This surname is derived from a geographical locality. ‘of Cunningham,’ a district in North Ayrshire, whence the old earls of Glencairn. Conyngham and Cunynghame are varieties of this name.

— Patronymica Britannica (1860) by Mark Antony Lowe

From the district of Cunninghame in Ayrshire. Malcolm Canmore being hotly pursued by Macbeth took refuge in a barn, where a countryman called Malcolm the son of Friskin, concealed him by forking hay or straw over him; on the accession of Malcolm Can-more to the throne he granted to his deliverer the Thanedom of Cunninghame, and for his arms, argent a shake fork sable, with the motto, “Over fork over.”

— The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames (1862) by Clifford Stanley Sims (1839-1896)

Scottish Forebears

Our ancestors reach back into Ayrshire and the Bo’ness area of West Lothian close by. Thus Gilbert Cunninghame (1668-1724) and his wife Margaret Dundass (1665) were the 7th great grandparents of the Sargison brothers.

The line may go back further to Sir Robert Cunningham, the 4th Lord of Cunninghamhead( 1490 and his wife Lady Margaret Moire Mure (1490). The former, incidentally, died in Turkey.

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The House of Names researchers identified the following initial settlers in NZ

• J Cunningham, who landed in Auckland, New Zealand in 1841

• Dr. R. N. Cunningham, British settler arriving as the 1st detachment of Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps travelling from Tilbury, Essex aboard the ship “Ramillies” arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 6th August 1847 [13]

• Mr. William Cunningham, British settler arriving as Detachment of the Royal New Zealand Fencibles travelling from Gravesend aboard the ship “Sir George Seymour” arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 26th November 1847 [13]

• Mrs. Mary Ann Cunningham, British settler travelling from Gravesend aboard the ship “Sir George Seymour” arriving in Auckland, New Zealand on 26th November 1847 [13]

• Mr. James Cunningham, Scottish settler travelling from Greenock aboard the ship “Philip Laing” arriving in Otago, South Island, New Zealand on 15th April 1848 [13]

https://www.houseofnames.com/cunningham-family-crest#:~:text=The%20ancestors%20of%20the%20name,lived%20at%20Cunningham%20in%20Ayrshire.

Our particular line of Cunninghams are not amongst them.

Lawrence in 1860s, Muir & Moodie

Map of region – red is the Hyde Macraes shear zone. In its basement schist lies the source of the Macraes Mine’s gold today.

View from Hamiltons Cemetery by Chris Weir

Rather, the Waitaki Cunninghams came to New Zealand from Australia in 1861, going first to the Tuapeka goldfields and thence to Kurow and the Waitaki Vallley.

1 Robert Cunningham & Betson Wilson

When Robert Cunningham was born in 1823 in St Andrews, Fife, his father, Robert, was 20 and his mother, Margaret, was 25.

When Betson Wilson (Georgina Cunningham’s mother and the 2nd great grandmother of Craig & Allan Sargison) and her twin sister, Eliza, were born in 1822, their father, John, was 21 and their mother, Betson Turpie, was 35.

Betson married Robert Cunningham on 16 December 1848 in St Andrews and St Leonards, Fife. In December 1854, they arrived in Melbourne aboard the Fulwood.

The Cunninghams began their New Zealand lives in Tuapeka (Lawrence), Clutha when they arrived in the latter part of 1860 or 1861. Their son, James (covered later but uncle of Georgina Cunningham) was born in Tuapeka in 1861. Robert was a shopkeeper and undoubtedly benefitted from the gold rush at nearby Gabriel’s Gully where gold was found in 1861.

James went to school at Hamiltons so presumably his parents moved the shop there once gold was discovered. Hamiltons is 10kms from Waipiata, just above Patearoa and the tuberculosis sanatorium built in the 1930s. The area is named after Captain Hamilton, who, along with two others, took up Run 204, known as Hamiltons Station.

James went to school at Hamiltons so presumably his parents moved the shop there once gold was discovered. Hamiltons is 10kms from Waipiata, just above Patearoa and the tuberculosis sanatorium built in the 1930s. The area is named after Captain Hamilton, who, along with two others, took up Run 204, known as Hamiltons Station.

In late 1863, gold was reported and the field initially proved very rich, yielding thousands of ounces of gold. When the news was confirmed, virtually the whole of Naseby decamped (population 2000 at the time)

Some 2,000 miners first worked the area, peaking at 4,000 in 1864. Ironically, the surviving township of Patearoa (formerly known as Sowburn) once relied heavily on Hamiltons for shops and services. The town of Hamiltons, which included 25 liquor outlets and 40 stores, did not last long, although a few miners did stay and continued hydraulic sluicing. A small rush (of some 2-3 miners) took place at Sowburn while the Hamiltons rush was in full swing.

As an aside, the Waipiata Country Hotel apparently continues the legacy of the ancient ice sport of curling with Hamilton’s Curling Club, which was established in 1886.

The move to the Waitaki Valley

James Cunningham started farming at Otiake on rough tussock land in 1881. Otiake is located between the Kurow and Otiake creeks, on the south bank of the Waitaki river, and extends back to the hills. It is a sheep farming and agricultural district, and has alluvial flats, with fertile valleys among the hills. Today there are two small vineyards in the area.

In 1905, Otiake had a public school with a library in the school grounds, and a post office and telephone bureau. There were two flag stations on the railway line—Hille’s and Strachan’s; the first, one mile, and the second, four miles from Kurow. Otiake is in the Otekaike riding of the Waitaki county, and in the Mount Ida electoral district. At the census of 1901, the village and neighbourhood had a population of 146.

The 1905 Cyclopedia of NZ reported that James

has now fenced and cultivated (his farm). The property consists of 320 acres of freehold, which is devoted to grain growing, and the raising of sheep, cattle, and horses. Mr. Cunningham drove one of the first waggon teams through the hilly part of the settlement. He has been a member of the North Otago Mounted Rifles since 1893 and holds office as senior sergeant. For a number of years he served on the Otiake school committee, and also on the library committee. Since 1901 he has resided in Oamaru, where he owns livery and bait stables.

James Cunningham was married in Melbourne, in 1890, to Catherine Orr, a daughter of Mr. John Orr of Oamaru.

George Duncan Cunningham (1849-1978) was born in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. He migrated to Melbourne, Australia, with his parents Robert and Betson in 1854/5. He moved again with the family in 1861.

In 1877 he married Anne (Annie) Elizabeth Jack in what was to be a tragically short marriage. They had a daughter Georgina Betson Cunningham in 1878. .

James Henry Sargison & Georgina Betson Cunningham’s wedding. At rear on opposite sides Eva Landels & Henry Griffen Sargison with the best man who was possibly his brother William. James and Georgina are in the middle with unknown bridesmaids

Georgina was born some months after her father, George Duncan Cunningham drowned in the Waitaki River, which was announced in the Mt Ida Chronicle. There were several relations in Oamaru with livery stables and coachbuilding businesses

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Her mother, Anne Jack, also died young ,when Georgina was only five. It seems likely that she was then looked after by her aunt, Margaret Strachan (nee Cunningham) who was living in Oamaru. Georgina’s wedding reception was held at Mrs Strachan’s house.

Georgina’s grandmother was Betson Wilson who married Robert Cunningham and moved to Australia from Fife in 1854 aboard the Fullwood. The Cunninghams moved to Otago around 1860; their son, James, was born in Tuapeka in 1861 and died in Oamaru in 1904. The “Betson” name goes back at least four generations to Betson Turpie, born in 1787 and married to a John Wilson; her father was a John Turpie but I have not traced the name further back.

Marriage to James Sargison

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Georgina married James Henry Sargison (1881- 1947 ) at St Pauls in Oamaru on 2 August 1906. the wedding of James and Georgina (or at least the reception) was held at the home of Georgina’s aunt, Margaret Strachan (nee Cunningham), 134 Thames St., Oamaru. It is believed that Margaret’s husband, William Strachan, was a bank manager. It was not Margaret’s first incursion into hosting weddings. While living in Melbourne, she had hosted her brother, James’s wedding to Catherine Orr.

Of the wedding party, the two young flower girls are: Irene Cunningham was a cousin of Georgina, born in 1895 to her uncle, Thomas Cunningham and his wife, Mary Adams. Irene was to marry John Francis Aubrey in 1925; and Olive Agnes Cunningham, another cousin, born in 1896 to Georgina’s uncle, James Cunningham and his wife Catherine Orr. She later married Robert Young.

After their marriage, Georgina and James resided in Wairuna where James was the schoolmaster. It is named after a prominent peak between Conical Hill and Otaraia and was then a sheep farming district some 40km west of Balclutha. It was part of the Poputuna Estate, with settlement beginning in 1863. An influx of Highland Scots gave the district the nickname of “little Aberdeen”. All that said, it was somewhat isolated, certainly compared to Oamaru.

They were only there for perhaps 18 months before moving to Oamaru where their only son, Eric Duncan Sargison, was born in 1908. James taught at Oamaru Middle School as 1st assistant and was a captain in the school cadets. It must have been a good time for Georgina, being amongst her family

Then, in 1911, they moved to Woodside. James was the school headmaster. There tragedy struck; Georgina died in 1912 and was buried in Oamaru at the Oamaru Presbyterian Cemetery on 24 August. As with the wedding, the coffin and funeral cortege left her uncle and aunt Strachan’s house but this time the location was Eden St.

Her death was recorded as resulting from appendicitis/toxaemia after a 5- day illness tragically leaving a 4 year old son who was never really to know a proper mother until he met his mother in law!