John Gibson Smith
John Gibson Smith was a New Zealand Scottish poet.
He generally went by the name of John G. Smith. The son of Gibson Smith, farmer and Jeannie Graham, he was educated at Carnwath, Larnarkshire, and was appointed schoolmaster of Ednam Parochial School in Roxburghshire in 1834. He received a Degree as Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland in 1848. He was a keen gardener and wrote poetry about all he saw.
The 1841 Scottish Census has him residing at the Ednam Schoolhouse as a Teacher. The 1851 Scottish Census has him as a Widower residing at the Ednam Schoolhouse, his occupation as Parochial Schoolmaster, and birthplace as Carnwath, Lanark. No information about this first marriage has yet been found.
In 1851 he married Mary Waddell, eldest daughter of James Waddell and Christina (née McDonald) of Oban, Scotland. The 1861 Scottish Census has him as married to Mary, still residing at the Ednam Schoolhouse, his occupation as Parish Schoolmaster, and birthpace as Biggar, Larnark (which is some 8 miles from Carnwath).
He and Mary Waddell had 8 children, 7 of whom were born at Ednam (John Gibson Smith born 15 Oct 1852; Christina Macdonald Smith born 2 May 1854; Mary Ann Smith born 7 Feb 1856; Jane Graham Smith born 6 Sep 1857; James Waddell Smith born 23 Jun 1859; David Macrae Smith born 1 Dec 1861; and William Crighton Smith born 2 Jan 1864). A further daughter, Margaret Jamieson Smith, was born in New Zealand on 11 Dec 1866.
He published a work on the manners, customs and amusements of the Scottish Border.
In 1862 he self-published a 240-page book of poetry entitled The Old Churchyard, The Twa Mice and Miscellaneous Poems and Songs in an edition of 1000.
He resigned his post at Ednam school in 1864 and emigrated with his family to New Zealand aboard the ship "Sevilla" that left Glasgow on 21 May 1864 and arrived at Bluff, Southland, New Zealand on 4 September 1864. He was Chairman of a Passengers' Committee that rendered a Testimonial to the Sevilla's Captain. That name is not on the passenger list published by the Southland Times newspaper, although that List appears to only cover "Assisted" Immigrants.
On 28 September 1864, a few weeks after his arrival in New Zealand, he wrote a letter to the Superintendent of the Province of Southland pleading for assistance in finding employment, claiming that “he landed at the Harbour of the Bluff per the Ship Sevilla on the Fourth day of September at which place he expected that, according to promise, he would be renumerated for his services as Chaplain during the voyage, and that certain papers would be delivered to him giving him temporary employment as Land Surveyor – and also the right to draw a sum of money entrusted on the Sixteenth of May last to the Rev. James Smith Minister of Kelso to be transmitted by him through the agency of Messrs Patrick Henderson and Co. of Glasgow. The nonfulfilment of all of these promises has caused very serious inconvenience to him, in so far as it has caused him to be deprived of the means of providing for the requirements of his family on landing, and of expected employment wherewith to maintain them for some time after arriving in the Colony.”
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