Supplied by the Morrinsville Museum, published in Morrinsville News, 28 May 2015
It is a common mistake to believe that Thomas and Samuel Morrin were born in Scotland or that both brothers ran the Lockerbie Estate. Both brothers were born in Quebec, Canada.
It was Thomas who owned the Lockerbie Estate and managed it by himself until he sold half of his shares to John Studholme. From then, both men did the inspection tours and made joint business decisions.
Samuel may have had a small financial interest in the estate but was precluded from making business decisions, even in joint project with Thomas, namely T&S Morrin & Co, after 1884 as he was ill from ocomotor ataxis.
Samuel died an early death in August 1886.
It is this business venture that automatically seems to link all business to the “Morrin Brothers”, rather than their individual and separate enterprises.
Thomas named the land he purchased around Morrinsville the ‘Lockerbie Estate’ after the town in Scotland that his forbears came from. Neither Thomas nor Samuel lived in Morrinsville.
A third brother William, who lived in Auckland, owned a Wholesale and Retail Grocery and Wine & Spirit Merchant in Queen Street with his cousin John C Morrin.
William named his land in the Auckland area, Meadowbank after his father’s farm in Canada.
The name Lockerbie was perpetuated when the Morrinsville Coop Dairy Company adopted the name as their trade mark for their dairy produce.
