People

Learn more history about Merrilees from around the world.

Immigration to Australia

When immigration to Australia is mentioned, most people conjure up images of convicts transported in overcrowded sailing ships from England to the penal colonies of 'New Holland' - as Australia was known in the 1700s.

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Immigration to New Zealand

The early voyages by sailing ship from Britain around the Cape of Good Hope took from 80 to 100 days, depending on weather conditions, and huge icebergs were often encountered in the southern ocean.

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MFA Branches in New Zealand

All of the Merrilees Family Tree branches in New Zealand are proven by DNA testing to be related through a common ancestor, currently identified by MFA research as James Mirrileyis (born abt 1610) who married Elspeth Blair in Ormiston in 1641.

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DNA Project

In April 2003 the Merrilees Family Association began a project to compare the DNA of males from several MFA family trees to see if they were related.

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