Biography contributed by Bernadette Siebert
Margaret Stirling was born 1817 in Kirkintilloch, Scotland, the second of eight children of William (a cotton weaver) and Margaret nee Scott. Margaret Stirling married William Shaw in Scotland around 1850 and they had a son William born 1853 in Dunbarton, Scotland.
William, Margaret and son William arrived on board the Flying Foam in 1864 together with other Scottish families, including the Perrys (whose daughter would later marry their only son William) and Thomas Halliday, Margaret’s 21-year-old nephew. They settled at Pohuehue, four miles from Warkworth, at one time known as Little Scotland, on account of the group of Scottish families settled there.
In 1865 owned William owned 55 acres freehold in Mahurangi, a far cry from being a cotton loom weaver near Glasgow. William was on the crew of the old steamer William Denny, that traded between Sydney and Auckland. They stayed in Mahurangi for the rest of their lives.
Margaret died in August 1899, aged 82 years and was buried in Warkworth Cemetery. Two months later, in October 1899, William died aged 83, and was interred with his wife. Death notices in the newspaper asked that 'Glasgow and Dunedin papers please copy'.
Margaret is the mother-in-law of 378 Marion SHAW
Sources
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11197, 18 October 1899, Page 1
PAPERS PAST New Zealander, Volume XXI, Issue 2172, 16 July 1864, Page 2
PAPERS PAST New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11157, 1 September 1899, Page 4
https://issuu.com/mahurangimatters/docs/mahurangi_matters_june_1
New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1853-2010 (ancestry.com)