I believe he was adopted in New Zealand.

Hi Terry
Formal adoption (as we know it today) didn't start in NZ until the 1880's. The person you're looking for may have been informally adopted or fostered, had their last name (and soometimes forenames) altered to match a stepfather's but would have often used their birth surname when married.

Check out the NZ BDM website for some possibilities

Good luck
Elli

Hi Elli
His name has been the same from his bible entry in 1864, to his marriage in 1877 and to his death.
However there is no birth for him and his mother was married to someone else in 1857.
Thanks for the tip of the formal adoptions.
Kind regards, Terry

Terry

Just to get a 'fix' on birth registrations around that time, we recently extracted the birth notices (and death notices for children under 5 years) for 1871 in a major NZ newspaper. Some 27% of births were NOT registered - the requirement was to be registered by 60 days after birth.

Some died before the 60 days so the death was registered but not the birth, some who died had neither registered, and a small percentage (who did appear to live)did not have the birth registered. For some parents the fine incurred for late birth registration was the barrier, for others (ex nuptial particularly) then social stigma was probably the barrier.

Elli