I have been writing columns for this newsletter since 2015 and Editor for most of that time. This means I have written over 90 columns. I’m amazed that I can still find something to write about and that they seem to be not repetitious. I have also read at least 500 articles from contributors covering all sorts of genealogical and historical matters. I am amazed that I still enjoy reading articles that arrive in my in-box and have rejected very few. I have learnt a lot and, Robert will no doubt agree, become more efficient at the various editorial duties such as punctuation, spelling, formatting etc. I must say I have no regrets at being conned into the role except for the very low salary I receive.

This month is no different. Gail has written longer than I. Rowan has shown the amazing research done on actors with many aliases. Allan has a weird comparison of the addictive hobby with cricket. Christine has introduced me to another unknown New Zealander, Ken has read another book – no that’s worded wrong. I should say he has tempted me to read another book. The developer, whoever he is, is once again the last to present his work.

Do not forget to look at the website, NZ Ancestor Search Helper.

I hope you get the same pleasure and are tempted to explore some other resource.

Peter Nash

Do you want to receive this newsletter every month?

This newsletter is free. There are not many free newsletters of this length in New Zealand. I am biased but it should be an interesting read.

To subscribe is easy too. Go on - don't misspell it as I have, twice already. https://www.famnet.org.nz/

The front page is lovely, but click on [Newsletters]. A page opens showing you a list of all the past newsletters, you can click the link to read one that you’re interested in.

Like the front page, the newsletters page has a place where you can log on or register. It’s in the top right-hand corner. Put your email here and click [Continue]. If you aren’t already on our mailing list, there will be a message “Email not in database” and a button [New User] appears. Click this and follow the dialog to register. It’s free and easy. You should receive a copy every month until you unsubscribe.

Robert has assured me that he will not send begging letters to your email - apparently, he has enough money at the moment. You will not have to put in your credit card number. You will not be charged a subscription.

Tell other genealogists so they can enjoy the newsletters too.

Regards

Peter Nash

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Contributors

From the Developer

Random Thoughts

A person with a beard

Description automatically generated with medium confidence I have been absent from the newsletter for the last few issues. The truth is, I had nothing to say, and so I ignored the editor’s comments and didn’t write anything. Besides, I was particularly busy with my software project which is at an interesting stage, and I needed to focus on that. I did however manage to find the time to take the editor’s initial draft newsletter, correct those of his mistakes that I noticed, and prepare the newsletter for publication.

I enjoyed preparing this edition. As usual I change the format from Word document to web page, and I read through the entire newsletter checking for errors and layout problems, while hoping for inspiration for an article of my own. I found this issue particularly interesting. Some articles in particular stood out for me: -

The Nash Rambler. Peter’s story of tracking down a bigamist is fascinating, and as always from Peter, it’s humorous and actually not too full of mistakes that I have to correct.

DNA Testing for Family History. Gail tells what got her interested in this subject. I must apologize to her and to you all: I’ve been meaning to index her articles since February 2020, but I seem to have had a shortage of round tuits. I’ll see if I can find one this month.

Chinese Corner. This is always one of my favourite sections, as it gives me a different perspective about aspects of family history that I’d never considered. This month’s article I found particularly interesting; I recommend that you all read it.

Plus the other articles, I enjoyed them all, but I’m still looking for inspiration for my own article. Oh well, on with the next phase, getting contributors to check that I haven’t made too much of a mess of their articles.

Telling your story: Index

1. Writing your story as notes, or with Word.

2. Embedding pictures in Word documents.

3. Saving Documents for Web Publication.

4. Saving Scrapbook Items

5. Sharing your Story: Managing your Family Group

6. On Line Editing: More Facts, Family, GDB Links

7. Comparing and Synchronising Records

8. Producing and Using Charts

9. Merging Trees. Part 1: Why Bother?

10. Merging Trees. Part 2: Adding Records On-Line

11. Merging Trees. Part3. Combining Existing Trees

12. Finding Your Way Around FamNet (Getting Help)

13. FamNet – a Resource for your Grandchildren

14. FamNet’s General Resource Databases
15. Updating General Resource Databases

16. Privacy

17. Indexes: beyond Excel.

18. Linking trees

19. Uploading a GEDCOM file

20. Uploading Objects to your Database

21. Bulk-uploading Objects. FamNet resource: Useful Databases
22. Publishing Living Family on Family Web Sites

23. Have YOU written your family story yet?

24. Editing and Re-arranging your Family Tree On-line.

25. It’s the Stories that Matter

26. Using QR Codes for your Family History

27. What happens to our Family History when we’re gone?

28. Our Shared Database Grows

Robert Barnes

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The Nash Rambler

Gosh, Family History Research is so easy nowadays

I’m thinking of disbanding the Old Fogeys coffee group I’m part of. They are causing me too much trouble and making me veer away from the various genealogical research tasks I have set myself They are too demanding and interfering with my logical thought processes. At the moment the only pleasure I’m getting from our sessions is the coffee. They have to go and leave me alone.

You may ask what has caused this ill feeling? Well, about two weeks ago, the conversation lagged a bit and somehow we got onto the criminals we have in our tree. I should have shut up but, under extreme provocation, I opened my mouth – they know that my tree is riddled with miscreants, rogues and vagabonds. I stated that my great aunt had married a “gentleman” in the 1940s, had a child by him, and then the excrement hit the fan when he was unmasked as a bigamist. They wanted to know the details but I couldn’t supply them. I was given a week to come up with the details.

In the early 1990s the Nash family had a reunion and my allocated task was to do the research, interview anybody with the surname or had come within a couple of feet of a NASH (I should say they could be men and/or women of a “sociable” nature). The book was highly prized and proved to have very few errors. But one branch of the family was a bit reluctant to be interviewed and seemed, in hindsight, to stick to an acceptable “story”. I had a memorable afternoon visit to the suburbs of Broadwood (back blocks Hokianga). The couple I was talking to were in the middle of an almighty “difference of opinion”. They were not speaking to each other and “compliments or complaints to/about each other” were conveyed through me. Eventually, the husband suggested that what I was told was not strictly true and that I needed to be told about the bigamist. Well, the story fell apart but I did write a generalised section that was acceptable to that branch. The daughter that resulted from that bigamist marriage knew very little and asked me to research the incident and report back to her.

In the early 1990s there was no internet of much value. Records, if they existed in Archives, were subject to privacy restrictions and newspapers were on film and very few indexes existed. BDMs were on microfiche. Any finds were precious and the cause of much skiting. As a result of researching this marriage etc I developed speeches about the Police Gazette, Court Records, old newspapers and other related topics and was invited to many NZSG branches as a speaker. I was famous, in my humble opinion.

Eventually, the “case was closed” and filed away for future work if I remembered. Nothing much was found and I had a deep suspicion that an alias was used.

Have you discovered the website NZ Ancestor Search Helper, ash.howison.co.nz You should immediately visit it now. It is a very useful website. When I start on a new name, I have a set pattern of websites I visit – generally in a particular order i.e. Wilson Collection, NZ BDMs, Papers Past, NZ Archives, Ancestry Family trees, etc. But I often get sidetracked by what I find which leads to a valuable website not being used. The above website doesn’t have data as such. It visits, or has a HTML, that visits, each site a researcher should visit. My congratulations go out to the designer/owner of that website.

In researching the bigamist (whom I shall name as A N Alias) I did not follow my usual routine. I did the Police Gazettes first and the first reference was the mug shots of an ugly individual with an alias he was/had used particularly in marrying my great aunt – I will use his real name as A L Bigamist (short for a lying bigamist). I cannot use the real names because at least one child is still alive and there may be more.

This led to PapersPast which provided a full report for a bigamy case in the 1930s in which his evidence gave the following:

His apparent first marriage in London in the 1920s

A marriage in the early 1930s

His WW1 service record in the Royal Navy in which he rose to the ranks of First Class Petty Officer (lies because he was a Leading Seaman)

When he came to NZ

At least two other court cases for theft occurred all under the surname A L Bigamist. The Wilson Collection suggested another marriage in the late 1930s which were confirmed by the NZ BDM website. His marriage to my great aunt was under the name A N Alias In the subsequent court case the Judge summed up his modus operandum as:

“This is your second conviction for bigamy” said his honour, who pointed out that the prisoner had been convicted of bigamy in xxxxx 1934, and sentenced to a year’s imprisonment. That should have been a warning to him, but he seemed to have represented himself as an unmarried man and associated with women on that basis, and having got them into trouble, to have gone through the form of marriage with them. Also, it was not to his credit that he had failed to maintain his children

Under the circumstances, concluded his honour, the least sentence Court could impose was one of imprisonment for 18 months with hard labour.”

I found a Family Tree in Ancestry.com which had a number of errors (as expected). Actually it had a lot of errors but I was forced to correct it and add to it – a nice bit of research if I say so.

So I wrote this up and presented it on Wednesday to the Old Fogeys. They went through it with a fine toothcomb and made many suggestions for improvement. I received no positive congratulatory words. I must improve. So yesterday I spent all afternoon sorting out the Ancestry.com family tree but I have a long list of things to do in order to satisfy this small group of critics. They are demanding a Timeline and a full report for next Wednesday.

The major point of this rambling article is that I took years of research in the 1990s and achieved almost nothing. This week I have found his ancestry, his places of residence, his misdemeanours, his real name, his death, his family and more. The Old Fogeys will say that their educating me is the cause of this success, but the fact is that research is very easy nowadays. So, visiting a collection of websites in NZ (thanks NZ Ancestor Search Helper) and Ancestry Trees (don’t forget they are mainly rubbish), a touch of luck, and ten minutes later problem is solved.

The Old Fogeys have got to disband. We must return to being a group of oldies who daydream/sleepwalk through an hour of boring nonsense. I must be left alone!!!!! But I will present a timeline to shut them up.

Peter Nash

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DNA Testing for Family History

From the editor: Gail has written quite a series on DNA Testing. You will see them all on the FAMNET website and they are a must-read, particularly if you are considering or have had a test done. They are easy to read and not too technical. Click Index so far to see these articles

How did it all begin?

A picture containing text, clipart

Description automatically generated I am an Apple user.

The first time I ever spent time on an Apple Mac was back in 2005 and even then it was because a mutual friend had sweet talked my partner into buying one. Neither of us had a clue! But I was on sick leave at the time, out in the country, and he thought it would stop me getting bored!

Bored? A genealogist?

As it turned out, little did he know how it would change my life. Our lives!

The starting point was a genealogy software program for Apple that I had found on the Internet. For me – such things were not for him.

Up until then, I had been using a program one of my children had purchased as a present for me some years before and it was for a Microsoft machine. From time-to-time I had sought out other programs but I was not satisfied – UNTIL I FOUND ‘iTiger’ for Apple Mac. Once I had put the program through its paces, I happily paid the small fee and have been an avid user ever since.

Shortly after this, we chose to holiday in Australia, and because he had also come to enjoy the Apple Mac so much (well, as much as any kiwi male into all outdoor pursuits can), he purchased an Apple laptop whilst there – and because I had already purchased an Apple for work, he gave the ‘home’ Apple to his daughter.

Now, what does any of this have to do with DNA? And what, if anything, does an Apple Mac have to do with ‘writing an article for FAMNET?’

Quite simply, nothing and everything.

In 2010, NZSG under the able leadership of Sandra Metcalfe, the inaugural Family History Fair was put together to take place in Hamilton. This event signalled numerous changes in my life and an Apple computer enabled the important bits to take place – my 17” Apple Laptop went everywhere with me. Although I still use it, it refuses to upgrade and further. In that sequence of events, I discovered genetic genealogy.

For the first year I was glued to both my laptop and two genetic testing firms. 23AndMe and FamilyTreeDNA.com. Both firms gave me different fundamentals of understandings and both gave me the same but different results. I realise that phrase does not make sense, but 23andMe gave me invaluable health information along with historical connections, whereas FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA) gave me invaluable mitochondrial and Y-DNA results. I also checked out Ancestry.com before they removed these tests, but I was not convinced. In fact I became disgusted with Ancestry for “killing off” so much data from Sorensons and from testers who paid for tests, that I pulled all my information out of Ancestry.

But I am getting off the track.

I was finally reaching an understanding of just what autosomal DNA showed;

* finally reaching an understanding of what mitochondrial DNA indicated;

* finally reaching an understanding of what Y-DNA showed.

So, I plucked up the courage to become a Project Administrator for FTDNA. That decision has been one of the best I have made – being ‘Johnny on the spot’ meant I had to start learning. No longer could I hide behind anything I had been told. I had to ‘know’!

In order to know, I had to experience!

This meant I needed to draw on my relative’s DNA, and in turn, this meant I needed to offer to at least pay for any DNA testing of said relatives.

Those relatives who know me personally were mostly agreeable but I confess there were some who were extremely negative. The issue my relatives turning me down is that genetic genealogy is not a solo occupation. Testers actually NEED members of their family to test. Where family members have said a flat “NO”, I have needed to go back to my Family Tree and come down though another line.

I bring this matter up because over and over, testers think they will receive a Family Tree of sorts by taking a DNA test. That is a false concept.

You need to work out what you wish to learn and you need to know who the person (or persons) is in your family whose results will give you what you wish to learn. There is no sense in a man taking a Y chromosome test if he wants to learn about his mother’s lineage. He needs a Mitochondrial test.

Similarly, there is no sense in a woman wanting to know who her mother’s great great grandfather is if there is no male descendant of that great great grandfather able to test for her. When a family ‘daughters out’ another branch of the family needs to be contacted. With perseverance, what may seem impossible to begin with can become fact.

I am happy to help people work out who they should test to get the results they want.

Just write to me gailriddelldna@gmail.com but do us both a favour and ensure you have accurate trees. Do not simply copy someone else’s work.

Gail Riddell

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Chinese Corner

Poll tax apology: To know our history is to know ourselves

Twenty-three years ago, former Prime Minister Helen Clark made a formal apology to Chinese New Zealanders whose ancestors paid a poll tax and suffered other forms of legislative discrimination targeting the New Zealand Chinese community. A year ago, the same apology was delivered, only this time in Cantonese, the language that the poll tax payers and their descendants spoke.

In 1902, the Chinese community scraped together funds to exhume bodies across 40 cemeteries of 499 Chinese gold miners who died in New Zealand. They were put on the SS Ventnor to be repatriated home to China, but tragedy struck when the Ventnor, sank after striking a reef off the south coast of Cape Egmont.

Kirsten Wong has been central to the New Zealand Chinese Association's Ventnor work since these dots were first connected. She has since written school teaching resources for it and led kaupapa to bring Chinese people to the Hokianga to honour their deceased and thank local iwi for their manaakitanga across more than a hundred years.

Leading up to Waitangi Day last week, a group of 46 Chinese rangatahi called Pāruru (meaning "place of shelter") and another group of 45 living descendants and whānau of those lost, travelled around the Hokianga to remember their forefathers and wānanga with local iwi on how its story and legacy is an example of biculturalism in action.

Wong has documented and connected many of the oral histories around the Ventnor. "The desire to feel connection to our histories across the generations is something that runs very deep. We have such a long history of exclusion and racism, right up to the present day," she says. "To have this historic example of our people being accepted literally into this whenua, and for their spirits to be cared for with such great manaakitanga and generosity is incredibly healing. So, when we meet the descendants of those who cared for our ancestors, we are already deeply invested in our relationship with them, culturally and emotionally."

Historically, says Wong, the framework for bicultural relations in Aotearoa has been mediated by Pākehā. "As we go forward and we deepen those community-to-community ties, I think that's when we'll start seeing more and more changes in how we approach our tauiwi identity and responsibilities."

New Zealand Chinese community elder and advocate, Esther Fung, thinks these histories aren't as well-known because the early years were hard. "Chinese were not looked upon as desirable immigrants," Fung says. "It's left its mark on us, really. I do think we were very apologetic about being Chinese."

Fung says recognising local history, for example, through the Poll Tax Apology and other discriminatory statutes, contributes greatly to the Chinese community's sense of belonging. "It opened the possibility for people to talk about their histories, to take pride in their community." Even for Chinese New Zealanders who don't descend from settler Chinese, Fung says it is still their heritage. "The successes that can be enjoyed now have been built on their backs. I think it's important that we learn to identify with each other. This heritage is not for us to keep but for us to share with other people."

"Let's face it, New Zealand history has been written very much from a Pākehā perspective." She says it's not a surprise that the Chinese story wasn't told given that Māori histories continue to suffer through a process of selective amnesia.

But Fung's outlook is optimistic. She thinks today, people are a bit braver. "We've got younger Chinese moving into the fields of arts and communication ... that's where the power is, the voices have got to be heard, and unless we take care of these things ourselves, nobody else is going to do it for us."

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/chinese/509198/poll-tax-apology-to-know-our-history-is-to-know-ourselves

Helen Wong

From the Editor: I found this web page about History of the Chinese in Australia.

A Treasure Trove for Chinese-Australian History

https://trove.nla.gov.au/blog/2024/02/01/treasure-trove-chinese-australian-history

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More Famous New Zealanders You have Probably Never Heard Of

Frances Louisa (Fanny) FANTHAM (1866-1948)

Frances Louisa FANTHAM, or Fanny as she was usually known was born on the 27 September 1866 in Canterbury, possibly at Papanui where her father had land on Lincoln Road. She was the eldest daughter of Arthur Albert and Mary (aka Maria/Martha/May) FANTHAM nee McWILLIAM. Around 1869, the family moved to Cambridge in the Waikato and farmed what is now St Peter’s school.

In 1882 the family moved to Hawera in South Taranaki where Fanny’s father became active in many institutions. After his death, a large marble statue was erected in his memory in King Edward Park. He has the distinction of having three streets named for him on what was the property beside the Hawera Racecourse.

In March 1887, Fanny then aged 19, became the first European woman to climb the 1962 metre high Panitahi, a parasitic volcanic cone on the side of Mt Taranaki (Mount Egmont).

The group had left Manaia on horseback as a member of a party of about 14 men and women. The party was guided by the Manaia postmaster, Thomas Dawson, after whom Dawson Falls was named. He had reached the summit of Taranaki/Egmont from the south side in April the previous year and had explored much of the mountain over some years.

At that time the country was still heavily bushed and progress above Kaponga was inevitably slow. A track of sorts led from the edge of the reserve to Dawson Falls where a camp was pitched. Early next morning the party set off up the Kapuni Gorge. Fanny, wearing a shortened dress and lace-up boots climbed steadily ahead of the main bunch with a group of four men. They reached the top of the peak, half to three-quarters of an hour ahead of the others. Some discussion followed and the five agreed that the peak should be named Fantham’s Peak in honour of the first woman to climb it.

The Hawera and Normanby Star of the 15 March 1887 recorded that the gentlemen with three ringing cheers proclaimed the name to the world and drank the lady's health in the scantiest bumpers ever indulged in, as one of the flasks — of water, of course — had been accidentally spilt.

Fanny then joined her four companions as they continued up the main peak towards the summit of, however, after some distance, she reluctantly decided to turn back, apparently afraid of the possibility of adverse comments being made about a young woman climbing only with men as companions.

The following year, 1888, Fanny married Fred Bayly, a farmer of Manaia, in St Mary's Church of England, Hawera and they brought up a family of three boys and three girls, farming in various areas of Taranaki.

During World War One, Fanny felt that she would like to do something for the war effort, and so went to England and worked in a munitions factory, and later nursed at the army hospital at Walton-on-Thames, where many New Zealand soldiers were being hospitalised.

When the Mt Egmont Alpine Club was formed in Hawera in 1928, she accepted its invitation to become an honorary member, later presenting them with a fine oil painting of herself as a lasting memento to the naming of the peak. In December 1941, the Egmont National Park Board invited her to Dawson Falls where a group photograph was taken in which Fanny and Mrs Henson of Hawera, who was the first to climb to the main summit, were included. It was her first visit back to the scene of her climb more than 50 years before.

Fanny died in New Plymouth on 10 September 1948 at the age of 81 and was cremated.

Sources:

Women of South Taranaki - Their Stories. Nga Wahine Toa O Taranaki Tonga - O Ratou Korero. Clement, Christine & Johnston, Judith (Editors).1993

UP EGMONT FROM MANAIA - Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume Ix, Issue 1575, 15 March 1887, Page 2

Fantham’s Peak to the left of the main summit of Taranaki

A person in a dress

Description automatically generated

Christine Clement

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Ken Morris

Abyss – World on the Brink – Cuban Missile Crisis 1962

by Max Hasting Published 2022 Paperback 532 pages with photographs ISBN 978-0-00-836503-5

This is not actually directly related to family history or genealogy as such, but if the “Crisis” had turned into conflict there would have been many truncated family histories.

Max Hastings is the author of 25+ books and many related to history and WWII events. I’ve read a number of his books which are very readable and Abyss is no exception.

In the book, the period of the actual crisis in October 1962 reads a bit like a fictional thriller as the crisis builds to a climax and then to a virtually no action results.

The time prior to the crisis is at a more leisurely pace where the author brings all main players to the table and sets the scene as formulated by the actions and reactions of the players to the various events.

There are summaries that aid the reader to get an overview of significant global events 1945-1991 and the principal participants in the crisis: governments, agencies and the people & the roles they played. The extensive research sources are listed as well as extensive index.

I was ~ 21 at the time of the crisis and more interested in playing in the Auckland Senior Rugby competition and the start of the surf lifesaving season at Piha than a crisis on the other side of the world. I’ve always been a wide reader and many of the books read in 1962 covered WWII and one of the last books read that year was “Our Man in Havana” by Graham Greene. I’m sure a search of Papers Past would show many NZ Herald headlines on the Crisis.

The main and some of the secondary “players” are very well fleshed out by the author and their photographs also help bring them to life. We despair at the principles, frailties and abilities of our more current heads of state, politicians and the heads of the military, but in many cases it would appear they are no better or worse than those of the 1960’s era.

Many of the ‘players’ had set unwavering positions regardless of the status of the Crisis, with extremes at both ends, and in some case on either side it was not clear who could order an action or reaction which could have dire consequences. Some ‘players’ were in it for their own self-serving interests, so what’s changed? With Jackie’s absence from the White House an aide smuggled in a teenage lover for a relentlessly priapic (I had to look the word up) JFK, Mimi Beardsley recorded that she found him understandably grave and preoccupied and no sexual encounter took place (from a 2013 book). Not really relevant to a book review but it certainly lightened the gravity of the moment.

During the crisis there were many instances of poor communication within and between the combative powers. Albeit in 1962 we could send and receive messages to rockets & satellites in space, in the crisis it was at times impossible for the USA to get messages to & from their ships in the Cuban Blockade and to make timely communications between Kennedy & Khrushchev.

The Americans & the Russians were the main participants with Cuba mixed up in the middle. The other powers UK, France & other European nations were more on the sideline and, although consulted, were in part ignored and in some cases they used the Crisis to improve their relationships with each other and the main participants. They had also been threatened by Russian in close proximity for many years and felt the USA to some degree was overreacting to having nuclear missiles on their doorstep.

I found it a good read and it has some parallels in today’s Russian-Ukraine conflict and the NATO Alliance.

My wife to be passed by Cuba on 24th Jul 1963 on board the Oriana on the way to the UK and reported:

“At 2 o’clock yesterday afternoon we passed the lower end of Cuba and were close enough to see the land just a few miles over. There was great excitement when the American A street vendor selling books

Description automatically generated Cruiser shot across and intercepted us. There was a great exchange of flashing light. Who were we, where were we going and where had we been. We were sent on our way and told to alter course. Then the plane came from another direction and circled the ship twice. There were several other cruisers in the vicinity.”

(it was actually her mother that ‘reported’ in a letter to her sister. I don’t recall Pam making a mention of it in a letter to me)

In Oct 2013 we visited Cuba (via Panama, as still no direct flights from US (except to Guantanamo Bay, voluntary or involuntary!)) and had a thoroughly enjoyable visit. Books were still a scarce commodity with many ‘copied’ versions available at street stalls. It remained in the shadow of three strong willed personalities Castro, Khrushchev & Kennedy (perhaps four with RK)

Ken Morris

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Allan Rudge

Cricket – Family History and ChatGPT

Whilst watching/listening to the SA-NZ Cricket Test. I pondered on an analogy between Cricket and Family history. Namely on the tactics teams employ in the course of the play. Whilst the batter scores runs, we family historian score by locating the right records for our family tree. On the other hand the bowlers determination to frustrate the batsman demonstrate the due diligence and persistence required. Qualities family historians need to break down brick walls.

As a first time newbie to ChatGPT I thought I would try ChatGPT with the same analogous question. The result to say the least is interesting. Below is the ChatGPT response which arrived within 30 seconds of asking the question. To say I am impressed is almost an understatement.

I also note that there are some family history webinars on the use of AI and ChatGPT. Now there is something else for me to become better informed about in my spare time away from the Cricket. Although I am not sure how it will assist with my Banfield and Cuthbert brick walls.

ChatGPT - Analogy between Cricket and Family history

Cricket and family history might seem like disparate subjects, but they share some interesting parallels when examined closely.

Generations: In both cricket and family history, there's a sense of continuity across generations. Just as in cricket, where you have players following in the footsteps of their predecessors, in family history, each generation builds upon the legacy and experiences of those who came before them.

Records and Statistics: Cricket relies heavily on statistics and records to measure performance and track progress. Similarly, in family history, genealogical records such as birth certificates, marriage records, and census data serve as the statistical backbone, helping to piece together the narrative of one's ancestry.

Legacy and Heritage: Cricket teams often carry the weight of their nation's cricketing legacy and heritage. Similarly, individuals often take pride in their family's history and heritage, feeling a connection to their ancestors and the journey that has led to their present-day circumstances.

Teamwork and Collaboration: Cricket is a team sport that requires collaboration, strategy, and coordination among players. Similarly, uncovering family history often involves teamwork and collaboration among family members, sharing stories, photos, and information to build a comprehensive picture of the family's past.

Unexpected Discoveries: In both cricket and family history research, there are often unexpected discoveries waiting to be made. Just as a cricket match can take unexpected turns, revealing new talents or unforeseen challenges, delving into family history can unearth surprising connections, long-lost relatives, or hidden stories.

Preservation and Conservation: Both cricket and family history involve efforts to preserve and conserve heritage. While cricket teams aim to uphold the traditions and values of the sport, families often strive to document and preserve their history through photo albums, oral traditions, and written records.

Emotional Attachments: Cricket fans often have strong emotional attachments to their favourite teams and players. Similarly, individuals may develop emotional connections to their family history, feeling a sense of belonging and identity rooted in their ancestral past.

In summary, while cricket and family history may appear unrelated at first glance, they share common themes of continuity, legacy, teamwork, discovery, preservation, and emotional attachment, making for an intriguing analogy between the two. Top of Form

Allan Rudge

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Rowan Gibbs

When Harry met Emily (and I met Blitz and Bosco)

My interest in genealogy came about by chance when, many years ago, I listed for sale on Trade Me a booklet on Woodend School. The buyer recognised the connexion between Woodend and GIBBS from her own research and we proved to be fourth cousins. She had traced our family back several generations and was immensely helpful in showing me how to do the same. I learnt that my father’s GIBBS family came here, as farm labourers, from Turvey in Bedfordshire and his mother was Fanny PUDDLE, an easier name to research than Gibbs. My mother was Mimi KENNEDY, born in Glasgow, and I remember my surprise in finding that she was three years older than she had always admitted and her birth name was Mary, which she never used.

I then turned my attention to my interest in obscure New Zealand writers. One who had long tantalised me was “Henry Hoyte” who in 1887 wrote a crime novel titled The Tramway Tragedy, published and set in Melbourne. But a review in the Christchurch Press, calling it “exceedingly good”, described him as “well-known to theatre-goers as a very clever juvenile actor, and ... hails from Christchurch”. Disappointingly (to me) it turned out he was born in Melbourne, on June 5th 1864, real name Henry Harbord MACDONALD, son of Augustus Barnard Macdonald, a publican, and his wife Fanny Maria HOYTE (whence his pseudonym and his stage name “Harry Hoyte”), who had married in London not in 1841 as they claimed but in 1852, shortly before leaving for Australia.

Henry’s older brother George settled in Christchurch becoming a theatrical agent and by the age of sixteen Henry joined him, working as a clerk for the Union Steamship Co. but training as an actor under the well-known William HOSKINS, who mentored young aspirants for the stage, mainly actresses, of whom he married three.

I was amazed how much detail I could find, mainly from online newspapers, on Henry’s life and career once he became an actor and on his three wives, all actresses. I soon decided that stage people were more fun to research than writers – often one can follow their lives day by day, even hour by hour, from advertisements and reviews; but their offstage lives and loves tend to be cloaked under stage names, and their births, deaths, marriages and divorces can be elusive, which only adds to the interest.

By 1884 Henry was performing in Melbourne and then toured widely in Australia and New Zealand. In March 1885 in Melbourne he opened as Lord Lilac in ‘Amos Clark’, starring George Rignold and Kate Bishop, and also in the cast, playing his wife, Lady Lilac, was a twenty-four year old English actress named Emily FITZROY, who was to become his first wife. Emily Fitzroy was the stage name of Emily ADAMS, born in London on May 24th 1860 to Frederick William Adams and Louisa CUMMINS, who had married in London in 1848. Her vital statistics (in 1931 at least) were “height 5ft 6½in., weight 160 pounds, dark brown hair, hazel eyes”.

Most of the Adams family, except for Emily’s father, changed their surname to HAMILTON and their business from 1850 till the end of the century was Hamilton’s Dioramas, pictures painted on giant rolls of canvas usually of tours through exotic locations or parading British victories, unrolled with a commentary, and in the intervals performances by variety artists – singers, dancers, acrobats, minstrel shows, jugglers, trained animals… and magicians. I am writing a book on the Hamilton family and their dioramas, together with biographies of the many variety performers. I grew particularly interested in one, a magician named BLITZ, who proved to be not the original Antonio Blitz but an Australian impostor who stole his name. That resulted in a long account of the Blitz family of magicians and their host of impostors, but before it was quite finished I was distracted by an even more famous magician, Bartolomeo BOSCO, who had even more impostors, and in 2021 I published a 550 page book on Bosco and his namesakes.

Emily was on stage by 1878 in England, but came to prominence only in 1882 in Australia acting with George Rignold. She was now “Mrs Slaughter”, though she may never have actually married Winston Henry SLAUGHTER, the manager of Rignold’s company. Born in Jackson, Missouri, ca.1844, he had married actress Marie Wainwright (1853-1923, another Rignold protégée) in Paris in 1872, and came to England in 1878 during his protracted divorce proceedings. He and Emily had a son (named after the father) in Exeter on October 18th 1880 but he died on January 17th 1881. Slaughter arrived in Australia in late 1881 but died from a long term pulmonary complaint in Sydney on September 25th 1882. He was buried in St Louis, Missouri.

Emily now joined Rignold’s company and soon rose from minor to leading roles, becoming very popular on their New Zealand tour in 1883.

It was as Emily Slaughter that she married Henry in Adelaide on September 23rd 1885; they then toured on to Melbourne together but joined different companies and were parted less than a month later. The next few years saw them performing in Australasia together and separately, until in 1889 Henry headed to London on his own. He then played in America but returned to Australia in 1890. In April that year he and Emily were together in Sydney but Emily then sailed to England. This was probably the last they saw of each other, and they later divorced.

Henry remained in Australia, and in February 1892 we find him in Broken Hill playing with a well-known English Shakespearian actress, Lillian BEDDARD, soon to be the second Mrs Hoyte. Her full name was probably Marion Rose Lilian Beddard, said to be born in London in 1852; in 1873 she had married Henry BYRNE, who was now having problems securing a divorce from her.

She and Henry settled in San Francisco in 1892 and probably married that year. They performed with her company, putting on several plays written by Henry, who had now adopted the stage name Hereward Hoyte. They had little success and she was soon teaching elocution. She and Henry separated in 1895 and the following year she sued him for divorce, alleging neglect, failure to support, drinking, and womanising. She remarried to Curtis BOND but when she died in 1929 she was saved from a pauper’s grave only by friends’ donations.

Henry in 1895 had met an amateur actress and society hostess named Lucy WILLIAMS, born 1867 in Sacramento and left a fortune by her adoptive father. She was married, but divorcing her husband Louis AUZERAIS. She and Henry married a week after his divorce and two days after hers. She now wanted to turn professional and with Henry as her male lead she toured a theatrical company to Alaska, a venture which lost her a large amount of money. Their marriage was stormy and her fortune dwindled, and a two-year Continental tour saw them imprisoned for debt in Cannes. Henry died in San Francisco on December 6th 1898 soon after their return – “He died with my name on his lips”, she said. “Oh, he was so good and so kind to me”. They had a child but he died in infancy in April 1899. Lucy remarried to Leon ESMIOL and died in 1903.

We left Emily travelling to England in 1890, age thirty. She was in London by June and soon became highly successful, billed for a period as Emily S. Fitzroy or Miss Sydney Fitzroy and said to be Australian. In 1897 a lucky speculation in a Utah copper mine meant she could retire from the stage and she spent ten years as a society hostess at her house in Curzon-street, Mayfair.

Emily was approaching fifty when she returned to the stage in 1907. In March 1909 she returned to tour Australia and New Zealand, described as “a handsome woman, with a superb figure, and dresses exquisitely”. Her clothes soon dictated local fashions. In the 1911 census we find Emily living in High Street, Marylebone, on her own, an actress and widow, and has had two children, neither still alive.

One might feel that her career was winding down, but it now took on a new lease of life: she headed to America and was soon playing on Broadway, then launching a whole new career in films. She became highly sought after for character roles as domineering mothers, interfering mothers-in-law, stuffy maiden aunts, and grumpy landladies and schoolmistresses in a host of silent films, and then even more prominent with the coming of sound. She was in more than a hundred films in America, England and Europe (many of which do not survive). Probably the most memorable was ‘Way Down East’, directed by D.W. Griffith, 1920, which survives largely intact, famous for “the most thrilling climax ever filmed”, Lillian Gish chased across the drifting ice floes. Emily, playing the stern landlady Maria Poole, has three scenes in the film. She made her sound debut in ‘Show Boat’ in 1929 and was in demand for elocution lessons. In her long career she played with Carole Lombard, Greta Garbo, John Wayne, Clark Gable, and in her final film, ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’, 1944, with ten-year-old Elizabeth Taylor.

She continued her stage career until the 1920s with a final tour of Australasia in 1917. Travelling back to America in 1918 she is listed as Emily Fitzroy Rickards, with her “nearest relative” given as Mr G. Rickards, 131 Macquarie St, Sydney, N.S.W., but American records have her marrying a Gilbert Richards (probably a wrong transcription), born 1846, in New York on October 14th 1921. A 1925 article said, “For years she has cared tenderly for her invalid husband”, and she was a widow by 1933. She is on 1940 US census as Emily Fitzroy, actress, single, living Los Angeles.

Emily died in a rest home in Gardena on March 3rd 1953 of heart disease; she is listed as Emily Fitzroy Rickards (“leaves no close relatives”) and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery.

I am writing a full-length biography of Emily with details of all her stage and film performances.

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Emily in 1890

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1926

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1929

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Henry’s crime novel online https://www.apfa.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/objects/images/image_viewer_paged.htm?tramt,63,1,C,77 [then click right hand arrows at top]

‘Way Down East’ https://archive.org/details/WayDownEast_201312

‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-white-cliffs-of-dover-vm440994

Rowan Gibbs

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Nancy Vada Gibb

Earning a Living

I am enjoying the second year of the internet group challenge “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”. There is a set topic for each week. It can often be interpreted in a variety of ways!

The topic for Week 6, 2024 was “Earning a Living”. After some dithering I chose not a working class ancestor, but my Great Great Aunt Susan D’ARCHY (1857-1922). She was born to a wealthy pioneering family in Australia, and had a privileged childhood growing up on an outback cattle station with a private tutor and a series of Governesses. She was taken to England by her parents when she was 17 and made several trips to Europe in subsequent years, being presented to Queen Victoria on more than one occasion. Why did she need to earn a living?

The recession of the 1890s hit her family hard, together with a drought and rabbit plague. The English banks, with little knowledge or understanding of Australian conditions, foreclosed on a huge number of pastoral properties. The DARCHY children had to earn a living! That much I knew, but assumed Susan was still “well provided for”. Her mother and younger sister continued to lead a social life.

Susan became a well-known Australian journalist, in charge of the fashion and social columns of an Australian daily newspaper and writing for several others including the Sketch in London. She also delivered an occasional public lecture, one of them being “On the Power of Thought” in 1899.

The following year she went overseas and gave a series of lectures on Australia in San Francisco and London, which attracted much attention. She tried to obtain finance for her lecture tours from the Australian government but was unsuccessful. A letter to the Prime Minister written in 1901 says: “My object in writing to you is to ask you if the Commonwealth could not help me to make my work of greater value to Australia. I (have) managed in three months to give twenty five lectures in London and various parts of England. So far, I have had everything to face single handed, this work has been enormous and the expenses very great. Those in the know here are amazed at the measure of success I have secured, for independent lectures of anyone who has not poisoned a few husbands or who has not become distinguished in South Africa are considered suicidal.” It would seem she knew the Prime Minister personally! She also toured Canada.

Returning to Australia in about 1902 she set up a high fashion dressmaking and design business in Melbourne, known as “Darchy et Cie”. She was reputed to be a very clever designer whose forte was evening and race gowns. The business apparently closed after 1909 and Susan returned to England within a few years and “did much excellent war work” according to an obituary. She must have returned home to Australia only a few months before she died at her brother’s home in Sydney in 1922.

Nancy Vada Gibb

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Robina Trenbath

A Son of Ireland

My mother-in-law was Irish (Columb or Collumb, Scrabby, Loch Gowna, Co. Cavan)¹. I had just married her son, and one day after work I popped in to see her. She stepped back, the look on her face, one of sheer terror. As I stepped forward to console her, she found a seat to sit on and took out her rosary. “What on earth is the matter?” I asked.

Lost for words all she could muster was a wave of her hand to ward me off. I smelt my jacket – nothing there. Then the poor dear (for she was the most humble and caring person I had ever encountered) blurted out…“Black and Tan! Black and Tan!” ^2.

I was so naive. What on earth was she going on about? It seemed to be what I was wearing. Black knee-high boots, deep olive-green cord trousers tucked inside and a khaki shirt. Recovering her wits, she sat me down and over a cup of tea this was the story she told.

Patrick Collumb was my mother-in-law’s cousin. He was the second son, born on 23 June 1900, to Francis and Margaret/ Maggie Collumb (nee Brennan) at Dernaferst, Loch Gowna, Co. Cavan. For as long as he could remember they were a family of 9, which included his paternal grandmother Rose Collumb (nee Green b. 1835) and her daughter, also named Rose. Farmer alongside his father’s name on the Census of Ireland, 1901 & 1911 looked good. In truth, there was not much of a living to be eked out of their impoverished holding at Scrabby, Loch Gowna. However, from the 1911 census we do know that all members of the Collumb family could both read and write.

1920: On 11 Dec. 1920 at Richmond Hospital Patrick’s father died of a gastric ulcer. Patrick’s mother, Maggie Collumb now had to manage the family’s small land holding of nine acres with only her third son Francis (18), to run the farm with her. Patrick was away working as a process server^.He earned about forty pounds per annum and sent as much as he could, home to his mother^4.

1919-1921 Irish War of Independence: …a guerrilla and sectarian conflict involving Irish Republicans, Ulster Loyalists and British Government Forces (Black and Tans). It brought about the creation of Northern Ireland, which remained part of the U.K. and the Irish Free State, which would later become the Republic of Ireland ^5.

Patrick was an active member of the IRA prior to joining the National Army ^6.

Cor. Cert. Record - 1922 – April 27: Dominick St; Mullingar. Patrick Collumb (M) Bachelor aged 20 years/ Company Adjutant I.R.A. We find that according to the evidence before us that Company Adj. Collumb was killed in discharge of his duty on the morning of the 27^{th of} April 1922, was murdered by some person or persons unknown. Certificate received from Peter Malinn Coroner for Westmeath. Inquest held at Military Barracks, Mullingar 28^th April 1922. 13 May 1922. M. King Interim Registrar.^3.

1922 (above): Military Service Pensions.

Maggie Columb’s first letter to the Superintendent of the Army Pensions Department.

1926: Maggie Collumb’s letter dated February 9^th, 1924.

1926 August 18^th: Army Pensions Department Life Certificate: Margaret Columb of Darnferst, Gowna, Co. Cavan was given a one-off gratuity of seventy-five pounds in respect of her son Patrick Columb, killed whilst serving as Coy. Adj. in the National forces on April 27^th, 1922.⁶

Columb Barracks – Mullingar, Co. Cavan, Ireland: Originally named Wellington Barracks and built in 1814 to house 1,000 soldiers. Re-named after Patrick Columb, a member of the National Army who was killed on Mary Street in 1922. Closed in 2011.

References

^1.Ireland, Index to Griffith’s Valuation, 1848-1864. James Collumb. Longford, Columbkille, Larkfield. ancestry.com/ Search Card Catalogue/ Ireland, Griffith’s Valuation, 1847-1864.

^2. Black and Tans: about 10,000 Englishmen were recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary around 1920 to maintain control over the IRA during the Irish War of Independence. They were a brutal force. Wikipedia.

^3.Deaths Registered in the District of Mullingar in the Union of Mullingar in the County of Westmeath, Ireland. 1922. IrishGenealogy.ie. Search Civil Records. Second page of Record No. 04391112.

^4.Military Archives/ Letter to the Superintendent/ Army Pensions Department, dated 22/3/24. Process Server = …involves attending various addresses including residences, businesses and work places to deliver court documents. Institute of Mercantile Agents Ltd.

^5. Irish War of Independence. nam.ac.uk/explore/irish-war-independence

^6.Military Archives/ Military Service Pensions Collection. File Ref. No. 2D26 & Assc. Files In F297.Midland Division. File dates 12 August 1922 – 8 May 1933. Oglaigh na hEireann Defence Forces Ireland.

N.B. Patrick was listed with the variant spelling of his surname – COLUMB. An excellent site which gave comprehensive Subject Information from which I was able to source copies of original letters (Maggie Collumb) and military reports which spanned 4 years and four months as she fought to secure a pension (compensation) for the loss of her son, upon whom she was financially dependent.

Robina Trenbath

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An Invitation to Contribute:

I have a number of people that contribute occasional articles. These appear irregularly if and when the authors send them to me. I use them to bulk up each month's newsletter. The more we have the more "rests "I can give my much-appreciated regular columnists.

This is a way that a person can get some of their writing published. Of course, we are all writing up our research results, aren't we? I have always said that every genealogist is an expert in some small piece of history, resources or research methods.

We circulate this newsletter to about 7,000 subscribers worldwide but is read by many more as it is passed on to other readers and LDS research centres. Every month I get feedback on my poor attempts at writing and I have now made many "new friends", albeit digital ones, I have even had some very helpful assistance in my research.

Why don't you contribute an article?

My basic requirements:

1) The column must be in English

2) The column should be no longer than about 1,200 words

3) The article should be emailed to me in a Word document format

4) The subject should be genealogical or historical in nature

Do not be afraid about your "perceived" bad English. The article will be edited, in a friendly manner, by me and then Robert. Then all columnists and a few valuable proof-readers get to read the newsletter before it is emailed out. You’ll be paid $0 for your article, which is on the same scale that Robert and I pay ourselves for editing and publishing the newsletter.

From our Libraries and Museums

We are offering a forum to our libraries and museums to publicise their events, and to contribute articles to this newsletter that may be of interest to our readers. Auckland Libraries makes good use of this free service, let’s see if other libraries and museums take up this offer.

For readers of this newsletter: please bring this to the attention of your local libraries etc, and encourage them to participate.

Auckland Council Libraries

Photographers Database on Kura

https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz

Auckland Council Libraries’ Digital Research Collections team is pleased to announce the launch of the Photographers database on Kura: https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photographers

The Photographers Database is a listing of photographers operating in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands from the 1840s through to the early 2000s, with their studio addresses, years of operation, and includes the names of studio assistants, colourists and retouchers, together with some chemists and photo-stock dealers.

This is an invaluable and unique resource that is used by researchers across the country. It is the fruit of many years of in-depth research by Photographs Curator Dr Keith Giles.

There are 5,570 records, of which there are listings for 566 pioneering women photographers: https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photographers/search/searchterm/female/field/gender

45 in-depth essays: https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photographers/search/searchterm/Keith%20Giles!Bruce%20Ringer/field/all!all/mode/exact!exact/conn/or!and

Curious about which photographers were operating in Timaru?: https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photographers/search/searchterm/timaru/field/locati

... Or Tonga? https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photographers/search/searchterm/tonga/field/locati

Many thanks to Keith Giles and Samantha Doherty for their hard work on migrating these records to Kura.

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Auckland Council Libraries HeritageTalks | Waha pū -taonga

Please note: Due to some recent changes in our department, we are reviewing our HeritageTalks programme of events.
The 2024 HeritageTalks programme is on hold after 6^th March while we conduct this review.

If you attended a HeritageTalk in 2023 could you please assist us with some feedback:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5SG57ZK

Are you interested in family, local and social history, the stories of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Pacific, and beyond?

Then why not come along to one of our fortnightly HeritageTalks | Waha pū-taonga and hear more about both our personal and our shared heritage?

These talks are given by experts in their field and can provide valuable insight into our histories and our cultures.

When: Wednesdays, February to November, 12noon - 1pm

Where: Auckland Whare Wananga, L2 Central City Library,
Lorne St . Also online via Zoom Cost: Free

Wednesday 6 March

Dietary Advice and ‘Food as Medicine’ in Aotearoa, 1930-1960 with Helen Morten, Auckland Library Heritage Trust John Stacpoole Research Scholarship recipient

Discussion of Dr. Ulric Williams highlights continuity in present-day concerns towards medical/health authorities, vaccine mandates, vaccinations. Williams led public forums at Auckland’s town hall during this period, voicing his distrust for vaccinations and milk pasteurisation, in particular.

Bookings: https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/Pages/family-and-local-history-events.aspx

For queries contact Research Central ph 09 890 2412.

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2024 Auckland Family History Expo

Tāmaki Huinga Tātai Kōrero

Friday 9 August to Sunday 11 August 2024

Auckland Council Libraries and the Genealogical Computing Group (an interest group of the NZ Society of Genealogists) proudly present a weekend-long event covering a wide range of topics on researching genealogy and family history.

2024 is the tenth anniversary of our first Expo and we plan to make it an extra special one in celebration.

Join us on Friday 9 August to Sunday 11 August 2024 at the Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland

(Venue confirmed)

Friday 9 August 2024: Opening event $25 per person to cover catering expenses.

Saturday 10 August 2024: Free entrance for all.

Sunday 11 August 2024: Free entrance for all.

Take advantage of our free seminars, from beginner to advanced, computer-based tutorials, ask-an-expert sessions and research assistance on Saturday 10 August and Sunday 11 August. No booking required. Bring your laptops to take full advantage of the workshops and tutorials.

Speakers and sessions

For the first time since pre-COVID-19, we will have international speakers appearing in person at the Expo.

Speaker to be announced shortly :- www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/afhexpo

Would you like to sponsor or donate raffle prizes?

The Auckland Family History Expo committee is calling for expressions of interest from potential sponsors, raffle donors, and exhibitors .

Please contact us if you want to support our Expo. Email the Auckland Family History Expo committee: afhexpo@gmail.com

Thank you to our 2023 sponsors

Thank you to the sponsors of the 2023 Auckland Family History Expo.

Platinum sponsor: Ancestry

Gold sponsors: FamilyTree Maker , Genealogical Computing Group and Auckland Council Libraries

Other sponsors: NZ Society of Genealogists, Family Tree DNA , MyHeritage , FamilyTree UK magazine (FamilyTree Plus) , IHGS (The School of Family History)

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Did you miss one of our HeritageTalks, or would you like to listen to it again?

Enjoy our podcasts - recorded events and presentations

https://soundcloud.com/auckland-libraries

And see more on our YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/aucklandlibraries

Nga mihi | Kind regards

SEONAID

Seonaid (Shona) Harvey RLIANZA | Family History Librarian

Central Auckland Research Centre, Central City Library

Heritage and Research

Auckland Libraries - Nga Whare Matauranga o Tamaki Makarau

Ph 09 890 2411| Extn (46) 2411 | Fax 09 307 7741

Auckland Libraries, Level 2, Central City Library, 44 - 46 Lorne Street, Auckland

Visit our website: www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz

@Kintalk on Twitter / Auckland Research Centre on Facebook

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Hokianga Museum and Archives Centre.

Hokianga Museum is home to objects and records from Hokianga, including written and photographic histories from many of the families who have lived here, history of the local communities, schools and the natural geography of the area.

There are also displays featuring Mangungu Treaty signing, 1893 Suffrage featuring Hokianga women who voted that year, The Dog Tax Rebellion, the 1918 Influenza pandemic, the timber and dairying industries, the 28^th Maori Battalion A Company and accounts of shipwrecks, including the SS Ventnor. The Museum also houses Russell Clark’s original statue of Opo the Dolphin.

14 Waianga Place, Omapere, Hokianga

Open Monday, Wednesday & Saturday 10.00 -2.00pm.

09 4058498

https://www.ourhokianga.com/MuseumArchives.htm

From the Editor

This is a museum and Research Centre I am closely associated with. I have donated photographs, books, articles and historical items to this organisation. They do a brilliant job and, if you are in the area, well worth a visit. It is staffed by many volunteers and if you are brimming with spare cash they are a worthy organisation for a donation.

Take a look at their webpage – click on the html above.

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News and Views

From the Editor: Because of space restrictions and copyright issues I cannot put the complete articles in this newsletter so here are some URLs that are worth looking at . Just click the heading.

A Treasure Trove for Chinese-Australian History

NZ Ancestor Search Helper

Have you discovered the website NZ Ancestor Search Helper

You should immediately visit it now. It is a very useful website

When I start on a new name, I have a set pattern of websites I visit – generally in a particular order ie Wilson Collection, NZ BDMs, Papers Past, NZ Archives, Ancestry Family trees, etc. But I often get sidetracked by what I find which leads to a valuable website not being used. The above website doesn’t have data as such. It visits, or has a HTML, that visits, each site a researcher should visit. My congratulations go out to the designer/owner of that website.

The Editor

Irish civil records: Where to find them

In conclusion

Book Reviews

Help wanted

Letters to the Editor

False Information

I was reading your latest Famnet newsletter, and looked at the three articles from the Who Do You Think You Are magazine. I found something very wrong – repeated ads about “millions of New Zealand census records” 1790-1950 available at MyHeritage! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I have a sub at My Heritage so thought I’d try it out. Of course it couldn’t find anyone, not in census records, as most NZ ones no longer exist.

I felt the magazine to be of top quality and credible, so surely they wouldn’t allow something like that to be advertised? I feel certain that if NZ census records had magically been found and made available, I would have heard.

Shirley

New Plymouth

Advertising with FamNet

Every now and then we get requests to put an advertisement in the newsletter. I have therefore created a new section which will appear from time to time. Advertisements will be included only at the Editor's discretion and will be of a genealogical nature.

If your organisation is not a group subscriber then there may be a charge for advertising events and services, which must be paid for before publication. Charges start at $NZ25 for a basic flier, and increase for more elaborate presentations.

A Bit of Light Relief

A lady goes to the bar on a cruise ship and orders a Scotch with two drops of water. As the bartender gives her the drink she says, 'I'm on this cruise to celebrate my 80th birthday and it's today.'
The bartender says 'Well, since it's your birthday, I'll buy you a drink. In fact, this one is on me.'

As the woman finishes her drink
The woman to her right says, 'I would like to buy you a drink, too.' The old woman says 'Thank you.
Bartender, I want a Scotch with two drops of water.' 'Coming up' says the bartender

As she finishes that drink, The man to her left says, 'I would like to buy you one, too.' The old woman says 'Thank you.
Bartender, I want another Scotch with two drops of water.' 'Coming right up' the bartender says.

As he gives her the drink, he says 'Ma'am, I'm dying of curiosity. Why the Scotch with only two drops of water?'
The old woman replies 'Sonny, when you're my age, you've learned how to hold your liquor... Holding your water, however, is a whole other issue.'

To Unsubscribe, Change your Email Address, or Manage your Personal Information

If you have problems with this page you can email us directly, but the page should be self-explanatory.

Copyright (Waiver)

Feel free to redistribute this newsletter. If you publish a newsletter yourself you may include material from this newsletter in yours provided that you please contact the particular author of the article for permission, and acknowledge its source and include the FamNet URL. https://www.famnet.org.nz/

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