A BOOK containing historic events and the genealogy of Jacob Karl Steiner, a Swedish who arrived in Fiji in the 1800s, has been published and released yesterday to his descendants at a family reunion in Labasa.
Mr Steiner, who settled in Macuata, was a friend of the late Tui Macuata Ratu Ritova who was forcefully taken to the old capital of Levuka to sign the Deed of Cession in 1874.
The book — authored by Max Dyer, the son of Macuata chief and former minister for women in the Laisenia Qarase government, Adi Senimili Dyer — goes right back to events of the 1700s, looking back at the life of Mr Steiner.
In an interview with this newspaper, Dyer said information contained in the book was collected early this year through a lot of hard work.
“I also was assisted by my other family members who provided me with information about their respective genealogy which included the Steiner, Dyer, Reade, Peters, Fosters, Evans, Dunbar, Hewson, Johnson, Lestro, Mills and many other families that branched out from the Steiners,” he said.
“But for the information regarding the old man, Mr Steiner, from his birth and the chronology of his life, I put them together after doing research.
“I contacted Mr Steiner’s family in America, his brother John Steiner’s descendants and they provided me with some pictures and more information.”
Dyer also collected the birth certificate, death certificate and baptism certificate belonging to Mr Steiner.
“I even have a copy of the boat list that included the names of passengers that travelled from Sweden to America and Mr Steiner was only a little boy,” he said.
“So we put this book together to ensure that our younger generation still know about our family history and where we came from and our connection to other families.
“This book will keep all our family information together and we planned to have it released to family members during this reunion.”
