15 January 2015

Summer Holidays in Wharfedale in 1911

wharfedale

wharfedale-back

Subject: Co-Operative Holidays Association
Date: 1911
Photographer: Grimshawe Bros, Grassington
Found: Wanganui, New Zealand

This wonderful photograph was found in an op-shop in Wanganui and very kindly sent to me by Chris. What a great find, especially with the names and addresses written on the back. Unfortunately we can’t tell who is who but at least we know that each person who signed their name is actually in the photograph.

 wharfedale3 wharfedale4 wharfedale5

I’ve enlarged portions of the photo above so you can get a better look at each person. Below I’ll list each person in order and attempt to add a few family details for each one.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1) Edward Frank CROME – 144 Tressillian Rd, Brockley SE.

144-tressillian-rd-brockley

 

Courtesy of Google the second door on the left is 144 Tressillian Rd, Brockley (London) where Edward Frank was living with his parents & sister in the 1911 census, he was listed as Frank. Born in 1885 in Bermondsey he was the son of Daniel Edward Crome & Elizabeth Ursula neé Searle. Elizabeth perhaps died giving birth to him as her death is registered in the same quarter of 1885 as his birth. He had an older sister named Hilda Searle Crome. Daniel married again in 1891 to Agnes Caroline Cooke.

In 1917 Edward Frank married Mary Beacock, note there is a G A Beacock also in the photo. Edward Frank’s death is registered in 1957 and Mary’s in 1958.

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) E M TILLOTT – 15 Newton Terrace, York
11) E TILLOTT - same address

15-newton-tce-york

 

 

The house with the black door is 15 Newton Terrace, York where the Tillott family were living in the 1911 census. There were parents Joseph Edward & Mary Whiteley (neé Senior) Tillott with children Emily Maud, Eliza & Harry. Emily Maud & Eliza were born in York in 1886 & 1883 and in the census they were both listed as ‘elementary school teachers’. I wonder if they are the two women on the right side end of the back row in the photo, they certainly look like sisters to me? Emily Maud didn’t marry, she died in 1963 aged 76 in York, I think Eliza also died unmarried in 1968 aged 83 in Scarborough but I can’t be sure about Eliza. Apart from younger brother Harry the girls also had three older brothers, Joseph Edward, Thomas & John James, all born in Openshaw, Lancashire.

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Ralph L PRATT – 12 Stracey Rd, Harlesden, London NW

12-stracey-rd

 

As of Jun 2012 this fenced off paddock is where 12 Stracey Rd was in 1911. Ralph Leonard Pratt was living there with his step-mother Julia Pratt (neé Pedlar) and eight siblings & half-siblings. His father, Frank Leonard had died in 1907 aged 52, his mother, Philippa Truscott (neé Pedlar) had died in 1892 giving birth to Ralph’s younger brother Philip Frank. Julia & Philippa were sisters.

Ralph Leonard Pratt of Beckenham in Kent died on the 13 Jul 1934 at the Woollett Hall Hydro in North Cray, Chislehurst aged 47, The probate of his will went to one of his older brothers, which leads me to believe Ralph wasn’t married. However, in 1930 there is a marriage registration between a Ralph L Pratt and Hilda W Knightley, and in 1934 there are births of twin boys with the name of Pratt and the mother’s maiden name of Knightley registered in the Bromley registration district which covers Beckenham & Chislehurst. If these children are the sons of Ralph Leonard then sadly they would never have known him (or remembered knowing him) as his death is registered in the next quarter after their births.

I did find a photo of Ralph Leonard in a tree on ancestry and comparing it with the above photo I think he is the second person from the right sitting in the middle row.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Edwin T G WHEELER – 36 Norfolk St, Peterborough (Northamptonshire)

36-norfolk-st

 

The house on the left is #36 where Edwin Thomas G Wheeler was boarding in 1911, he was listed as a widower aged 34. He was born in 1877 in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, the son of John Wheeler and Helen Susan neé Goodall. In 1903 he married Lily Cook, she died in 1905 aged 27. In 1912 Edwin married Ethel A Leach and they are possibly the parents of some of the Wheeler/Leach birth registrations in the following years, too many of them for me to be sure just which ones might be theirs. Ethel died in 1940 and in 1943 Edwin married again to Florence A Stevens, but they were only married a year before Edwin passed away in 1944 aged 67.

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

5) Hilda DAWSON – 22 Milkstone Rd, Rochdale

22-milkstone-st

 

Over 100 years later and it seems that 22 Milkstone Rd is now a Kebab Shop! In 1911 it was most probably a Hairdressing Shop as that is where Hilda Dawson was living with her parents Benjamin & Susannah & brother Charles, her father was a Hairdresser and Hilda & Charles are listed as ‘assisting in business’. Hilda was aged 26 and single, she also had another brother Fred, they were all born in Rochdale, Lancashire. In 1912 Hilda married Frank Edgar and near the end of 1913 they had a daughter named Margaret. Sadly Hilda died aged 36 in 1920 and Frank married again in 1921 to Katie Haywood, they had two children, Donald in 1923 and Jean in 1932.

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6) Annie SOAL – Stanwix, Carlisle

49-scotland-rd 

Annie was a little bit harder to find as she didn’t give a full address and at first I thought her surname was Soul and I couldn’t make out the first word of her address. Then I happened on the 1925 Kelly’s Directory of Carlisle which listed a Francis W Soal in Stanwix and it all came together. Francis William turned out to be Annie’s younger brother, he was a Law Clerk and she was listed as a ‘Cert Elem Council School Teacher’ in the 1911 census, they were living at 49 Scotland Rd, Stanwix, Carlisle (house on the left) with their widowed mother Zilpah and three other sisters.

stanwix

Sometimes Ann or Annie is a nickname for Hannah and as there doesn’t seem to be an Ann in this family I think she must be Hannah Jane who was born in 1873 in Appleby-in-Westmorland to Samuel & Zilpah Soal, funnily enough her mother’s maiden name was Appleby/Applebee. Her father was in the Marine Artillery and Annie had nine siblings all born at various places where her father was stationed. In 1918 Annie married Joseph Jackson, they don’t seem to have had any children and in 1939 Annie passed away at the age of 65. I found a very small photo of Annie when she was older in someone’s tree on ancestry, it was too small to be sure but I wonder if she is the woman on the right side end of the middle row? She would have been 38 when this photo was taken and this one does look to be a bit older than most of the other women. Or perhaps the woman at the other end of the middle row, she looks to be about the same age.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7 & 8) J & R BIRTWISTLE – 157 Avenue Parade, Accrington

157-avenue-parade

 

The 1911 census tells me that Joseph Birtwistle (aged 64) married his wife Rebecca (aged 67) in 1903 and they had no children. When they married her name was Rebecca Wilcock but in the 1901 census she is listed as a widow so that wasn’t her maiden name. In both census she was listed as a nurse and also in 1891 when she was an officer in the Rochdale Union Workhouse. Unfortunately there are a lot of Wilcock men marrying a woman named Rebecca in the marriage registrations but the only marriage that was registered in Rochdale (where Rebecca said she was born & also lived in the three census) was a Rebecca Butterworth who married Charles Wilcock in 1880. I found them in the 1881 census but this time Rebecca was listed as a ‘dressmaker’ – that’s a rather big jump from a dressmaker to a nurse when you’re in your middle thirties – so I’m not 100% sure she’s the right person yet. I’m going to leave Rebecca there for the time being, I might research her further later when I’ve finished with everyone else in the photo.
Joseph Birtwistle was aged 64 in 1911 so born about 1847, the son of Thomas & Ann Birtwistle of Blackburn in Lancashire. He married Mary in 1870 but as there are two Mary’s in the same quarter of the year it’s hard to say which one she is. They had at least two children, Thomas William 1872 and Richard Cobden in 1878. There seems to be a few anomalies in Joseph’s wives in the various census leading up to 1911 so he may have married twice (before Rebecca) with the second wife being a Mary Ann. More research needed on that also but I’m just sticking to Joseph & Rebecca for the time being. Rebecca Birtwistle passed away in 1918 aged 74, Joseph I’m not sure about. Rebecca could be the woman in the middle row with the over large hat, fourth from the right, she seems to be the oldest woman in the group, or a better choice is the woman on the middle left end with Joseph sitting next to her on the end. The only other man who looks to be older is the one on the left end in the back row.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

9) Margaret B CAVE – Boldre Nr Lymington (Hampshire)

Margaret Blanche Cave and her younger sister, Edith Florence, were living with their friend Mary Margaret Drummond in the 1911 census, Margaret was listed as aged 42 single & living on ‘private means’ and Edith was 33 single and a trained nurse. The address was listed as ‘Riversdale’, Boldre, Lymington, Hants. I haven’t been able to pinpoint ‘Riversdale’ in google maps although there is a Lower Riversdale in Royden Lane which is a rather grand house and probably not the one. In the 1871 census Mary Drummond is single and listed as a ‘gentlewoman’ and living at ‘Riversdale’, living with her are her two servants, William & Priscilla Cave and their two daughters Margaret Blanche aged 2 and Gertrude Clara aged 3 mths, the grand house in Royden Lane might be the one after all, William was the farm bailiff there.

riversdale It seems Margaret Blanche & her sister Gertrude Clara never married and their deaths are both registered in the New Forest RD of Hampshire, Margaret in 1955 aged 86 & Gertrude in 1959 aged 88. Their mother was Priscilla Barter who married William Cave in 1868 in St George Hanover Square, London. Priscilla died in 1908 aged 70, nothing further known about William or Edith Florence.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10) Emily JARDINE – Carlisle (Cumberland)

12-newtown-rd

 

The house on the right is 12 Newtown Rd in Newtown, Carlisle. In 1911 the only Emily Jardine living in Carlisle was a married woman, her husband was John Jardine and they were living at 12 Gibbons Terrace, Newtown. Well, google maps hadn’t heard of that address so a bit more googling and I found that Gibbons Tce was renamed Newtown Rd in 1947. As to whether the numbering of the houses stayed the same is unknown by me but this is presently #12.

In the 1911 census John & Emily had a 77 year old widowed Margaret Swan living with them & listed as ‘mother’, it turns out she was Emily’s mother not John’s. Emily Swan married John Jardine in 1907 and as at the 1911 census they had no children although living with them was a niece Cecily M Blake aged 7 and a nephew Douglas Blake aged 5. From Sep 1911 there are no Jardine births with a mother’s maiden name of Swan registered so John & Emily may not have had any children. Emily died in 1932 aged 57 and John possibly in 1954 aged 82. Emily’s father was Andrew Swan and both of her parents were born in Scotland (in one of the census Margaret said she was born in Blairgowrie in Perthshire). She also had a sister named Lucy who married a William Blake in 1901 so they are probably the parents of Cecily & Douglas.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11) see #2

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12) Guy L HALFHEAD – 118 Keighley Rd, Colne, Lancs.

118-keighley-rd

 

In 1911 Guy Leopold Plucknett Halfhead (what a fascinating name) was living at 118 Keighley Rd with his widowed mother Emily Harriett neé Plucknett and two siblings, his father Thomas William Halfhead was a Grammar School Master who had died a few years previously.

Guy had a total of ten siblings three of whom had died before 1911. During WWI he was a Bombardier in the Territorial Force of the Royal Field Artillery where he lost his life for his country on 1 Jun 1917.

guy-halfhead-death-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

13) J M MACDONALD – 7 Berlin Terrace, Carlisle

9-chertsey-mount

 

Berlin Terrace was renamed Chertsey Mount in 1917 (because of it being an unpopular name although strangely nearby Berlin St seems to have kept it’s name), this photo shows a group of houses in Chertsey Mount today. Chertsey Mount itself is off the main road & for some reason google didn’t drive up there so I scoured the Internet and came up with a house for sale at #9, but don’t ask me which one #9 is!

Jeanie M Macdonald was a School Teacher living at #7 in 1911 with her parents Peter & Annie & three younger sisters Annie, Margaret & Agnes, in earlier census there were two other sisters Janet & Lilian & one brother William. Peter & Annie with their two eldest children (Jeanie was aged 1) were living at 234 Saracen St, Maryhill, Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1881 but by 1891 they had all moved to Cumberland, first to Rickergate then onto Carlisle by 1911. I don’t really know what happened to Jeannie after 1911, the only marriage I can find is one for a Jean M Macdonald to Alexander W H Pryde in 1944, but Jeanie would have been 64 by then.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

14) Mary SCHOFIELD – Ashwell House, Scriven, Knarlsborough

ashwell-house

 

In the 1910 Robinson Street Directory of Scriven there is an Ashwell House in Park Grove and listed living there is Mrs Dawson. In the 1911 census Eliza Dawson, a widow aged 74, is still living there, also living with her are her sister Sarah W Schofield, also a widow aged 76, and Eliza’s niece Mary P Schofield, single aged 37, I presume Mary is the daughter of Sarah. In the census their address was just given as Park Grove so I didn’t know the number of the house until I found this on a website:-
Ashwell House, 28 Park Grove, Knaresborough.

I can just make out the name Ashwell House painted on either side of the blue door. Mary Pickles Schofield, aka Polly, was born in 1873 to John & Sarah Wilkinson (nee Pickles) Schofield. There is a marriage for Mary P Schofield in 1921 to John H Gatenby, Mary would have been 48 by then so she probably didn’t have any children, she died in 1960 aged 87. Probate of her will went to her step-son William Currer Gatenby.mary-pickles-schofield-deat

 

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15) E TURNER – 29 Lidderdale Rd, Sefton Park, Liverpool

29-lidderdale-rd

 

There is a Turner family living at the above address in the 1911 census, but there are at least three people with an E initial so it’s hard to say which one they might be:- Edward the father aged 55, William Edward the son aged 27 and Ella Jane the daughter aged 22. I think I’m going to opt for the daughter Ella Jane, there are plenty of young ladies in the photo who might be her but there’s a dearth of men in their 50’s. I think if it was William he would have signed his name as W Turner.

Ella Jane does not seem to have married as there is a death registered for an Ella Jane Turner in 1971 giving a birthdate of 7 Mar 1889 which fits in with her birth registration in the 2qtr of 1889. Of course she may have married as just Ella Turner, there is at least one marriage in Lancashire and many more in other parts of England.

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

16) F J CHEVERTON, 4 Park Terrace, Gateshead

4-park-terrace

 

I’m afraid this one has beaten me! I can find no one named Cheverton who is living in Park Terrace in the 1911 census. In fact there is no #4 listed in Park Terrace, either that or it’s been left out of the census. I know he/she needn’t necessarily be living at the above address on 2 Apr 1911, however as there are a few other people with the surname of Cheverton and initial of F in the census it’s hard to say which one might be them.

 

 

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

17) G A BEACOCK – Universetät, Marburgª, Lahr Germany

Mary Beacock who married Edward Crome in 1917 (see #1) had a brother named George Ashton Beacock who was a year older than her so I’m guessing this is him. In 1911 Mary is living at home with her parents, Charles & Mary Ann Charlotte, boarding with them was a German University student so perhaps George Ashton was studying in Germany on a reciprocal exchange programme.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

18) M HENDERSON – Guest House, Hebden via Skipton, Yorkshire

This one is going into the ‘too hard’ basket!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

19) Ethel MILLER – 17 Stennington Terrace, SE

I can’t find a Stennington Terrace anywhere in the UK, Google maps has never heard of it, nothing pops up in Google either! Absolutely nothing in the 1911 census either and there are 516 people with the name Ethel Miller in that census!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

20) B JOHNSON – is the name written on the bottom of the back of the photo, most probably the owner so he must be in there too somewhere.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I was going so well there too, up until these last few then it all turned to custard!

Twenty three people in the photo but only twenty names listed on the back.

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to any of the people in this photo please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member of any of them. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

11 January 2015

Is this Reginald Edwin Hughes?

I managed to track down who I think the parents are of the baby in this photo/postcard. It was sent to Will & Did Woodger but there was no postage stamp or date on the back so it’s hard to say when. It was amongst the collection of postcards (see previous post on this blog) which originally belonged to Will & Did Woodger around the date of 1911. Did was Ellen Maud Douglass, daughter of James Mark & Kate (neé Duffield) Douglass who had at least seven daughters and one son, two of them being Jessie Isabella Bowie and Jane Elizabeth Rankin, these two names fit in perfectly with the message on the back of the postcard:-

reginald-edwin-hughes

baby-photo-back

Jessie married Walter Edwin Hughes in 1904 and up to 1915 there is only one child attributed to them in the births on the NZBMD website. I found that they had two other children after 1915 in a few other family trees on ancestry so the baby could be any of the three but my guess is the first one.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the HUGHES family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

10 January 2015

William Arthur Woodger 1884-1946

This time it’s not a photograph but a collection of postcards sent from around England & abroad by W A Woodger to his wife residing in Auckland in 1911. The collection consists of 23 postcards from Will plus 7 more addressed to him from various people, most dated from 1911.

I found this article in the Auckland Star in 1938 which told me why Will was travelling without his wife in 1911, it also included a photo of him which unfortunately doesn’t do him justice here:-mr-w-a-woodger-9-4-1938

 

RAILWAY PROMOTIONS
Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 84, 9 April 1938, Page 10
Wellington Traffic Manager.
After 14 years in Auckland Mr W A Woodger, assistant traffic manager has been promoted to the position of District Traffic Manager of Railways at Wellington.
Mr Woodger entered the railway service 38 years ago in Wellington and has filled various positions in the service in the North Island. He came to Auckland 11 years ago as chief train running officer.
Mr Woodger was the New Zealand and Australian amateur sprint champion, winning the latter title at Brisbane in 1909. In 1911 he was a member of the New Zealand athletic team to the British Empire Games at London, being the sprint representative.

His trip in 1911 was actually to the Festival of Empire Sports which is considered to be the forerunner of the Empire Games which are now the Commonwealth Games. Unfortunately, he became ill on the trip and spent some time in the Hampstead Hospital in England and did not compete in any of the events:-

woodger-indisposed 

On the 26 Mar 1906 he married Ellen Maud Douglass who was known as Did according to the postcards (yes there are two ss in her name), the groomsman, J Marns, mentioned in this article is probably the same person who Did was staying with in Auckland while Will was away in 1911:-

 

 

woodger-douglas-wedding

 

There are dozens of articles in Papers Past about his athletics career including a few about his work with the Railways, this one shows his move to Auckland from Wellington in 1924:-

waw-moving

Will & Did had a daughter, Ellen Doris, born on 28 Aug 1911 while Will was away, I don’t know if they had any children after early 1915 because that is the current cut off date on the NZ BMD website. Ellen Doris later married a Mr Ellett and she passed away in 2008 so this collection possibly came from her deceased estate, just a guess on my part though.

 

 

These two postcards are the first two he posted on his trip, the first one from where the ship anchored off Aden and the second from London, he mentions about the traffic being busy, I’d love to see his face today if he was in the same spot!

first-postcards

postcards-backs

my-room

I originally purchased this collection because there is a photo of a baby sent to them and I thought I might be able to find out who the baby was, no luck so far but still working on it, watch this space! See previous post on another photo that was in this collection, Will is possibly one of the men in the photo (of five men) as I note it was taken in Brisbane and posted in 1909 when he had been there that same year winning the Australasian Amateur Sprint Champion title, it seems like some of the men, if not all, are wearing some sort of uniform. Frederick Falkener Fairthorne was also a well known amateur athlete in Australia.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the WOODGER family please do contact me, I would love to pass the postcards onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

Frederick Falkener Fairthorne 1887-1963

card--from-fredff

The back of this postcard photograph is signed by Fred F Fairthorne and dated 29 Sep 1909. It is addressed to W A Woodger Esq in Petone, New Zealand with a short message. I found it in a collection of postcards all sent by Will Woodger, while he was travelling around England & the Continent in 1911. This collection turned up in an antique shop in Paeroa, NZ:-

back-postcard-rotatedIt doesn’t say who the five men in the photograph are but I presume one of them is Fred. I found a photo of a Fred Fairthorne on this website when he was a member of the 2/8th Australian Field Artillery Regiment but I realised that it was in WW2 and Fred of the postcard would have been aged in his 50’s by then, so at a guess this one must be his son Frederick born in 1920 & who died in 2013.

On THIS website I found a short history of the Fairthorne Family of Launceston which was first published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, this is a short extract:-

“Fairthorne Road, at Trevallyn, Launceston, was probably named after the younger son Frederick Falkener Fairthorne (1887-1963), athlete and pharmacist, who served in the Australian Imperial Force in World War I.”

The word ‘athlete’ caught my eye and that I think is where the connection between Fred and Will Woodger is, William Arthur Woodger was a well-known NZ athlete and they most probably met during the various athletic meetings between our two countries and elsewhere in the world (see next article on this blog).

I think the five men in the above photo all look very similar to me, at first I thought they might have all been brothers but it seems Frederick Falkener Fairthorne only had two brothers & two sisters, his parents were Frederick Kirk Fairthorne & Louisa Letitia neé Hardman. I still think at least three of them look alike but maybe that’s just my imagination. Two of them are wearing hats with some sort of emblem on the front so they might be part of an Australian athletic team.

I did find this photograph of Frederick Falkener Fairthorne in a 1946 Tasmanian newspaper but it’s hard to say if he looks like any of the men in the above photo, perhaps the one standing on the right, but who knows, anyone?

fff-newspaper

References: Australian Dictionary of Biography; The 2/8th Australian Field Regiment Association; ancestry.com.au, Trove Newspapers

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the FAIRTHORNE family please do contact me, I would love to pass the postcard onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz

08 January 2015

John Thomas MacNaughtan 1892-1962

john-t-mcnaughtan

back-john-t-mcnaughtan

Subject: John T MacNaughtan
Date: March 1913
Photographer: Bunting, Palmerston North & Napier
Found: Paeroa, New Zealand

As you can see it’s hard to make out if John’s name is McNaughtan or MacNaughtan but in the end it didn’t really matter because in the research process I’ve found it spelled at least four different ways.

John’s birth was registered as just John:-

1892/5018  Macnaughtan John    Mary    Alexander

Not being sure I had the right person I turned to ancestry for a few clues and this popped up:-

John Thomas McNaughton in the New Zealand Army WWI Nominal Rolls, 1914-1918 - 7/1110 Corporal, 5th Reinforcements, Canterbury Mounted Rifles, mother Mrs A McNaughton, Parakai Post Office, Helensville.

Then I turned to the NZ Army Records that are available on the NZ Archives Archway and found this:-

McNAUGHTON, John Thomas - WW1 7/1110 – Army

Bingo! Twenty-nine pages of wonderful information on his time during WWI in NZ & Overseas from when he enlisted on the 14 Feb 1915:-

john-thomas-army-recordx500 

john-thomas-army-pg16x500
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I had even more luck with the NZ Cemetery Records and Papers Past:-

helensville-cemeteryx500 jessie-macnaughtan-deathx41 mary-agnes-deathx460  alex-macnaughtan-burialx500john-thomas-deathx500From the above I was able to piece together two more generations of the MacNaughtan Family. John Thomas was the son of Alexander and Alexander was the son of John MacNaughtan who arrived from Scotland in October 1862 at the age of about 21. When I saw the unusual name of their residence in Helensville ‘Coilantogle Ford Farm’ I thought surely it’s a place in Scotland and most probably where the first John was born. Google always has the answer doesn’t it:-

coilantogle-ford-postcard

I found this postcard & better still this excerpt from an e-book written in 1877:-

1877 Rough Notes of a Traveller: Being an Account of a Trip Around the World.

'The waters of Leny, with fine scenery, were next crossed; and about a mile further on we came to the celebrated Coilantogle Ford.... (some deleted for brevity) ....Another two miles brought us to Loch Vennachar (meaning the Lake of the Fair Valley); it is five miles long, and nearly one and a half in breadth. Midway on the opposite shore is Invertrossachs, the seat of Stewart MacNaughton, Esq. It was at this fine Highland home that our Queen and several members of the Royal Family spent a few weeks in the autumn of 1869.'

References: ancestry.com.au; NZBDM Online; Papers Past; Archives NZ Archway; Forgotten Books.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the MacNaughtan family please do contact me, I would love to pass the photo onto a family member, even a distant one. Contact by email is preferable but if you are going to leave a comment please don’t forget to include your email address.

Dawn Scotting
pandora[at]kc.net.nz