Y - Y.M.C.A

No, this in NOT about the Village People !

This little discovery came when I was scouring newspapers on PapersPast for an article I knew I had seen, but had failed to record where. Let that be a lesson to you all. Document your sources !!

I was looking for the name of a house which my great-grandfather’s brother had built in Cambridge, New Zealand. I found an obituary for his wife instead, which I don’t recall having seen before. Harriett and her husband were first cousins. Their mothers were sisters, so obviously she was my great-grandfather’s cousin too.

Her obituary in the Waikato Independent, 26 August 1939, page 4  gave some details about her family, birth place and arrival in New Zealand. She had come with her parents – who were 2^nd cousins – to Auckland and then the Coromandel. She was their only child. Her mother died at Shellback Creek near Tararu in 1869 when Harriet was about 14. Her aunt and uncle lived at Tararu too so I daresay they helped her widowed father care for her.

Anyway, back to the discovery. One sentence.

“It is of interest to note that Mrs Davys was the second cousin to Sir George Williams, the founder of the Y.M.C.A.”

What ?

If Harriet was his second cousin, then chances were that her husband and his siblings, including my great-grandfather were too. So I had to search and see what I could find.

George Williams was born 11 October 1821 at Ashway Farm near Dulverton. He was the youngest child of Amos Williams and his wife Ann/Betty/Elizabeth (just to be confusing). I didn’t have any other Williams in my tree, apart from an odd one here and there, so who was his mother ? She had to be the key.

Cue flashing lights. 

Wikipedia says his parents were Amos Williams (tick) and Elizabeth Vickery. On the same page Wiki also says her name was Ann “Betty” Vickery. Hmmm. BUT, I do have a bunch of Vickerys mixed in with my Norman paternal great-great-grandmother’s family….and BINGO ! Harriet’s mother Caroline and my great-great-grandmother Sarah were Norman sisters. Harriett’s father was also a Norman (2^nd cousin – remember ?) Jane and Caroline’s mother was Sarah Vickery, who had married her 1^st cousin William Norman. Nothing out of the ordinary it seems in Huish Champflower !

Off I went to find the baptisms on Ancestry and build a tree to look for the link. First I found their marriage to get a starting point to look for baptisms. They married at Withiel Florey on 15 August 1807 and their first child John Vickery Williams was baptised 14 January 1808, in the same parish. The father of my 4 x great-grandmother Sarah Vickery was John. Was this another lightbulb flashing ? A quick diversion to check what siblings I had for Sarah, found she did have a sister Betty Ann baptised in 1785 (the date is illegible on the page of the church record book).

That solved the problem of how Sir George Williams could be the 2^nd cousin of Harriett, and proved that he was also the 2^nd cousin of my great-grandfather. But how did this youngest son from a farming family happen to be the founder of the Y.M.C.A ?

George was the youngest of 7 sons, he also had one sister. As career paths go seventh sons are way down the list. Not much chance of taking over the family farm there. Wikipedia says he attended Gloyn’s in Tiverton, Devon until he was 13 when he began working on the family farm. His family sent him to Bridgwater where he was an apprentice in Henry William Holmes’ draper shop. What is it with drapers and this part of the world ? They keep popping up in all my branches.

In 1837 he left the Church of England and joined the Zion Congregational Church and in 1841 he moved to London where he worked as an apprentice at Hitchcock & Rogers, a draper’s shop. In London he became a member of the King’s Weigh House congregational church. After three years with Hitchcock & Rogers, George was promoted to department manager.

On 6 June 1844, appalled by the terrible conditions in London for young working men, like himself, George gathered a group of 11 fellow drapers in the living quarters of Hitchcock & Rogers to create a place that would not tempt young men into sin. The name Young Men’s Christian Association was agreed on at the suggestion of Christopher W Smith, one of the 11. The aim was to put Christian principles in practice to develop a healthy “mind, body & spirit.” One of the earliest converts and contributors to the new association was his employer, George Hitchcock.

Nine years later in 1853 he married the owner’s daughter and was taken into the business as a partner. The business was renamed George Hitchcock, Williams & Co., and when George Hitchcock died in 1863 George Williams became the sole owner. George and his wife Helen had seven children. One son Albert went on to marry the granddaughter of Thomas Cook who had founded the travel agency Thomas Cook and Son. George’s nephew John Williams married the only child of Matthew Hodder of the publishing business Hodder & Stoughton. Matthew had been George’s lifelong London friend.

George Williams was knighted by Queen Victoria in her 1894 Birthday Honours, this same year was the silver Jubilee of the Y.M.C.A and the year he received Freedom of the City of London. He died on 6 November 1905 at the Victoria and Albert Hotel in Torquay aged 84. His funeral was attended by 2,600 mourners at St Paul’s Cathedral on 14 November 1905 and he was buried there. After his death he was commemorated by a stained-glass window in the nave of Westminster Abbey. A blue plaque is at No. 13 Russell Square, London where he lived from 1879-1905 and another plaque can be found on the façade of Ashway Farm where he was born. His portrait can be found at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The things I wish I had known when I was in London !

Now here are a couple of other things I discovered in the search. 

When I was adding the baptisms of George’s siblings to my tree in Family Tree Maker a message popped up for one. “Is this Robert Williams the same Robert Williams married to Betsy Davys ?” A little bit of checking and yes, he is. Uh-oh, now I’m related two ways. Betsy was a daughter Thomas Davys and Patience Palmer…Thomas was a younger brother of my 4 x great-grandfather. This Robert is the father of George's nephew who married the daughter of Matthew Hodder mentioned earlier,

When I first found the Wikipedia entry for George Williams in April 2020 it was called “George Williams (YMCA)” and included the comment that he was the 4 x great-grandfather of Boris Johnson, the current British Prime Minister. Today, the entry is retitled “George Williams (philanthropist)” and that comment is no longer included. However, I was able to verify that that was the case, by checking his family’s well documented entries in Wikipedia, a BBC Who Do You Think You Are episode and church records.

Just the other day on facebook I saw a post from someone who had bought a Bible in a thrift store. The flyleaf said it had been presented to the original owner by Sir George Williams. She had done a little research and discovered who George was. She had also found his will where he requested Bibles to be given to the members of his family. I think that might be a will I need to find and read myself. I wonder if any such Bible made it’s way to New Zealand to his family there ? I haven’t heard of one, but who knows ?

 

 

#52Ancestors, Lucky

A couple of years ago, whiling away time on Ancestry looking for clues in a yet unsolved DNA puzzle, I came across a tree which included my great grandmother’s half-brother and his wife. I was intrigued, this couple had no children of their own, and I had done a bit of research about them as I built out my tree.

I messaged the tree owner to offer any further information I had to them – and hoped that maybe they knew something I didn’t. They messaged back five months later. They were in the middle of moving interstate and building a new home. Turned out that they were connected to my ½ great uncle by marriage, through his wife’s family.

Lydia (Lily) Barrett’s mother and the 2xgreatgrandmother of my new contact’s husband were sisters. He knew Lily and George as a child they were 1^st cousins twice removed, but she was always called Aunt Lil. But the best part – he had photo albums from his mother – and Lily. They would have a look and send copies.

We corresponded over the next few days and I emailed my 3^rd cousin, Jackie, to let her know what I had stumbled across. Our great grandparents were siblings, and George (Lily’s husband) was their only half-brother. Jackie’s great grandparents had emigrated from England to Seattle in 1907 and George had travelled with them. Time went on, other things became more important, but from time to time I would think “I really should message her again.”

Then along came COVID-19. At almost the same time as I was tidying up my messages on Ancestry, Jackie was tidying up her emails and we both came across the messages again. Jackie emailed to see if I had ever heard any more. I hadn’t, so added this task to my COVID-19 lockdown to do list.

A few nights later I sent off a quick message – checking in that they were okay and #stayingsafe and then enquiring about the photo albums. Once more we messaged back and forth but then instead of just on Ancestry an email arrived.

With photos from just one album.

Some were unlabelled – one was incorrectly labelled. We have a photo of George as a toddler with his two full siblings, found in an album which belonged to Jackie’s great grandmother. Jackie also had one from a wedding of one of her great grandmother’s sister where George had been best man.

But here were several of George and Lily’s wedding, some of George as a young man and Lily as a child and as a young woman. There are some that neither Doug nor we can identify (yet), there is one of Lily on the wharf at Southampton next to the Mauretania before it sailed back to New York in 1920. George and Lily had returned to England after the war to visit with her parents, her only brother had been killed in France – the passenger lists for their travel in both directions and George’s passport application can be found on Ancestry. They stayed for 5 months and missed the 1920 US Census, so I no longer need to keep searching for them there !

The photo which had been labelled incorrectly was of Jackie’s great grandparents and her grandfather as a child. One she had never seen. It seems that her great grandmother was Matron of Honour at George and Lily’s marriage and a photo of the bridal party includes all three of them again. In that photo there is a glimpse into the character of the young boy who would be Jackie’s grandfather – looking for his opportunity to run away and play with his cousins. Another group photo was taken with all the guests on the front steps of a house. There was a further photo taken before the wedding meal, inside the house, of George and Lily. Jackie and I (separately) wondered if it was her great grandparent’s home. Lily had given their address as her destination on her immigration forms a few months earlier.

It was ! You can imagine our happy dances ! Luck was certainly favouring us:

Stumbling across the tree connection in the first place,

Getting a reply to my message,

Discovering such a tenuous connection to our tree,

Learning there were photos,

Catching a glimpse of the inside of Albert & Sarah’s home,

The power of technology to bring us the photos, and zoom to confirm our hope.

On the right-hand wall of the room where George and Lily stood by the table, set for their wedding meal, hangs a photograph we had seen before. It was also in the photo album Jackie has from her great grandmother. Several other photos hung on the walls and arranged on the architraves above the doors look familiar too. But, that framed one on the right-hand wall was the clearest when enlarged.

Henry James – Jackie and my 4 x great grandfather. Albert’s maternal grandfather. No DNA relation to George. Henry and his unmarried daughter Elizabeth/Lizzie/Bessie had taken in our great grandparents as children when their mother died in 1879 and cared for them at least until their father remarried in 1886.

How lucky did we both feel !! We are still buzzing around, smiling like idiots (on opposite sides of the Pacific) now – four days later.

#52Ancestors, Favourite Discovery

There have been a few finds which have taken some digging, putting to one size, reinvestigating and lateral thinking.

There was Annie H Richards born in Mold, listed on the 1881 census for Dudley as “niece” in the household headed by my three times great grandfather Henry James. Who was she and how did she fit in ? Richards was a surname we hadn’t come across at all in our research. The others in the household were Henry’s unmarried daughter Elizabeth and his grandchildren Albert and Laura. Some late night puzzling to determine how she could be a niece of Henry uncovered Henry’s mother’s marriage to a Mr Richards after Henry’s birth and several half siblings – and that how Annie fitted in. Like he did for his grandchildren, Henry had taken in Annie after her father (his half brother) had died.

Then there was unravelling the story my mother-in-law had told us about her grandmother being a twin. The twin had died young and the mother remarried. Confusion as to which was her birth name and which the surname of her stepfather made it tricky to know where to start. It took over 30 years – but I got there in the end.

But probably the one that still makes me smile is finding Aunt Lizzie. I wrote about her in Week 14, Maiden Aunt; #52Ancestors 2018.

We had her birth certificate, and had found her on census’ from 1851-1901 (1861 excepted) as Elizabeth. She lived with her parents and then father and sister, and later stayed and cared for her father until his death in 1905.

We had a family story about her emigrating to the US when she was in her 70’s. I searched and searched for her in Ellis Island records and in immigration records on Ancestry. Nothing.

We had a note written by my grandmother’s cousin detailing some of what he remembered of life in England and who they had stayed with on arrival in Boston, en route to Seattle.

They stayed with a family in Boston who initially we thought were simply 2^nd cousins – part of the family that Elizabeth and her parents had been staying with on the night of the 1851 census. Elizabeth’s mother and the wife in the Duffill household were sisters. We had no other apparent connection to that family.

Until I broadened my search (Elizabeth and James are such common names to be searching for) and found (in the wee small hours) Bessie. Not Elizabeth, not Lizzie, but Bessie; arriving in Boston in 1906. The information about where her intended destination was and who she was meeting was a revelation. Her address was to be care of her brother in law Albert Duffill. The same family, but to be a brother in law their must be a sister – surely.

Lizzie wasn’t Lizzie at all - she was Bessie ! and she wasn't 70 either.

Turns out she and Mary (my 2xgreat grandmother) had an older half sister who had married one of the half siblings of their Duffill cousins. (Mr Duffill senior had at last 4 wives and children from every marriage). A descendant of Ellen (the half sister) sent this photo to my third cousin and myself not long after we made this connection.

 Is it a 1908 Model T Ford ? I’m not a car person but I have been comparing old photos and it seems about right. We don’t know just who is who, but we all believe that two of them are Ellen and Bessie.  I colourised the photo on a free site recently to see if colour would help pick out any features. Not really, but I am inclined to think Bessie is the lady facing towards the camera 2^nd from the left – just because her face shape is similar to that of her father in a (labelled) photo found in a family album.

Making this discovery certainly filled out our tree and tidied up some loose ends 10 or so years ago. While we haven’t found much more or been able to jump back to earlier generations than those we already knew, I have spotted some DNA matches amongst the matches of my mother, brother third cousin and myself who connect back through this family to the Thomas family of Ellen and Bessie’s mother.

Just wish they would reply to messages though.

#52Ancestors, Week 5, In the Census

Searching for connections and reconnecting

Back in the early 1990’s when the 1881 UK census was the only census available freely to researchers with roots in the United Kingdom, (and only on CD or microfiche) many researchers spent hour upon hour trawling through fiche after fiche in darkened Family History Centre rooms and libraries.

We had only begun piecing together information in my maternal grandmother’s family from the little information she had given away to us over the years. My Dad and I spent hours in the evenings at the Family History Centre reading church records hoping to find something concrete. Sometimes we went alone.

We knew from Nana that her mother’s family was from the “Black Country” and that she had a brother. We also knew that Nana’s grandfather married three times and that she also had two half siblings. Her mother’s brother and a half-brother (although I don’t think that Nana referred to him as such) had emigrated to the US. We knew their names and the names of their wives. We also knew an elderly aunt had emigrated to the US.

Between 1989 and 1991 some certificates were purchased from the GRO and we discovered that my great grandmother had been born in Wolverhampton on 17 July 1878[1], and that her parents were married in Dudley in a Primitive Methodist Chapel on 23 August 1875[2] (a WHAT !!?? – researching Primitive Methodism soon became another obsession). We also learned that her mother died in Wolverhampton on 5 May 1879[3]. What became of the children ?

I remember Dad’s jubilation when he returned home one day from the library with a piece of paper detailing the residents of one household in Dudley.

Residence: Paradise, Dudley (Worcs), Staffordshire, England[4]
Henry James	Head	Male	62	Leintwardine, Herefordshire, England
Elizabeth James	Daughter	Female	34	Leintwardine, Herefordshire, England
Albert Kelsey	Grand Son	Male	4	Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England
Laura Kelsey	Grand Daughter	Female	2	Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England
Amnie H Richards	Niece	Female	15	Mold, Flintshire, Wales

So, here she was, living with her grandfather and aunt…and a cousin ? To be fair, we didn’t make much more progress until the arrival of that wonderful phenomenon – the internet. I dabbled, I joined Ancestry in 2002.

One day (5 March 2003) while dabbling, I came across a post on a bulletin board -remember those ? Someone in the US had come across that same census entry. She was looking for more information about the Henry James family, last known living in Dudley with a daughter, niece and two grandchildren. I posted a reply, from work. Could it be ?

On returning to work the next morning there was a reply email. Needless to say, not much work was done that day. I couldn’t wait to get home. I replied, I sent the email to my Mum and Dad, I rang them to make sure they checked and read their email. I was dancing on air. The poster, was the great granddaughter of my great grandmother’s brother Albert who had emigrated to the US. We are 3^rd cousins. We knew they existed somewhere in the US – they had no idea we were down here in New Zealand searching the same tree.

Since then we have filled out the family so much more, broken some brickwalls down and reconnected with other members of the extended Kelsey family all over the planet. There are still some brickwalls to smash, but to think this all began with people on opposite sides of the Pacific, reading microfiche in Family History Centres and libraries.

---

[1] Certified Copy of an Entry of Birth, Laura Ellen Kelsey, General Register Office, England.

[2] Certified Copy of an Entry of Marriage, Thomas Kelsey and Mary James, General Register Office, England.

[3] Certified Copy of an Entry of Death, Mary Kelsey nee James, General Register Office, England.

[4] "England and Wales Census, 1881," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27F-JV6M : 13 December 2017), Henry James in household of Henry James, Dudley (Worcs), Staffordshire, England; from "1881 England, Scotland and Wales Census," database and images, findmypast (http://www.findmypast.com : n.d.); citing p. 2, Piece/Folio 2881/23, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey; FHL microfilm 101,774,821., accessed 4 February 2018.

#52Ancestors, Week 4, Invite to Dinner

The prompt for this week “Which ancestor would you most like to invite to dinner?”

Well ! There are a few contenders to choose from.

All of my grandparents – to be able to ask all the questions we didn’t ask and to share what we have already found. They’d be amazed, I think.

A couple of great-great-grandparents, the ones we know a little less about. Maybe a few even further back. But I think the obvious one to choose would be one of my maternal great-great-grandparents.

Julius Fuller.

He has been a brick wall since forever, at least 40-50 years. There were all sorts of stories about him, most have turned out to be just that. Stories. Warped with time and telling. All my other brick walls have been slowly broken down. But Julius just refuses to give anything up !

What do we know ?

·         His father was William, a miller. (source: marriage certificate & death certificate)

·         His mother Elizabeth. (source: 1851 UK census)

·         He was born in Essex (source: 1851 UK census and death certificate)

·         He, himself was a journeyman miller and later a miller in his own right. (source: 1851 UK census & NZ electoral rolls and newspapers)

·         His wife was the daughter of a baker & confectioner. (source: marriage certificate, baptismal records and 1841 & 1851 UK census’)

·         They married between census’ and then left for New Zealand in 1860 leaving no further clues in England (apart from a niece and nephew who were named for them both, shortly after they left).

·         They had only two children.

·         He had several mills in Canterbury, New Zealand

·         His wife died when the children were relatively young

·         He may have remarried.

·         He died at his son’s residence a few months after his youngest sons marriage.

The stories

·         His wife died, or left him (and went to Australia) and he needed to find a wet-nurse. WRONG, the children were eighteen and twelve when their mother died.

·         He married again, and this wife ran off with all his money (source: letter from Auntie Hilda to Mum & Dad, Intentions to Marry & church records Christchurch Library)

·         His son John lived with the Turner family down the road from his future wife. WRONG (I think) he lived with his elder brother in the house that later became the Turner’s – and Julius lived there too until his death.

So, please come to dinner Great-great-grandpapa Julius, I’ve got so many questions for you.

·         Where you really born in Rayne, Essex ? I’ve been there you know, no sign of you anywhere.

·         When were you born ?

·         Were you baptised ? Where ?

·         What was your mother’s maiden name ?

·         Do you have any siblings ? specifically one named Henry who might have gone to Australia ?

·         Was that your sister Mary Ann who married your future brother-in-law Thomas Horskins ?

·         Where were your parents from ? When did they die ?

·         Did you know your grandparents ?

·         Were you gypsies ?( your great-great-great-granddaughter’s question – not mine)

·         Where did you learn your trade ? Did you serve as an apprentice somewhere ?

·         Did you meet your nephew Julius when he toured New Zealand in his role with the Salvation Army ?

·         Did you really marry Ellen Morris ?

·         Was she the woman who went to prison in Wellington for attempting to defraud an insurance company after a fire at her millinery business ?

·         What happened at Pleasant Point to put you in arrears ? Was that Ellen taking your money ?

·         What happened to her ?

It would be great to know a little more about you.

#52Ancestors, Week 3, Longevity

Back in 1987 when we gathered, four generations of us, to celebrate Nana’s 80^th birthday she announced after she blew out the candles that

“I’m the oldest in my family. No-one has got as far as eighty before.”

Quite a logical statement, all things considered.

Nana’s parents had died aged fifty-seven & sixty-one and she never knew any of her grandparents. They had, all four of them died before her parents married. Her grandmothers both left young children at thirty-one & thirty-six and her grandfathers were still relatively young (by today’s standards) at forty-seven & sixty-five.

By the time of our celebration in 1987, both of her sisters had already died, leaving only her younger brother to potentially reach and exceed this grand age. Sadly though, he too predeceased Nana by just 6 months, the following year.

She did often talk about her Aunt Lizzie (who turned out the be Aunt Bessie, but that is another story). She would say she was a “remarkable woman who went to America on her own when she was SEVENTY!” So maybe? Turns out Aunt Lizzie was closer to fifty when she emigrated, but at seventy-four she did get a little closer to the elusive eighty.

Oh Nana, the things we have learnt in the years since you left us, as we have researched further. You would be so amazed.

Three out of eight of her great grandparents were in their eighties – not bad for people born in the early 19^th century. Even more surprisingly six out of sixteen of her great grandparents passed eighty – two even going further and into their nineties! People born in the mid-18^th century!

So, when I put these ancestors together with those from other branches of Mum’s family and from Dad’s, things are looking promising. A sister of my great great grandfather was just two months short of her 102^nd birthday…in 1895! Living in the country can’t have been all bad back then.

In a lecture this week, life expectancy was discussed. Since then, there has been a fair amount of googling too, on my part.

When we see statements to the effect that life expectancy at birth was 33-40 in the 18^th century and 40 in the early 19^th century, it is easy to forget that that average age for adults was being driven down by the high infant mortality rate. It wasn’t that everyone would only make it to forty, there would always be exceptions. It was just that there were less people dying in the 40-100-year range than there were between 0-2 and 2-10 years of age. Reaching your tenth birthday improved your life expectancy dramatically.

I think I must have realised this before – because it sounds so logical now. But I don’t think I had considered it fully. How fortuitous that it was this week, coinciding with this blog topic.

How lucky we are today to have access to immunisation and improved health care for older persons.

#52Ancestors, Week 2, Favourite Photo

This is a family photograph of my grandmother’s family. It was taken about 1912. I am not sure where it was taken either. (The questions I should have asked will haunt me forever.)

George Timms 1877-1939 was born in Milverton, Royal Leamington Spa and lived his entire life within 2 miles of his birthplace. He began his working life as a groom, then a coachman and motor car driver. His father had been a carman too. Later in life George became a taxi cab driver.

Laura Ellen, nee Kelsey 1878-1935 was born in Wolverhampton and raised in Dudley by her grandfather and aunt until her father remarried when she was eight years old. Before her marriage to George she was a housemaid employed by the Holt family who lived at Oaklands, a large house on Kenilworth Road, Lillington.

They married 1 July 1901 at St James the Great, Old Milverton. George was the coachman at Cranford House which is located at the other end of Kenilworth Road. I’m not sure how they met, but location and social standing offers a few clues. For about seven years they lived above the stables in the coachman’s house at the rear of Cranford House.

In 1909 George left his job as coachman and moved his family into the village of Milverton where he became a motor car driver. By this time they had three daughters. By the time of the census in 1911 they had moved 32 Milverton Crescent West, off Rugby Road. It was here a few months later that their son was born. This could be the location of the photograph, the family group gathered outside their home. The alternative location is 6 Stamford Court – which no longer exists – but is the address my grandmother remembered from her childhood. George and most of his siblings had started their lives at 6 Stamford Place too.

But what of the occasion ? Who knows ?

My grandmother’s recollection of the photograph was that the grimace on her mother’s face was because her baby brother had “wet her knee” – no waterproof outer layer to diapers back then.

What you cannot tell from the sepia photograph is that the MC1R gene is very strong in this family. Laura and their three daughters were all redheads. Research tells me that to have red hair you need to have two copies of the gene, but that that might mean only one in four children would have red hair. That theory blown, I wonder if George and his son were also redheads ? It looks that way with the colouring of the photograph.

Laura May, Elsie Lilian, Violet Georgina and baby George Albert James. Named for his two uncles who had gone to America, my grandmother said. George and Albert James Kelsey. Though it could be debated that George was for his father and that Albert James was for just one of his uncles. I like this photo because it shows them as a family group, clean and well dressed. A few short years later family life would be much different.

The photo was in the possession of George after his elder sisters had all grown, married and emigrated, while he remained in England. It seems though that when visiting some fifty years after they had left England, one of those sisters took the photo with her. Oops. Thank goodness for good cameras, photographic reproduction and digital technology - now we are able to share it with as many of their descendants as would like to have a copy.

#52Ancestors, Week 1, Start

This is the beginning. A start. My new blog challenge for 2018.

Hope I can stick at it. There is a lot of writing going on in my life right now.

Assignments, job applications, emails, blog posts (in no particular order).

Some prompts for this topic included focussing on me, or the person/s who got me hooked on genealogy, someone who started a business…

So, this might be my only chance to be an ANCESTOR.

I have only one direct descendant and I think the branch stops there. Life takes many turns though, so one day I might need to revise that.

Maybe I will be the aunt, grand aunt, great grand aunt, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th, 6^thor 7^th cousin who people will refer to in the future as they begin their genealogical research.

Who Am I ?

2^nd, 4^th,5^th generation New Zealander – depending which grandparent you focus on.

First child

Big Sister

Educated

Mum

Friend

Aunt (great grand aunt even !)

Born in Hamilton, New Zealand. A city since 1945, with a river delineating it into Hamilton East and Hamilton West, and a lake. An Inland city, the centre of commerce serving a large rural community. A city surrounded by wide open spaces. Less than an hour to the West Coast and 90 minutes to the East.

Went to school, joined Brownies, competed in figure roller skating competitions, did gymnastics, learnt piano…

Moved to Wellington. Capital city since 1865. A coastal city, a little bit shaky, and a tad breezy. But with one of the prettiest harbours in the world and stunning on a good day (no-one ever remembers them though). Coolest little Capital in the world.

Went to College. First job. First overseas holiday.

Alternated living on both sides of the Tasman for ten years or so. Then a much longer time back in Aotearoa before relocating recently back to Australia for study.

Genealogy ? When did that start ?

Probably with that question in Social Studies 

“How many generations New Zealander are you ?” 

And then it just grew. Dad had always had an interest in family history. He told me recently he used to make lists of who all his cousins were (he has a lot). I just tagged along.

Names have always been a fascination for me. I used to make lists and marvel at the few which were exceptions to the norm. What inspired parents to step away from the Mary/Ann/Sarah and James/William/John lists and choose names like Kerenhappuch, Violet and Peternel or Theophilus, Julius and Balthasar. Some of them will have been biblical choices, others linked to the fashions and trends of the time.

Stories piqued my curiosity – the great great grandmother rumoured to have left her family; great great grandfathers who had more than one wife. Incomprehensible to a nine year old from a “normal” nuclear family. Then came the internet and the whole thing exploded. So many late nights hooked in cyber space.

And then along came genetic genealogy - learning how to interpret DNA results and use them as another secondary source to verify the researched paper tree. (I'm getting there.)

I hope you are ready to learn about 51 of the people in my tree - I hope I can find enough to write about 51 of them !

 Think like them. 

Put yourself in their place. 

Be a detective. 

Never leave any stone unturned.

Some things I have noticed

I have been doing lots of walking since we got here. Having no car makes walking a necessity, and Bendigo is very walkable. It is a great way to get your bearings as well.

There is this

The most casually posed sculpture of a King I ever saw

The Shamrock Hotel, where  Prince Charles and Princess Diana stayed on their first visit to Australia - who knew ? I think I read somewhere that Prince Philip stayed there as well on a trip he made.

The quirky benches on King and Queens Streets

The Yarn-Bombed Tram that travels the city through winter, but is now unadorned.

A Tree Church on a farm, in a garden

That's where I went today. 

It had been on the list for a wee while. While I am not sure I would go again and pay $15 to walk around a garden, it was a lovely setting. 

It would be great for a wedding, and indeed I think it is booked most Saturdays for that purpose. The sky visible through the leaves and branches above your head, and fantails flitting amongst said branches.

Today though we happened to be there when a bunch of middle-aged women had taken over the church and were sat chatting and chortling away. It sort of took away the serenity and tranquility of the place. As we left a busload of old age pensioners arrived and they filled the church. We never got to just sit and immerse ourselves in the peace and quiet, as one would in most churches.

It could do with a wee cafe in the seating area, under trees near the office and away from the special-ness of the church itself.

UPDATE - One brick at a time

A short update to my earlier post about breaking down a brick wall.

It occurred to me after I had posted the discovery that I now had an alternate (correct) spelling for Mary's surname - Gerrard - and that I hadn't searched the GRO for that combination.

So I went back and looked again and lo and behold there WERE two more children born to Mary and Robert before they emigrated to Australia.

Two baby girls - one who had included in her name, a surname linking her to a previous generation, just so that I could be doubly confident. They lived only briefly though, Ellen 9 months and Lilian for 15 months.

I do have a copy of a photo of one of them....if I could only find the right box, I could include it here, or at least make a better guess about whether it was Ellen (Nellie) or Lilian (Lily). Or maybe it isn't either of them ? Perhaps it is a younger brother ? There are only two children in the photo and at the time both of these babies were born, eldest child Margaret was still alive.So if the baby is either Ellen or Lilian then there should have been three children in the photo. 

Oh well, another day.