The Subritzky Legend

Description

This book without a doubt is unlike any other book you have ever read before. It is the history of one of the earliest settler families in New Zealand, the Subritzkys. The book is laid out in five distinct parts, which are set out as follows: Part one, “The Red Book” covers the period of the family’s history based on a family legend from the year 1390 down to the death in 1912 of the last of the “Originals”, Captain John Anton Subritzky. Part two, “The Seafarers”, covers the seafaring exploits of various family members from the purchase of the first schooner the Isabella by Ludolph and Heinrich in 1861 down to the launching of the two most recent vessels in the family fleet the H.A. (Herbert Alfred) Subritzky and the M.N. (Mona Nellie) Subritzky in the mid-1980s. Part three, “The Settlers”, encompasses various family histories that have been handed down and makes mention of many but not all of our early forebears in the three descending branches of the family. It also includes brief histories on the different families that the first generation females married into, such as the Puckeys, Matthews, Evans, Wageners, etc. Also included in part three is the whakapapa of the three northernmost Maori tribes Ngapuhi, Te Rarawa and Te-Aupouri to which the Subritzkys have strong blood ties. Part four, “The Warriors”, gives the military histories of a great many members of the family who served in the armed forces at some time in their lives. It contains all the family members whose surname is Subritzky and the majority (but not all) of family members whose mother’s maiden name was Subritzky. There are several histories missing from the maternal lines which I was unable to include in time for publication; to those descendants’ families I apologise. Part five, “The Clan of the Great Buffalo”, is the chronological breakdown by date of birth of all the members of the family whose father’s surname was Subritzky or whose mother’s maiden name was Subritzky. It is not complete nor is it accurate in all cases. It does not include all blood descendants of Romualdus and Sophie Subritzky who number in the thousands if the descendants of the female lines were to be included.

Published in 1990, as a Special Limited Edition.