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As part of the global updating of the Chute Family Records, we are undertaking a systematic accounting of Chutes in Australia, New Zealand and the other South Pacific Islands. To make researching easier, Chutes in these areas will be listed in two directories: the main directory, in alphabetical order, and in this Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific Island Chute Family Directory, which lists only Chutes in this area. The individuals are listed here in alphabetical order by first name - allied family members are listed following the Chutes in each section. This is only a very partial list at this stage, and there are many more records to be added to this section. To contribute data to the Chute family records, please contact me at [email protected]. Thanks.
Chute Index, Australia | Allied Family Index, Australia | Chute Index, New Zealand | Allied Family Index, New Zealand | Chute Index, Fiji | Allied Family Index, Fiji |
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Great Britain had long used her colonies to rid herself of the undesirables in her midst - convicts to Virginia, and the spiritually 'unsuitable" to New England, for example. We here in the United States tend to regard those first New England colonists as nobly fleeing from religious persecution - the British saw them as serious pains in their collective keesters. You recall that some of these noble and "persecuted" souls were the same ones who got themselves so worked up over an imaginary infiltration by witches that they hung all sorts of innocent folks in the process.
By the time England got around to colonizing Australia and New Zealand, however, they had realized that ridding overcrowded prisons of criminals could be easily done by tossing them onto boats and sending them off into a wilderness so far away that they had no chance of returning home anytime soon. Sending them to the American colonies wasn't far enough - sending them to Australia was another story. Boatloads of criminals were then packed onto ships, transported to Australia, and sequestered. You can only imagine what those prisons were like: "Hell on earth", was one Australian's apt description. Nonetheless, many Australians are today descendants of those early convicts who were released, decided to stay in Australia, and raised their families there. It is this first convoy that is today honored in Australia as "The First Fleet".
The "First Fleet" was comprised of eleven ships and departed Portsmouth, England on Sunday 13 MAY 1737, under the command of Captain Arthur Philip RN. They traveled across the Atlantic to South America, around the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Sydney Bay, Australia on 26 JANUARY 1788, seven months later. Once settlement was established, more fleets would follow.
For posterity and history, the First Fleet and their respective commanders, were: The Alexander (Duncan Sinclair), The Borrowdale (Readthorn Hobson), The Charlotte (Thomas Gilbert), The Fishburn (Robert Brown), The Friendship (Francis Walton), The Golden Grove (Sharp), The Lady Penrhyn (William Sever), The Prince of Wales (John Mason), The Scarborough (John Marshall), H.M.S. Sirius (John Hunter) and H.M.S. Supply (Henry Bull).
Banishment to an Australian prison was considered such an undesirable sentence that by actually asking to go, you could get your sentence commuted to a lesser one. A lifetime imprisonment, for example, could be commuted to "transportation and seven years" - closer to 10, by the time you got there, served your time, and came home - assuming you survived at all. There were those willing to risk this. And, in at least one case, the mother of the convict not only went along with the idea, but actually submitted the petition.
This would be one of ours, a Michael Chute, whose mother Margaret submitted the petition to commute his sentence in this fashion in 1844. His records are included with his notes.
A search of the Australian National Archives resulted in a number of records of Australian Chutes - a process of elimination using the unsubstantiated assumption that we do not have relatives with the first names of Twin Cell Launching, Coin, Ammunition and Bren Gun Injection - only a few among the many other strange files which appeared in the search for "Chute". My apologies to any of our Australian relatives who have, in fact, named their poor (and possibly resentful) offspring "Rural Mail" or "Ejector". Luckily, the search also provided more information on Chutes already recorded.
The Ellis Family members with "Chute" in their given names are descendants of Elizabeth Lobb, daughter of Elizabeth Chute and Thomas Lobb, and her husband, the Reverend Ellis. Another family connected to the Chutes in some fashion appears to be the Erson family, with at least two individuals carrying both names.
The addition of "Arabella Chute" may reflect the emigration of Arabella Chute, daughter of Francis and Arabella Denny in Chute Hall, but she appears in the passenger list of the "Duke of Newcastle" without the presence of other Chutes - or Denny's either, for that matter. Women of her status would not have traveled alone in 1865, so the next question would be who she was traveling with.Chute, Ann Maree
New Zealand was also settled by immigrants from England, Ireland and Scotland. While the initial discovery was made by Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1769, it was British explorer James Cook who first claimed the country in the name of King George III.
So far, the first recorded Chute emigrating from London to New Zealand was William Chute, who arrived on the "Tamar", on either Saturday, the 30th of January, 1858, or Thursday, the 28th of January, 1858 - reports of the ship's arrival vary. At a sleek 556 tons - the ship, not William - the vessel originated in London. William seems to have arrived alone, as there were no other Chutes listed among the passengers.
The length of time it took to sail to the American Colonies was a piece of cake compared to the length of time it took to sail to Australia and New Zealand. Although laws had been passed to ensure the safety of passengers on such long voyages - the presence of a ship's doctor, for example - not every captain adhered to those laws, and when he didn't, the voyage could seem like a never-ending nightmare of illness and death.
On the other hand, when the voyage went exceptionally well, passengers went out of their way to compose letters of commendations for conscientious captains, with most passengers signing their names to it - one of the alternative sources of passenger lists, when originals have disappeared. Commendations were certainly one way that ships' captains could be certain of repeat bookings, although even that didn't always work - one captain was well known for his skilfull, seasoned direction of ship and crew, and his experience with global voyages, but not for his luck whenever he sailed for New Zealand and Australia - as conscientious as he was, he was forever finding himself being hit by unexpected gales, one time being completely de-masted, necessitating a tow into port by a passing steamer. (His trips in that direction were few, although he sailed elsewhere without mishap).
Another ship was caught in a violent thunderstorm and recorded a large globe of ball lightening roaring across the deck and into the sea on the other side, setting the ship on fire in the process. The crew managed to extinguish the blaze and the ship finally limped into port, filled with wide-eyed passengers describing the awesome sight and not even complaining, they were so glad to be alive.
New Zealand in 1858 was not the safest place to be, although it was a very active trading community. The native Maori inhabitants, resenting the European intrusion bitterly, often attacked the European settlements and the area was, much like the American settlements earlier, a very difficult place to live. William's timing, however, was excellent, as gold was discovered the very next year, instituting New Zealand's first gold rush. Whether he stayed in New Zealand, or moved on, is not yet known, although today, there are Chutes who still live in New Zealand. Other Chutes in New Zealand:
Chute, ChristopherRecord has also been found of a Jno (short for either John or Jonathan) Chute, a planter in Nakuli, Fiji in 1911, and we have heard from Adalmaiga Chute, Vera Chute Levati and Diana Baleacagi, who are updating the Fiji Chute family records - and a big "Thank you!" to all of them!. Also, Mahlon A. Chute was reported by his son Henry as having married and fathered two children on "an island in the South Pacific", although his wife and children subsequently died of a "fever epidemic". So far, no records have surfaced to indicate which island he visited, or if there were relatives who kept record of his wife.
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KEY TO SELECT EVENT ABBREVIATIONS: EMIG=Emigration, naturalization MILI=Military Registration, Draft or Activity POLI=Political office, elected or appointed CITI=Applied for or obtained Citizenship CENS=Census Record ALT=Conflicting or Alternate Record RESI=Residence AKA=Alternate Name IKA=Incorrectly known as   AWRD=Award TRAV=Passenger Record not related to Emmigration LAND=Land Purchase GRAD=Graduated ORDN=Ordained BUSI=Business related event DOCU=Document signed NEWS=Newspaper date INTN=Marriage Intention MAR2=Remarriage MOVE=Change of Address WILL=Event assoc with own or other's will ORDN=Ordained PROB=Probate SCHL=School Record NAME=Name Change
ADMN=Admitted, Admission DIVR=Divorce