible Religious persecution/murder all over FRANCE re the HUGENOUTS for many many years forcing many families, including our LANGES to flee to neighboring safe countries. CARL LANGE was born in POMRANIA, STETTIN

The Prussian province Pomerania consisted of the governmental districts Köslin, Stettin and Stralsund (until 1932). 1938 is noww called SZCZRECIN and is now part GERMANY..it would appear the LANGE family spent several generations around the areas of STETTIN

From GERMANY the LANGE families have decided to migrate and branched out to NEW ZEALAND, USA, SOUTH AFRICA ETC.,

'Huguenots refugees found a safe haven in the Lutheran and Reformed states in Germany and Scandinavia. Nearly 44,000 Huguenots established themselves in Germany, particularly in Prussia where many of their descendents rose to positions of prominence. Several congregations were founded, such as the Fredericia (Denmark), Berlin, Stockholm, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Emden'.