The H.H. Turton Books

We are so lucky that H.H. Turton compiled these three books of the land sales deeds from 1815 to 1875.

They give us a printed version of all the available land sales deeds that were available at that time.

The lists are not complete, as some deeds were not registered or were lost in fires or by poor record keeping.

They are arranged in the Provinces and Districts of those days, so you may be able to find any deeds of land you are interested in. The books are available as pdf scans, but some are poor quality.

The first book "Early Land Sales" lists all the available deeds until Hobson's Proclamations. Most of these were reversed (HW) by the various Land Commissioners under William Spain. They are mostly between maori chiefs and European settlers. They are all an exact copy of the deeds as Turton and his team could make them. Each deed is given first in maori, and then English Early Land Sales, read or download the book here

The Second and Third books list all the available deeds signed under Hobson's new rules and are usually between maori chiefs and the crown. They extend from 1836 to 1875. Read or Download Vol 1 North of the North Island here or Read or Download Vol 2 Southern North Island here

Turton did not show deeds from the South island.

Comments

These monumental books are not even mentioned in his Wikipedia entry, and they are hard to gain access to, (they may be in the Wellington Public Library) so it would be great if you could download them from these links and hand them on to your friends and family.