There are three documents signed by Alexander GRAY that we know about and one of them is his marriage certificate, Alex GRAY to Kotiro HINERANGI being the first marriage registered in CMS Church in Paihia, New Zealand in 1830.
The confusion arises because the children in their writings spelt it GREY and the missionaries who taught the GRAY children, spelt his name GREY. There is no doubt that it should be GRAY from his signature and writings. Gray is the regular form for Scottish surnames.
There are other false myths that align Sir George GREY with the family especially after viewing a New Zealand TV documentary drama series called "The Governor" 1977. Many old viewers with relatives with the surname "Grey" in their linage, wrongly connected parts of the ancestry to Sir George with is maunderings amongst the Maori.
ALEXANDER GRAY Buried 12 .11.1839
KOTIRO HINERANGI Buried 22.04.1859
On the 30th October 2008 in the oldest church in New Zealand, the Christ Church at Russell, Bay of Islands, New Zealand. a small service was conducted and a plaque was laid to recognise that Alexander Gray and Kotiro Hinerangi was buried there. The plaque can be located at the back of the church along the the back fence of the grounds.
Because the original graves were marked with wood, these decayed away over the last century. None of the locations of the earliest graves have been recorded by a sextant. A descendant, Trevor Campbell, organised with the Church authorities to have a suitable plaque produced to record these burials for future generations, to lay their respect.
Margaret in her teens was taken to secretly to Australia by a minister from the CMS mission. Its possible that her older brother Alexander GRAY Jnr was taken there at the same time. Their father felt that they needed to leave from the treats from the Bay of Island Maori faction which considered the children under their control and ownership. Margaret's first husband was William GOURLAY. When he died she married Edward CREGAN
Best known as ‘Guide Sophia’ (but sometimes also as Tepaea HINERANGI was the principal tourist guide of the famous Pink and White Terraces at Lake Rotomahana. Following their destruction during the Mt Tarawera eruption of 1886, she became a tour guide at nearby Whakarewarewa, Rotorua. Her monument is at the entrance to Whakarewarewa Historic Villiage.
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Painting with Jane on the left.
Jane had 5 marriages / unions
Sedborough MAYNE issue 2
Charles YEELES issue 0
Fredric HERRIES issue 3
William Sydney SMITH issue 3
George W S PHILLIPS issue 7