If one wished to split hairs, you could say that Canterbury’s first lawyers were William and John Deans. It seems that in the Deans household in the parish of Riccarton back in good old Scotland, it was straight out of school and into Dad’s law firm to establish in oneself a good work ethic. But …
Upon searching the claim that the Allen family had the first European birth – following the arrival of the Canterbury Association ships – which even the family were unsure about, I came across another birth that instantly took my interest. In the 3rd edition of the Lyttelton Times, the birth of Edward Greig Watts Polhill …
Onboard the “Randolph”, the Canterbury Association’s 2nd ship, was the Free family. The head of the family was John Free – a labourer – and with him was his wife Mary and their 7 children. Believe it or not, the Free’s weren’t the largest family group to emigrate to Canterbury. The family settled beside the …
