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NZT: November 22, 2024, Friday, 6:14 am

Velkommen... Haere Mai... Welcome... to the Norsewood Cemetery & Settlers' Genealogies Project

Scandi wheel
Introduction:
This website is a personal project. For the official records, visit the Tararua District Council.

This website is a work-in-progress by Pip PECK, descendant of (1) Emanuel FREDERIKSON and his wife, Helena ERICSDOTTER, both from Sweden; (2) Johan Fredrik (Fredrik) MORTENSEN and his wife, Anne Marie (nee HALVORSDATTER), both from Norway; and (3) Christian Leonhard (Leonhard) ANDERSEN and his wife, Elizabeth (nee KING), from Germany and England, respectively. All of the above were buried at Norsewood Cemetery.

Norsewood Cemetery, in Norsewood, Tararua, Southern Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, is thought to be the largest Scandinavian cemetery in Australasia.

The graves of many of the Scandinavian immigrants — predominantly Norwegians — who were brought to the Norsewood district under the 1870s “assisted immigration” programmes can be found in the Norsewood Cemetery.

Many of the graves in the Norsewood Cemetery are in a serious state of decay with the inscriptions on the headstones almost illegible. Other graves are now completely unmarked, and many graves on the cemetery plan are simply marked “unknown”.

Aims of Our Project:
To photograph and document the graves at the Norsewood Cemetery, particularly those of Norsewood's first and early settlers, before time and the elements cause further disintegration and loss of information;

To try to recreate lost cemetery records (most of the records from 1872 to about 1900 — ie, the historically-significant graves of first and early settlers — appear to have been lost);

To provide online information for those trying to trace family trees, in either chronological direction, via Norsewood settlers; and

To (eventually) publish a book about the graves at, and genealogies of the first and early settlers of, Norsewood which could be useful to genealogists who get stumped at the point where the Norsewood settlers immigrated to New Zealand.
Wondering Where to Start?
Try one of these pages:
  • Norsewood village
  • Norsewood Cemetery
  • List of Graves: A-G H-M N-Z
  • Family Trees
  • Immigrant Ships
  • 1872 First Male Settlers
  • Other Lists
  • Resources
    • Historic Norsewood Photos:
    Can you identify these Historic Norsewood Photographs on our photo blog?

    Need historic Norsewood photos identified? We'd be happy to post them on our blog.

    Lost Someone in the (70 Mile) Bush?
    Looking for someone you cannot find here? Please email us to find out what we know.
    Link to Our Website:
    Found something useful here? Feel free to link to our website.
    ... find out how!
    “Digging Up” the Dead:
    How YOU can help “resurrect” Norsewood Cemetery's lost grave records.
    ... find out how! 
     
    Can You Help?
    We need your help... and we'd like to help you, too!
    ... find out how! 
    		 “Digging Up” the Dead

    JOHANSEN/AMUNDSEN Families:
    Pip is researching the families of Johannes JOHANNESEN HOLT (JOHANSEN) and his wife, Sedsel (“Sanna”) OLSDATTER GÅLÅS (or GAALAAS), and Amund AMUNDSEN MOLDUSEN (AMUNDSEN) and his wife, Elise (Elsie) LARSDATTER WAALBERGET.
    ... more
     

    “Show me, O LORD, my life’s end
    and the number of my days;
    let me know how fleeting is my life.
    You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
    the span of my years is as nothing before you.
    Each man’s life is but a breath.”
    — Psalm 39:4-6