NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Kapiti News

Kapiti family's secrets span the globe and back again

By David Haxton
Kapiti News·
11 Feb, 2015 12:57 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

An extraordinary trail of discovery has unfolded for a Paraparaumu woman involving jaw-dropping and heart-wrenching information about her grandfather's secret past.

Kathy Callaghan's grandfather Harald Oskar Andersen was born and grew up in Norway but an incident frightened him so much he left his partner and two children behind forever to start a new life and new family in New Zealand.

His family in New Zealand didn't know he had a family in Norway and his Norwegian family didn't know he had a family in New Zealand.

But an amazing coincidence brought these two families together.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The story of Harald jumping ship when he arrived in New Zealand in 1904 on the SS Tomoana has been repeated throughout the years by Kathy, and others, with a sense of excitment and pride, especially as they had been told the ship never made it back to Norway.

But the real reason for him jumping ship would only emerge in recent years when Kathy took a keen interest in family history.

Reading his naturalisation files, sourced from Archives New Zealand, she discovered her grandfather had a police record - something he had never mentioned.

Apparently Harald had stolen a suit from another crew member and was arrested when he first arrived in New Zealand and ended up spending two months in Mt Eden prison doing hard labour.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The police record said he did not want his wife and children to know he had been in prison.

"We felt quite emotional and could feel his pain and shame," Kathy said.

After that he spent his life working on various ships, helped construct railway tracks, and did labouring work.

He lived deep in the bush and was married to Andrina Andersen; they had six children Dorothy, Harold [who died 16 hours after birth], Eric, Olga, Fred and Keith.

While his life in New Zealand had been pieced together, information about his early life in Norway was minimal.

So Kathy's cousin Rose Wellington went to Norway and visited the National Archival Services, in Oslo, where she found Harald had been born in Nannestad and that the true names of his parents were Anders Mikkelsen and Karen Kristofferdatter.

Harald had referred to his parents as Johan and Karen Andersen, when he completed documents in New Zealand, which explained the difficulty in trying to find information about his parents.

In 2010 Kathy and her husband Ross decided to take a trip to Scandinavia that finished near Nannestad where they hoped to visit the church where her grandfather had been christened.

Three weeks before the trip, on a whim, she decided to write to Eidsvoll Ullensaker Blad, a newspaper which covers the Nannestad area, asking if they would be interested in a story about her family history search.

The story was assigned to reporter Magnar Haraldsen to write and he suddenly became the centre of his own story.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A cousin, after reading it, contacted him saying Harald Oskar Andersen had the same name as their great grandfather.

Magnar contacted Kathy asking if his great grandfather could be the same as her grandfather, she replied saying only if he had had a child before he left Norway.

Official records showed he was the same man, and that he had two children before he left Norway - Karoline Haraldsen and Johan Haraldsen.

Magnar was the grandson of Johan Haraldsen and therefore Kathy's cousin.

When he emailed photographs of his family, Kathy was astounded - there were lots of Norwegians who looked just like her.

"I said to Magnar 'why did my sweet granddad abandon his partner, his three-month-old son, and his nearly two-year-old daughter, and just disappear'?"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It emerged Harald and some friends were stealing strawberries in a field, in early 1903, which led to a fight where a man died.

"Harald must have thought he was responsible for killing this person [there would be capital punishment if found guilty] so he left on a boat and never came back," Kathy said.

Harald's partner Anna Edvardsen struggled to cope after he left and placed their children into foster homes where they had happy childhoods.

His shipping records showed he travelled all around the world on different ships before arriving in New Zealand on the SS Tomoana.

"And he didn't contact his mother, his children, or his partner ever, that we know of," Kathy said.

She learned that Harald was not blamed for the man's death, but he would not have known this, and must have lived in fear all of his life.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

When Harald was dying, in Te Kuiti, he murmured things about people "coming to get me", which was passed off as delirium.

"He was so frightened that he tried to get out of bed, and managed to get one leg into a pair of trousers, trying to escape, and then fell back and died."

When Kathy and Ross arrived in Nannestad they were welcomed by the descendants of Harald's two children and were shown where he lived, where his children went to live, and where the fight took place.

At the Nannestad Community Centre, where they went for lunch, they were greeted by a guard of honour involving 50 family members.

Then they visited the Nannestad Church, and stood at the font where Harald had been baptised in 1881.

"That was my moment where it all hit me," Kathy said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"This was one of life's most wonderful moments for me.

"Here I was standing at the place where my grandfather had been christened nearly 130 years before, and through a remarkable coincidence, was bringing together two families from opposite sides of the world."

Kathy and Ross returned to Norway in 2012 and were able to spend time getting to know their newly discovered family, yet another wonderful experience.

And now, 110 years after Harald first arrived in New Zealand, members of his Norwegian family have come to New Zealand.

Magnar [the reporter], his wife Rosa, and his brother Roar and wife Wenche, and their daughter Vera are in Kapiti to meet more of their New Zealand family.

Kathy and Ross will be showing them the places where Harald lived and worked and there will be a series of family gatherings to cement newly discovered family relationships.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Photo: From left, Rosa and Magnar Haraldsen, Kathy and Ross Callaghan, and Wenche, Roar and Vera Haraldsen.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Kapiti News

Kapiti News

Mumpreneur revolutionises property management

15 Dec 11:30 PM
Kapiti News

Kāpiti news in brief: Award-winning nature photo features rare bird nesting

12 Dec 10:48 PM
Kapiti News

Beloved Paraparaumu College teachers bid farewell after long service

11 Dec 10:15 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Kapiti News

Mumpreneur revolutionises property management

Mumpreneur revolutionises property management

15 Dec 11:30 PM

How Chelsea Gill created a family-friendly business.

Kāpiti news in brief: Award-winning nature photo features rare bird nesting

Kāpiti news in brief: Award-winning nature photo features rare bird nesting

12 Dec 10:48 PM
Beloved Paraparaumu College teachers bid farewell after long service

Beloved Paraparaumu College teachers bid farewell after long service

11 Dec 10:15 PM
FreedomLife Te Nikau celebrates 25 years of transforming lives

FreedomLife Te Nikau celebrates 25 years of transforming lives

10 Dec 10:47 PM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP