Ross family reunion celebrates 100 years in New Zealand

Lolla Ogg speaks about Ian Ross, eldest son who came out on the SS Mamari at aged 12 with his parents John and Isabella.

A gathering of the Ross family at the Dannevirke Cemetery on September 26 commemorated the arrival of John and Isabella Ross exactly 100 years after they arrived in Port Chalmers, Otago, from Scotland with their three children Ian, Mabel and William on the SS Mamari.

There were 51 members of the Ross family, which has expanded over the century to number about 200, at the gathering.

Millie Ogg granddaughter of Ian Ross leads the Pilgrim's Walk to the sounds of Scotland the Brave by piper Tony Neil, John and Isabella's great grandson.

The family became based in the Dannevirke area after the original parents John and Isabella travelled north to Wellington and on to Napier where John sharemilked before buying a farm at Tataramoa.

Both John and Isabella, together with their three children, are buried in the Dannevirke Cemetery and the ceremony on Saturday visited each of the graves before adjourning to the Dannevirke Services and Citizen's Club for lunch.

It was a memorable and moving event set in lovely sunshine with the skirl of the bagpipes wafting through the trees, starting with a Pilgrim March depicting the journey of the original family from Scotland and continuing with the grave visits reflecting the later generations.