The Search for Samuel: How My Great-Great-Grandfather Brought the World to Whanganui

​Whanganui is a city that proudly wears its history on its sleeve—evident in its Edwardian buildings, its winding river, and its vibrant creative scene. But for me, this trip wasn’t about sightseeing. It was about finding Samuel Henry Drew—my great-great-grandfather.

I’d always known he was a jeweller. Family whispers said he was “a bit of a big deal,” but no one ever explained why. What I didn’t know until recently was that Samuel was also the founder of the Whanganui Regional Museum, a prolific collector, and a surprisingly modern thinker for a 19th-century man. This episode of One Ancestor at a Time follows the trail he left—from taxidermied marsupials and extinct birds to letters from the leading scientists of his day. It was more than a family history lesson. It was a revelation.

🕰 From Jeweller to Gentleman Scientist

Born in England in 1844, Samuel Drew wasn’t born into science; he was apprenticed into watchmaking and jewellery, a craft that requires precision, patience, and attention to detail. These same qualities would later define his scientific collecting. After training in England, he moved to Whanganui, New Zealand, and established a jewellery business.

But it was what he did outside business hours that astonished me.

Samuel was part of a 19th-century global movement of “gentleman scientists”—amateurs who made major contributions to science despite lacking formal academic credentials. He was a self-taught naturalist—an autodidact and polymath—obsessed with collecting and classifying the natural world. His house became a menagerie of specimens, eventually so overrun that it could no longer function as a family home.

He had eight children, a booming business, and somehow found time to engage in rowing, choral societies, and extensive correspondence with museums around the world.

🧬 A Legacy Preserved in Fur, Feather, and Ink

My visit to the Whanganui Regional Museum began with a behind-the-scenes tour led by Trish Nugent-Lyne, the museum’s Curatorial and Collections Lead (Pou Tiaki). We talked surrounded by old display cases and even older stories.

Samuel’s private collection of natural history and ethnological artifacts formed the core of the museum when it was established in 1892. The city council purchased his collection for £600—a substantial sum at the time—with the stipulation that it remain open to the public.

Among the highlights Trish showed me:

• A marble bust of Samuel, created posthumously, still awaiting public display.
• Taxidermied specimens from his original collection, including wallabies, koalas, seals, and even his family cat.
• A thylacine (Tasmanian tiger)—now extinct and one of the most well-preserved specimens in the world. It’s a global treasure, sitting in a regional museum thanks to my ancestor’s obsession.

The museum’s storage rooms are still filled with pieces Samuel gathered: fish, birds, mammals, and oddities. We even saw a passenger pigeon, a species once abundant in North America but hunted to extinction. How did it end up here? Through Samuel’s vast international network.

Continue reading and watch the full story at OneAncestor.co and on YouTube.

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🌴 Coming Soon: Samoa

In the next episode, we travel sideways on my family tree to the beautiful islands of Samoa, where my wife's family comes from. Culture, identity, and belonging in the islands. Stay tuned.

Thank you for learning history with me, One Ancestor at a Time.