16 May 2009

Ada Violet Gilman 1891-?

ada-violet-gilman-blog ada-violet-gilman-back-blog

Subject: Ada Violet Gilman
Date: Easter 1918
Photographer: Alexander Studio, 103 Hoe St, Walthamstow
Found: UK

Ada Violet Gilman was born in 1891 in Walthamstow, Essex, she was the eldest daughter of Charles James Gilman and Ada Rosa nee Roberts. Ada's sister, Daisy Winifred, was born in 1892. In 1896 Ada Rosa died and in the 1901 census Charles' sister, Charlotte Mary, was living with them, she was still there in 1911.

Charles James Gilman was the son of Thomas & Jane nee Gorton, they were all living in St Sepulchre, London in the 1861 census along with another daughter, Florence Sarah.

That's all I know about Ada. If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the Gilman family please do contact me, I would love to hear from you & it may be to your advantage.

Dawn Scotting

pandora@kc.net.nz

12 May 2009

Austin Ernest Albert Smart 1884-1966

austin-smart-front austin-smart-front-blog

Might one of these young men be Austin Ernest Albert Smart? Austin wrote a letter on the back to his mother, Mrs Smart of Caversham, on the 23 Sep 1911.

Austin was the son of William Henry Smart & Annie nee Munro, he was born in 1884 in NZ. He married Mary Hammond Wright in 1913 and he died in 1966 aged 82, Mary died the year before aged 74. Mary was the daughter of David Archibald Hutchinson Wright and Alice Mary nee Barnes.

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the Smart family please do contact me, I would love to hear from you & it may be to your advantage.

Dawn Scotting

pandora@kc.net.nz

07 May 2009

Evelyn Mary Harriet Hanmer 1887-1969

evelyn-front-blog

This cute little girl is Evelyn Mary Harriet Hanmer, she was born on the 7 Feb 1887 to Edward Wingfield Hanmer and Catherine nee Hanmer.

Edward Wingfield Hanmer married Catherine Hanmer in NZ in 1885 and their other children were - Edward Henry John 1889, Humphrey Richard 1891 and Florence Catherine Alicia 1900.

Edward Wingfield Hanmer was one of sixteen children born to Rev Henry Hanmer and Sybella Elizabeth nee Gordon, he was baptised on 27 Jul 1856 at Grendon in Warwickshire where his father was the Rector.

Edward was living at home in 1861 and 1871 he was a pupil at a Grammar School in Newark, Nottinghamshire. By 1885 he was in New Zealand.

Edward's mother, Catherine, came from a different line of Hanmers, I found them on the Plantagenent Roll of the Blood Royal here. Edward's line of Hanmers I found in The Peerage of Britain here. So it seems Evelyn Mary Harriet comes from a long line of royalty.

Edward died on 28 Feb 1901 aged 44 and Catherine died in 1939 and was buried in the Waimairi Cemetery in Christchurch.

Surname: Hanmer
First name(s): Catherine
Date of death: Saturday, 20 May 1939
Cemetery: Waimairi Cemetery
Date of burial: Saturday, 20 May 1939
Block number: AN16
Plot number: 5
Age: 82 years
Address: 5 Stratford St, Fendalton, ChCh
Occupation: Unknown
Place of birth: Unknown
Years in New Zealand
:

Evelyn married a Mr Scott and she was a widow when she died in Christchurch in 1969 aged 82.

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If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the Hanmer family please do contact me, I would love to hear from you & it may be to your advantage.

Dawn Scotting

pandora@kc.net.nz

01 May 2009

Mabel Caroline Claasen 1892-1961

Today's photo is a lovely candid shot of a young girl sent to her sister as a postcard in 1911.

mabel-front-blog mabel2-front-blog

mabel-back-blog

Mabel Caroline Claasen was born in NZ in 1892, her parents were Annie & John Henry William.

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Claasen married Annie Harvey in 1889, their other children were - Ethel Annie 1890 and John George also 1892. Mabel & John had consecutive reg numbers so they were probably twins, sadly John George died aged 7 days. Mother Annie died in 1899 aged 32 and John Hy Wm married again in 1900 to Martha Mathilde Simonsen.

John Hy Wm and Martha had a further 3 children before 1909, Eric Clarence 1901, Vera Pearl 1904 and Leonard John 1908.

John Henry William Claasen was born in NZ in 1864. There are no parents listed for him in the NZ Index but thanks to Beverley's family tree I found they were Johann Heinrich Christopher & Anna Margeretha nee Bensemann. John H C Claasen & Anna Margeretha married in 1857 in NZ. I think they were also the parents of Maria Eleonora Dorothea born in 1869 and they were the parents of Augustus Heinrich Friedrick born in 1875.

Mabel married Robert John Cockburn in 1913 and she passed away in 1961.

References:
Jim & Beverley's Pedigrees
NZ BDM Database

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If anyone knows anything about or are connected to the Claasen family please do contact me.

 

Dawn Scotting
pandora@kc.net.nz

Samuel Smith & Maria Isabel Stephenson - Part II

Today we're going to explore the Stephenson side of the above union.

maria-isabel-blog maria-isabel2-blog

The second photo was taken probably not too many years after the first one. Francis Lawrence Jones operated his premises at 168 George St between 1890 to 1900. Maria Isabel Stephenson was the daughter of Daniel Stephenson who was deceased by the time she married Samuel in 1887. On searching the newspapers for his death I was overwhelmed with at least nine entries in various newspapers all very similar to this one:-

Otago Witness, Issue 1617, 18 November 1882, Page 9

dan's-death-notice3

From this I knew that Daniel's wife was still alive and that Maria had two siblings. He also had one brother named George who, it seems, was also in NZ.

Unfortunately Daniel's wife was never named in any of his death notices and even after finding his burial I still don't know who she was.

While I was searching the newspapers I found a few other articles about Daniel and in one of them it said he was part of the Scottish constitution who were at a meeting, from this I presumed that Daniel came from Scotland but after searching the records for Scotland for hours I gave up! So when I found the following burial record for him I was surprised to see that he was a native of England.

Northern Cemetery, Dunedin

Cemetery Details
Surname STEPHENSON
Forename DANIEL
Age 47 Years
Gender Male
Date of Death 11 Nov 1882
Place of Death
Last Address DUKE ST DUNEDIN
Next of Kin
Funeral Director Geddes & Co
Cemetery NORTHERN CEMETERY
Location Block 104. Plot 1
Date of Burial 14 Nov 1882
Type: Burial
Notes Original reference:- N18821113
Occupation:- ACCOUNTANT
Native of:- ENGLAND
Years in NZ:- 7
Place died:- DUNEDIN

I was even more surprised to see that he had only been in NZ for 7 years when I knew it had been a lot longer (daughter born in NZ 1864). (I think whoever gave the details for his burial didn't know that Daniel had lived in Auckland before moving to Dunedin). Which set me to thinking about quite a lot of the photos in the album having been taken in Bristol and Newcastle on Tyne, surely they were from someone's family and Samuel Smith's were from Ireland so perhaps they were relatives of Maria & her father Daniel. I searched the 1851 census for a Daniel Stephenson born about 1835 and there was one in Bristol that caught my eye as I was looking through what seemed like dozens of Daniel Stephensons!

Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece: 1953; Folio: 127; Page: 1; GSU roll: 87353.

1851-blog

2 Albion Place, Bristol St Andrew, Gloucestershire
Mark Pratten Stephenson head mar 42 Proprietor of Houses born Bristol St Phillip
Sarah Stephenson wife mar 43 born Bristol Castle M
Mary Stephenson dau unm 17 born Bristol Stapleton
Daniel Stephenson son unm 16 born Bristol
Sarah Stephenson dau 13 scholar born Bristol
Isabel Stephenson dau 11 scholar born Bristol
George Stephenson son 6 scholar born Bristol Stokes Cross

Good start, a Daniel with a brother George. Found this on the IGI:-

DANIEL <STEPHENSON>
Christening: 11 DEC 1836 Temple, Bristol, Gloucester, England
Parents:
Father: MARK PRATTEN STEPHENSON
Mother: SARAH

On to the 1841 census:-

Source Citation: Class: HO107; Piece 375; Book: 3; Civil Parish: St Philip and St Jacob; County: Gloucestershire; Enumeration District: 18; Folio: 4; Page: 2; Line: 21; GSU roll: 288784.

1841

Here we have Mark Stephenson & his family but without son George who wasn't born until about 1844. On the second page there is a Daniel & Sarah Stephenson living next door. On to Google where I happened on the Pratten Family Tree and this small entry:-

...........J4 Sarah Pratten, bapt 1777 St George.
married Stevenson.

I've since spoken to the person who posted this tree and he tells me that he picked up Sarah's married name from her father's will but that is all he knew. Unfortunately the IGI hasn't extracted quite a few of the Bristol parish records so what follows is a little sketchy and is mainly from submissions to the IGI.

Sarah Pratten was the daughter of Mark Pratten & Sarah nee Plummer, she was baptised at St George, Bristol on 22 Mar 1778. She married Daniel Stephenson, date unknown, and they had three daughters - Mary Pratten 11 Aug 1805, Sarah 6 Dec 1807 and Ann Pratten 10 Feb 1811. Seeing that Daniel & Sarah were living next door to Mark (who is listed in 1851 as Mark Pratten Stephenson) I think it's fairly safe to presume that he was their son and named after Sarah's father Mark Pratten. Both Daniel & Sarah had died by 1851. It turns out that Mark Pratten Stephenson was born about 1808, calculated from his age at death - 84 in 1893. I couldn't find a marriage for him & Sarah either, Sarah died in 1889 aged 81.

Now we've established Daniel & George's family it's time to search further census to see what happened to them. In 1861 Mark & Sarah are living at 53 Kingsdowne Pde, Bristol with their three daughters and son George - Daniel is not to be found and I searched very thoroughly with lots of wild cards, nothing, zilch, nada, naught!

In 1871 they are still in the same house with daughters Sarah & Isabel, daughter Mary had married Ernest George Lorymer in 1869 & was living with him in Westbury on Trym, Gloucestershire. No sign of son George (or Daniel) and again I searched very thoroughly for him with no luck.

In 1881 Mark & Sarah & Isabel have moved to Westbury on Trym also. Daughter Sarah had left home and was living elsewhere, she died in 1913 aged 75 having never married.

In 1891 Mark was widowed and living with Isabel still in Westbury. Isabel never married either and she died in 1926 aged 87. Although daughter Mary was only 36 when she married Ernest it seems they never had any children, Mary died in 1927 aged 93 and Ernest in 1907 aged 72.

I don't think we're going to have any luck in finding any descendants from Daniel's three sisters!

daniel's-family-in-Bristol-

This page of photos were all taken by the photographer Holborn of 50 Park St, Bristol. They have consecutive numbers written on the back so it seems they would have all been taken on the same day. Possibly Daniel's parents, Mark Pratten & Sarah Stephenson and two of his sisters, maybe the two unmarried ones, Sarah & Isabel. H Holborn operated at 46 Park St in 1872 so maybe taken around then.

2daniel's-family-blog

Top left photo was also taken by Holborn but at 46 Park St this time, possibly around 1872 also. I can't hazard a guess as to who this gentleman is, I don't think he looks like the previous gentleman.

Top right photo I think looks very like the shorter of the two young women in the previous lot, could be Sarah. Taken by J Philips & Co of 9 Clare St, Bristol, possibly taken between 1885 to 1889.

Bottom left was taken by R T Cartwright of 4 & 5 Clare St, he operated at that address in 1872. Possibly eldest daughter Mary Stephenson.

Bottom right was taken by A Barber of 18 Park St, Alfred Barber operated at that address from 1861 to 1868 (the last time he was listed in the Trade Directory of Bristol, it may have been longer). Possibly Mary's husband Ernest George Lorymer. Mary & Ernest were married in 1869, Ernest was a Corn Merchant.

3daniel's-family-blog

Top left photo was taken by John Beattie of Strathearn House in Clifton, Bristol. John seems to have operated at that address from 1864 to 1868. This woman may or may not be the same woman as in the first lot of four photographs, I can't make up my mind. If so she is a few years younger in this one.

Top right was taken by F Snary of 26 Castle St, he operated at that address in 1889 although he was listed as Frederick Snary at the same address up until 1921. Not sure who this might be, possibly an older Mary Lorymer.

Both bottom photos were taken by William Clark of 27 Park St, his first entry in the Trade Directory for that address is 1890. I think they are possibly an older Mark Pratten Stephenson, who died in 1893 aged 84, and youngest daughter Isabel who was the only one left at home in 1891, she was 51 in 1891. This lady certainly looks to be rather tall & slim just like the earlier tall young woman.

These are my best guesses as to who the Bristol photos might be, all conjecture and totally speculative!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Back to Daniel's arrival in New Zealand. I haven't found either Daniel or George Stephenson on a ship's passenger list yet but from 1869 to 1875 Daniel is mentioned in the Auckland newspapers:-

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3596, 27 January 1869, Page 5

D. Stephenson is mentioned as having donated £1.1.0 to a good cause. On the same page is this advertisement for William Gregg & Co (see May 1870) and he's also mentioned at the Masonic Ball. william-gregg-&-co daniel-paper-24-5-1869

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXV, Issue 3744, 19 July 1869, Page 7

I, the undersigned, Daniel Stephenson, hereby make application to register the Royal Standard Gold-Mining Company (Registered), under the provisions of the 'Mining Companies' Limited Liability Act, 1865. <some deleted for brevity>
1) Name of the company is the Royal Standard Gold-Mining Co.
2) Place of operations is at the Karaka, at the Thames Goldfield, in the Province of Auckland, in the Colony of NZ.
3) Nominal capital is ten thousand pounds in two thousand shares of five pounds each.
4) Amount already paid up is nine thousand pounds.
5) Name of the manager is Daniel Stephenson.
6) Office of the company is at Wyndham-street, Auckland.
7) Names & residences of the shareholders:-
Henry Solomon Meyers, Auckland 250 shares
Nathaniel Phillip Meyers, Shortland 500
Daniel Stephenson, Auckland 500
Samuel Abraham Levy, Shortland 500
Benjamin Elkin Emanuel, Shortland 250
Dated 14th July 1869.
Signed by Daniel Stephenson, manager
Witness to signature: Henry Goldsmith JP
Messrs Beveridge & Ritche, the company's solicitors.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3961, 3 May 1870, Page 7

An interesting event in connection with. St. Andrew's Lodge, 418, S.C, took place on April 25, at their regular monthly meeting, viz., a presentation to Past-Master Brother Stephenson. The R.W.D.P.G.M., Brother Beveridge, occupied the chair; and, after the regular business of the lodge, presented to Brother P.M. Stephenson a very beautiful past-master's jewel, reflecting credit alike on the donors and recipient. The jewel is of Auckland workmanship, and contains a fine diamond, bearing on the reverse the following inscription : — "A tribute of respect to P.M. Brother Daniel Stephenson, from the Brethren of Lodge St. Andrew, 418, S.C, for the faithful discharge of his duties as R.W.M., 1868-1869."

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3980, 25 May 1870, Page 1

Co-partnership at Auckland of William Gregg & Daniel Stephenson dissolved by mutual consent, dated 24 May 1870. Daniel informs merchants etc that he intends carrying on the business of the late firm of William Gregg & Co at the Auckland Steam Coffee Mills in Wyndham-street, Auckland under the firm of D Stephenson & Co.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4032, 25 July 1870, Page 1

NOTICE. IN consequence of certain arrangements entered into, in connection with the late dissolution of partnership between D. STEPHENSON and W. GREGG, not being carried out, the latter has RE-TAKEN the BUSINESS into his own hands again, and is empowered to discharge and settle all debts due to and by the firm of D. Stephenson and Co.
D. STEPHENSON,
WILLIAM GREGG
(By his Attorney George Stephenson).
Auckland, July 22, 1870.
WITH reference to the above, it being our intention to close the business as quickly as possible, we have to request a settlement of all overdue accounts on or before August 1.
W. GREGG & CO. (By their Attorney George Stephenson).
Auckland, July 22, 1870.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 4075, 13 September 1870, Page 2

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.
Cleared Outwards - Sept 12
Mary Shepherd, ship, 809 tons, Peck, for London. Passengers: Mr Daniel Stephenson
.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4689, 3 September 1872, Page 1

3 Sep 1872 stood as a candidate for the office of councillor of the City of Auckland.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXI, Issue 5657, 30 October 1875, Page 2

[Established 1864]
D. Stephenson & Co's
Celebrated Coffees
Are to be procured at all respectable Grocers' and 'Storekeepers' throughout the Province of Auckland
D. Stephenson & Co
Wyndham Street
Auckland

Finally we come to this one:-

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXXII, Issue 5774, 30 March 1876, Page 1

bankruptcy

So it seems Daniel & his family left Auckland & settled in Dunedin. There are a few photos that were taken in Auckland in the album:-

4daniel's-family-blog

The two bottom photos were taken by G Pulman of Auckland. George Pulman operated from 1869 to 1871 when his widow, Elizabeth, took over the business. I would say these two photographs are of the same woman at different times. Looking through a magnifying glass they both have the same deep sunk eyes. The top right photo is a hand tinted copy of the one below it.

The top left photo has something written on the back which I'm still puzzling over:-

stephenson-back-blog

"For My dear Ma
.. Stephenson
20 years & 9 mos
June 10/76"

I think that this young man might be one of Maria Isabel's siblings but his birth year of 1855 seems to be a little bit early. The early birth NZ records don't give parents' names in the search results so it's hard to say if he was born in NZ or England. I did find a marriage for a Daniel Stephenson in England in 1863 to either an Annie Jordan or Emily Shurmur, but if that was Daniel where is he in the 1861 census?

If this photo is from a brother of Maria then the word 'Ma' might be his nickname for her. The photographer, Robert Henry Bartlett, was rewarded with the title "Photographer to His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh" in January 1871 so the photo is taken after that which fits in with the 1876 date.

Whoever Maria's mother was she may have come from Newcastle on Tyne where some of the photos in the album came from.

I haven't been able to find anything further on Daniel's brother George either, George Stephenson being too common a name. It was mentioned in Daniel's death notice that his brother worked for Messrs Gregg & Co so I presume he stayed in Auckland working for the same firm that Daniel had at one stage tried to take over. In another article I noted that William Gregg's attorney was George Stephenson. Daniel was listed as an accountant on his burial records so it seems both brothers were well educated.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot about this photo, we think the older lady in black is Maria Isabel because the brooch she is wearing is the same brooch that the young Maria was wearing. I'm not sure of the significance of the crescent & star in this instance but it could be something to do with where Maria's husband, Samuel, came from in Ireland. I did a bit of research and it seems the crescent & star are incorporated into the Coat of Arms of Drogheda in Ireland, whether that has any connection to Samuel I really have no idea, it just seemed like a good story!

maria-isabel3-original maria-isabel4-original

Which brings me to another little mystery - on the back of the second photo is written 'With Love Mother' but as far as I know Maria only had the one son, Robert, who died in 1918 and this photo was taken a long time after that! Also on the back of the photo is a photographer's stamp with an address of Wellington so I searched the Wellington Cemeteries online and found that she died on 20 Sep 1957 aged 93 and was cremated on the 23rd at the Karori Cemetery in Wellington.

References:

Pratten Family Tree
ancestry.com
Auckland Museum - Cenotaph Database
Auckland City Library - Photographers Database
Dunedin City Council - Cemeteries
Early Otago Photographers
FreeBMD
IGI
NSW BMD Registry
PapersPast

Scotlands People
Wellington City Council - Cemeteries

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I intend to research further into the Newcastle on Tyne connection but that will have to wait for a few weeks while I'm on holiday. In the meantime if anyone knows anything about or are connected to the Smith/Stephenson families please do contact me, I would love to hear from you and so would the owner of the album.

Dawn Scotting

pandora@kc.net.nz

29 April 2009

Samuel Smith & Maria Isabel Stephenson of Ballymena, Dunedin

I currently have in my possession a really lovely old photograph album, on loan. The owner thought we might be able to find a descendant to pass it onto. Again there is not much information as to who most of the photographs in the album are of but we think the above couple are the original owners, probably Maria in particular.

album-front-cover album-page1

This is the photograph I started with, I've darkened the headstone to read the inscription. All I could read for sure is 'New Zealand' in the middle of the cross and the words 'Gunner R. A. S. SMITH'.

r-a-s-smith-blog

From the rest of the photo I knew that it was a cemetery for the War Fallen - but where? Thank goodness for the CWGC website where I found this (and thank goodness for Robert having three given names, Robert Smith would never have worked!):-

ras-smith's-cert-blog

Interesting to note that the Brookwood Cemetery is the largest in the UK and that a military cemetery was added to Brookwood in 1917 and contains some of the dead from both World Wars as well as those who died in the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic. The land was set aside during WWI to provide a burial site for men and women of Commonwealth and American armed forces who died in the UK of wounds.

Robert Alexander Stephenson Smith was born in NZ in 1888 and this photo identifies him on the back as Robert Smith of High St, Ballymena, Dunedin. The second one has nothing written on it but I think it is most probably him with his mother. These are the only two photos of a child in the album.

robert-smith-blog robert-smith-with-mother-ma

robert-smith-older-blog

Might this be an older Robert? On the back is written an address and the price of £16 which seems like a lot of money to pay for a photograph in those days, perhaps someone special to the album owner?

samuel-smith-blog  maria-isabel-blog

This couple were the first two in the album and as the lovely young woman looks like the one holding the baby I think this is Samuel Smith and his wife Maria Isabel nee Stephenson. John Richard Morris, the photographer, arrived in Dunedin in 1869 and in the early years of his photography business was partnered with a Mr Clifford but it seems he later branched out on his own which seems to fit in with the date of Samuel & Maria's marriage in 1887.

Evening Post, Vol 24, Issue 91, 14 Oct 1887, page 2

smith-stephenson-marge-600

So now we know that Samuel Smith was Irish and that their home was probably called Ballymena after the Ballymena in Ireland. Actually I already knew Samuel was from Ireland because of this next photo, not a good photo at all but I was able to enlarge the headstone enough for it to be legible:-

samuel-smith-grave-blog samuel-smith-grave-enlarged

His headstone couldn't have been better! Which took me to the NSW BMD website to look for his death:-

NSW - 5927/1897  SMITH  SAMUEL  Father/JAMES  Mother/ELIZA  PARRAMATTA

then back to the NZ newspapers of the time:-

Otago Witness, Issue 2254, 13 May 1897, Page 31

samuel-smith-death-notice

From his listing in the NSW Deaths I was able to find a submission to the IGI on his birth and death in Parramatta, his parents were give as James Smith and Eliza Denison nee Taylor.

As far as I can see Samuel & Maria Isabel didn't have any other children. So Maria was left a widow after 10 years of marriage and son Robert was only 8 or 9 when his father died. Twenty one years later she was to lose Robert also. She never remarried and she died in 1957 aged 93.

One other photo in the album has a connection to Samuel, this one was taken in Coleraine, Ireland but again nothing to say who they are, possibly his parents and a sister although the two women don't look to be that far apart in age.

three-unknowns-in-Coleraine samuel-&-George-blog 

Lastly we have Samuel Smith with an unknown man, looks to have been taken the same day as the one of Samuel by himself (above).

This is a view of Ballymena House in High St, Dunedin, quite possibly the home of Samuel & Maria Smith.

Next time we well explore the Stevenson Family of whom there seems to be quite a few photographs.

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Dawn Scotting

pandora@kc.net.nz

26 April 2009

Mary Josephine Lonergan

Josephine Lonergan
26/-
Mr Wright Aug 1919
Bessie August 1919
Chester Summer 1916
Cannes March 1919

These few details I found inside a small early 1900's photograph album that held 91 very small black & white candid photographs. Not much to go on to find out who this family were but nevertheless I wanted to give it a go.

I searched on FreeBMD for a Josephine Lonergan, absolutely no luck at all. I searched in the 1901 census, again no luck. Then I took all the photos out of the album to look at the backs and on the last page I found hidden underneath the last photo another five small photos plus a small business card:-

a-m-gregg

The five photos were all of this man with five young women, they were all dressed in black and he had a black armband so fairly obvious the photos were taken at a funeral wake. I didn't have much luck finding out who Mr A M Gregg was either. On the CWGC website I did find an entry for an Arthur Malcolm Gregg who died in 1942 aged 23, he was a pilot in the Royal Air Force 273 Sqdn. However, I realised the dates didn't fit as he wouldn't have been born when most of these photos were taken.

I wondered why the five photos and the card had been hidden because they really didn't seem to me to have been something someone shouldn't have. An affair of the heart perhaps? So in a burst of new enthusiasm I searched FreeBMD for a marriage between a Lonergan and a Gregg - BINGO!

Marriages Dec 1925
Gregg Arthur M Lonergan W.Derby 8b 775
Lonergan Mary J Gregg W Derby 8b 775

Now I'm onto something, Mary Josephine Lonergan perhaps?

Births Mar 1890
Lonergan Mary Josephine W. Derby 8b 496

Yes! Next onto the census, no luck couldn't find Josephine in any census, tried all sorts of spellings. By now I'm just about to give up and put the album away for another year when I decided to have a look at the 1911 census and found her on the first search!

Address 7 CAMBRIDGE AVENUE GREAT CROSBY LANCASHIRE County Lancashire
LONERGAN, PATRICK HEAD MARRIED M 61 GERDENER DOMESTIC CO CORK CORK IRELAND
LONERGAN, ANN WIFE MARRIED 36 F 57 LANCS WOOLTON LANC
LONERGAN, THERESA DAUGHTER SINGLE F 32 ASSISTANT SCHOOL MISTRESS LANCS WOOLTON LANC
LONERGAN, AGNES DAUGHTER SINGLE F 29 BOOK-KEEPER LANCS GREAT CROSBY LANC
LONERGAN, GERTRUDE DAUGHTER SINGLE F 24 CLERK LANCS GT CROSBY LANC
LONERGAN, JOSEPHINE DAUGHTER SINGLE F 21 LANCS GT CROSBY LANC
LONERGAN, MAY DAUGHTER SINGLE F 18 LANCS GT CROSBY LANC

So now I know where she was born and who her parents were I look again in the earlier census and find them in 1881, 1891 & 1901. They were listed in the index under Lavergne in 1891 and Lanagan in 1901!

Source Citation: Class: RG12; Piece: 2983; Folio 58; Page 54; GSU roll: 6098093.

1891-census-blog

Source Citation: Class: RG13; Piece: 3446; Folio: 68; Page: 20.

1901-census-blog

Here we have rather a large family of girls, in 1881 there were just two - Annie 4 & Theresa 2.

In 1891 the family had grown to - Bella 14 (Annie Isabella), Theresa 12, Agnes 9, Margaret 6 (Margaret Mary), Gertrude 4 & Josephine 1 (Mary Josephine).

In 1901 Bella & Margaret had moved away from home and there was a new daughter May aged 8.

The same five daughters were all still living at home in 1911 & single. If I have the right family then these are the five daughters:-

five-girls2

But then again they could be five of any of the seven daughters because I think the funeral might have been for their father who died in the first quarter of 1919. The man with the black armband is probably home from the war on compassionate leave, even though the fighting had stopped just a few months before, the final Peace Treaty wasn't signed until June 1919.

Father, Patrick Lonergan (or Lonegan) was born in Ireland about 1850, he married Annie Leadbetter in 1874 in the Prescott registration district of Lancashire, he died aged 68 in 1919. Patrick was a gardener and the family were living in Great Crosby, Lancashire at varying addresses in each census.

Bella the eldest daughter I found in the 1901 census living in Everton, Lancs, with her one month old daughter Dorothy Josephine, lost sight of Bella after that.

Daughter Margaret was 16 in 1901 and working as a childrens' nurse in Southport, Lancs, nothing further found on her either.

Daughter Theresa married James Long in 1925.

Daughter Gertrude married James A Lutas in 1914.

Daughter Josephine married Arthur M Gregg in 1925.

Daughter May might have married Frank Cole in 1922.

The following photos are just a few of the 96 in the album showing a cross section of the people in it. I would dearly love to find someone connected to this family to pass the album onto, surely there are a few descendants from so many daughters. I have no idea how the album ended up in NZ, a search of the NZ records turns up nothing that I can see.

lonergan-family1-4

lonergan-family5-6

lonergan-family7-9

lonergan-family10-13

lonergan-family19-22

lonergan-family23

lonergan-family24

lonergan-family25

lonergan-family26

That's a third of the photos, perhaps I'll post the rest another day and keep my fingers crossed that someone somewhere someday may stumble across my blog and recognise them.

What I know of the Lonergan Family Tree can be seen on WorldConnect here.

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Dawn Scotting

pandora@kc.net.nz