The Origins in Ayrshire

The Brysons

The Bryson family arrived in Southland in 1863, aboard the "Sir William Eyre".

They had had a long and difficult journey, from Greenock to the Oreti (or New) River.

But, having arrived, they had a difficult few years, which some of the family did not survive.

Their name lingered on, in the name given to a grandaughter of one of the youngest members of the family - Iris Bryson Murrell carried the birth-name of her grandmother, Agnes Bryson. But sorting out the story of the family was a difficult exercise.

To understand it, one needs to understand: