Family History

Not a very inspiring image but for me the large grey stone blocks are a part of my family history.

My maternal grandmothers family were the Wrights of Wright Stephenson, a company now known in NZ as Wrightson/PGWrightson and no longer in the family.

John T Wright arrived from Melbourne, Australia, at the port of Otago, in 1861, on the sailing ship Result. He came for the gold and the opportunities that might arise from in a new country. With an associate he set up a business partnership and within three weeks of their arrival they were trading as Wright Robertson & Co., Auctioneers and General Merchants.

A little later John Stephenson, an agent and trader in North East Valley, Dunedin, replaced Wright's associate and so was born Wright Stephenson & Co.,

The wall pictured above is part of what is still standing of the Company's Horse Bazaar in McLaggan Street and is now known as The Warehouse.

I get a buzz from touching the very stones that housed my mothers maternal ancestors hopes and dreams. My paternal grandfather and his ancestors also fit into the Wright Stephenson story and were/are the Hunts, farmers of Southland and Pembroke/Wanaka. Many a rich story told over the years of their exploits, challenges and ruinations although the family still works in the farming business with a cousin running the old family farm in the Maungawera Valley which just last year celebrated its centennial.

So pile of stone for some is the anchor stone of a family's history for others.