Gilbert James McPhee

Gilbert James McPhee was born at St Bathans (Dunstan Creek), Otago, 1892, to Elizabeth Jane O'Hara and John McPhee. He has 7 sisters and two brothers. He married in 1915 to Elizabeth Charlotte Fruish (1893-1983). One son John McPhee was born 1915, and a daughter Joan McPhee born unknown, and possibly one stillborn or infant death Gilbert McPhee in 1917. Gilbert James McPhee, assisted by his brother, abandoned his family and emigrated to Canada or the USA under his brother's name John L McPhee (John Lambert McPhee). The newspaper article from 1919 when this happened is here:

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&...--

and the shipping list which shows him landing in Vancouver BC, Dec 14 1919 (from Auckland, New Zealand) is here:

http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/can_makura.shtml

No one knows what happened to him after he stepped off the ship and his family spent decades trying to track him down to no avail .

It's likely he started a new family in the USA or Canada but who can say - since he was running away from one that he already had.

I think it's safe to say he assumed a new name and the chances are that he'll ever be found are next to none in that case. Back then it was much easier to get lost and stay lost if you wanted to. Interestingly, Gilbert seems to be completely absent from the electoral rolls, yet his brother John Lambert is very well documented, and apart from helping is brother abscond he sounds like he was quite a cad as well:

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZTR19281...