Niels Christian Pedersen from Denmark

I replied to the original inquirer off group, but thought I'd post this because there are probably many family historians facing the same problem. My Danish ancestors arrived in New Zealand in 1874 and because Pedersen was such a common name amongst scandinavian immigrants (who were inclined to gravitate to one area of the country) they changed their surname to that of their stepfather. Well at least we buttume that is the reason, the name Skjotrop (Skotrup, Skotrop, Skittrup and other variations) was also the name of an area close to where they once lived. There is no record of this name change, we knew the new name bacause it was ours, but when they arrived on the ship Queen of the North, the name on the pbuttenger list was Ped(t)ersen. The only connection we could make was that one of the family kept the name of Pedersen. However to those who may be searching for families who left their home country under one name and buttumed another on arrival in their new country, this is a huge problem and only shows that you need to keep an open mind about names when tracking ancestors across the world. Often the name is just misspelt by an official and is left as is because it is difficult to apply for new papers when you may be hundreds of miles away from the office you need to visit. Another problem we faced was that the family left Denmark and were unfortunately involved in a shipwreck, they were rescued and transported to England where they joined the "Queen of the North" to continue their journey. All in all a marathon exercise in emigration

-- Robyn in Hawke's Bay Wine Country, New Zealand

Researching in England: WARD, ERVING, HALLETT, CARBIS, BOWER Scotland: GORDON, MUNRO Denmark: PEDERSEN, CHRISTIANSEN