Edward Michael Ryan 1878 – 1969

Subject: Edward Michael Ryan
Date: Dec 1908
Photographer: Unknown
Found: Waiheke Island, Auckland, New Zealand

Today’s photo I found a few days ago while on holiday at Waiheke Island, an island in the Hauraki Gulf of Auckland, New Zealand. It’s a photo postcard addressed to Mr McGinity at Maamara Cres, Wellington, NZ postmarked Dec 1908 from Springfield, Mass (which I presumed was Massachusetts USA). Part of the address had been crossed out and it looks like it was redirected from the Wellington post office on 19 Jan.

Edward Michael Ryan was born in Stretford, Lancashire, England in 1878, his birth was registered in the 3qtr in the Barton upon Irwell registration district. I found him in the 1881 census almost straight away but wasn’t positive I had the right person until I found this death notice in a NZ newspaper on Papers Past:-

Brothers Edward Michael & Cunningham Rowan were the sons of Cunningham Rowan Francis & Elizabeth Jane Ryan from Ireland. In 1881 Edward Michael was living at home with his parents in Ashton upon Mersey in Cheshire, in 1886 his brother Cunningham Rowan was born in Ashton upon Mersey. Father Cunningham died in 1888 & although son Cunningham was living at home with his mother in the 1891 census, along with nine other siblings, Edward Michael wasn’t one of them, he was aged 12 and a boarder in the ‘Manchester Warehousemen & Clerks Orphan School’ in Stockport Etchells, Cheshire.

Cunningham Rowan was still at home with his mother & siblings in 1901 but I wasn’t able to find Edward Michael, it seems from this 1926 newspaper article that he may have been away fighting in the Boer War at the time:-

He must have arrived in New Zealand shortly before 1904 when he first joined the Y.M.C.A, the article fills in more details about his life with the Y.M.C.A and I think it must have been them who sent him to the USA sometime before 1908 where he was living when he sent his photo postcard to Mr McGinity at Christmas 1908. In the USA 1910 census I found him still living there in Springfield, Massachusetts. Although the census doesn’t show it I think he was living in some sort of establishment, maybe studying at a school or university of some sort, everyone on the same census page was listed as single and had no occupation apart from the wife of the head of the house who was listed as a matron of a student’s hall, another person who was a dormitory servant and another person who was the manager of the restaurant.

He was listed as single (on 26 Apr 1910) but by 1911 Edward Michael is back living in Wellington, NZ with his wife Edith & listed as the Boys' Director of the Y.M.C.A, however there is no marriage in New Zealand so I think they were most probably married in the US before returning home, so I have no maiden name for Edith but it could possibly be Parton.

Soon after WWI ended he & his wife & two children, Maybelle Parton born 29 May 1911 and Walter Vernon Villiers born 31 Mar 1916, both in Wellington, left on the ‘SS Tainui’ on the 3 Jul 1919 for London (according to the passenger list they were visiting Ireland), they all returned to NZ on the ‘Beltana’ on the 16 Dec 1919.

There is much to be found about Edward Michael Ryan and the Y.M.C.A on Papers Past, unfortunately they only go up to 1945 so far. Both Edward Michael & Edith, along with son Walter, are all buried in the Karori Cemetery in Wellington, Edith died in 1928 aged 51, Edward in 1969 aged 91 & Walter in 1995 aged 79. Maybelle was a teacher & she never married, she died in 1998, place of burial is unknown. I don’t know whether Walter ever married, it doesn’t seem like it as in the various electoral rolls I’ve found him in over the years there is no one listed as living at the same address.

I haven’t found Edward Michael Ryan on a passenger list when he first arrived in NZ although his brother Cunningham Rowan was listed on the ‘SS Surrey’ leaving Liverpool for Wellington on the 3 Dec 1906 aged 20, a farm labourer. 8 years later he joined the Canterbury Mounted Rifles (listed as Rowan Ryan) and on the 14 Dec 1914 left for Egypt with the NZ Expeditionary Forces, on the 9 Aug 1916 he was killed in action and is buried in the Kantara War Memorial Cemetery in Egypt.

The next of kin, Mrs Wrigley, was their sister Mildred Ryan who married William Sugden Wrigley in Derbyshire in 1906. Their other siblings were:-

William Villiers 1870; Ellen Gray 1872; Jackson Porter 1874-1878; Sarah 1876; Anna Frances 1880; Sydney Hamilton 1881; Elizabeth 1882; Jane Hamilton Rowan 1884; Catherine Gray 1887; Matthew Fletcher 1889.

Their mother was Elizabeth Jane Porter 1843-1903 & their father Cunningham Rowan Francis Ryan 1841-1888, he was the son of William Villiers Ryan & Sarah Hamilton Rowan who were also the parents of the following children, all born in Ireland:-

Edward Villiers 1835-1874; Sydney Hamilton 1838-1877; plus at least three more with unknown birth & death dates - John Nashville; Matthew Fletcher & Mildred.

Cunningham Rowan Francis Ryan was the executor to two of his brothers’ wills, Edward Villiers Ryan & Sydney Hamilton Ryan, neither of whom were married at the time of their deaths, nor did they list any children of their own in their wills.

So far all I know about William Villiers Ryan is that he was born about 1811 and was the son of Edward Michael Ryan, a captain in the British Army who is mentioned in this 1924 NZ newspaper article:-

Wikipedia gives an account of the Battle, this is just a small excerpt:-

In the Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies, fought on 24 April 1794, a small Anglo-Austrian cavalry force routed a vastly more numerous French division during the Flanders Campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars. Villers-en-Cauchies is 15 km south of Valenciennes.

Emperor Francis II awarded 8 British officers involved in this action with a special gold medal since at that time it wasn't possible to award the Military Order of Maria Theresia upon foreigners; later, in 1801, after a change in the order's statutes, these same officers were appointed Knights of the Military Order of Maria Theresia. The recipients were Major William Aylett; Captain Robert Pocklington; Captain Edward Michael Ryan; Lieutenant Thomas Granby Calcraft; Lieutenant William Keir; Lieutenant Charles Burrell Blount; Cornet Edward Gerald Butler and Cornet Robert Thomas Wilson. Of this medal only 9 pieces have been struck: 8 awarded and one preserved at the "Münzkabinett" in Vienna. Besides the mentioned piece preserved in Vienna, two original groups of medal and Maria Theresia's Cross appeared on the collecting market resp. in 1966 (belonged to Cornet E. Butler) and in 1967 (Capt. R. Pocklington), both sold by Spink & Son, London; the second, auctioned by Sotheby's in 1903, later in the Whitaker collection, this dissolved from 1959 onwards.

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

So far I haven’t been able to ascertain just who Mr McGinity was although there was a John McGinnity and a John Maginnity living in Wellington during that time. There was also some other postcards in the same shop addressed to a Miss A McGinty of Maarama Crescent, I purchased one of them which was a photo of a young girl sent to Miss McGinty but with no name for the person it was from.

How they all ended up on Waiheke Island, at the other end of the North Island to Wellington, is a complete mystery to me!

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the RYAN (or McGinity) family please do contact me, I would love to pass this 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

References: Papers Past; NZBDM Online; ancestry.com.au; PRONI; Cenotaph Database; Wikipedia; CWGC.

The Children of Charles REED 1860 – 1954

Subject: Children of Charles Reed
Date: abt 1907
Photographer: H Mortin, Auckland, NZ
Found: Warkworth, New Zealand

Today’s photograph is one of five very cute children, on the back is written:-

I saw this one in the Oct 2013 NZSG magazine from Eric Parker who was looking to pass this photo onto anyone who had a connection to the REED family. A few weeks ago I emailed him to see if anyone had come forward and I received a reply from Eric’s daughter to say he’d sadly passed away the previous week. She found the photo so she very kindly posted it to me in the hopes that we could fulfil Eric’s wish.

So far I haven’t had any luck in proving that Charles Reed was the son of the following REED family who arrived in NZ from England on the ship ‘Aloe’ on the 7 Jun 1863, but as the ‘Aloe’ is mentioned on the back of the photograph it seems likely he is.

I found a transcription of the passengers on board the Aloe online but there was only one Reed listed, a George but strangely he was listed in two places, once with the single men and again with the single women! Suspecting a typo I searched in Papers Past and found there was a George and an Emma Reed in the list but no children:-

 

 

Strange that George & Emma were listed with the single men and women on the ship if they were married, as there is no marriage listed for them in NZ I presume they were married in England.

 

Although there are no children listed for George & Emma Reed note that four births took place during the voyage. It is strange there are no children listed for them because there does seem to be children listed with other families.

 

This is the only voyage with a passenger list of the Aloe to NZ that I can find in Papers Past.

 

The cutter Aloe, belonging to Mr De Thierry, was lost/sunk at Queen St wharf in a storm on 24 Mar 1871.

 

 

 

 

 

George & Emma first settled in the Waikato where he was employed provisioning the troops in the Maori War, afterward they lived in Tauranga for a few years before they moved to Taupiri where they purchased a 50 acre piece of land in Komakorau. They farmed there for about ten years before making the final move to the Maungatawhiri Valley where they farmed on 395 acres until George died. Their children born during this time were:-

1866/8949    Reed Aloe – Emma & George
1873/13126  Reed Rebecca – Emma & George
1876/15641  Reed Oliver – Emma & George
1893/15264  Reed Henry Edward – Emma & George
1893/15265  Reed Benjamin – Emma & George

One would think that with Henry & Benjamin being born in the same year with consecutive registration numbers that they were twins but in 1893 mother Emma would have been 60 years old so either there is another George & Emma Reed or else they are late birth registrations. Benjamin seems to have been born about 1871 according to his age of 74 when he died in 1945. (I cannot find any sign of another George & Emma Reed in NZ at a later date). George died at Vincent St in Auckland after a long illness on the 20 Mar 1894 aged 61.

I wasn’t able to find an obituary for George but when Emma passed away on the 15 Oct 1922 in Newton St, Auckland this is what her obituary said:-

This is where it gets interesting, she left FIVE sons and two daughters but in NZ there are only birth registrations for two daughters and THREE sons, which means they probably had two sons with them when they arrived – that would account for the ‘Charles Reed – born in England’ stated on the back of the photograph.

Then I found an obituary for their daughter Aloe whose birth was registered in 1866 although her obituary states she was born on the ship Aloe on it’s way to NZ – but that doesn’t gell with the other sentence on the back of the photograph ‘also a child born on the ship ‘Aloe’ died later in infancy’ – Aloe didn’t die until 1931 aged 65.

So either I’ve gone wrong somewhere along the line or else there was another voyage of the Aloe to NZ in 1866, so far I’ve had no luck in finding it.

That brings us to son Charles and another possible son also born in England. I did find one tree on ancestry.com that included George & Emma Reed that listed an additional two unknown children with the other five but so far have had no luck in contacting the owner of the tree. He listed the birth years for the two unknown children as 1858 and 1860 (how would you know what year they were born if you didn’t know their names?) and 1860 fits in with the age at death of Charles who died in 1954 aged 94 (too late to find an obituary in Papers Past which currently only goes to 1945).

Charles Reed married Frances Louisa Sprague on 20 Aug 1894 in Auckland, there are seven children listed for them in the NZ births:-

1895/16109   Reed    Kate                   Frances              Charles (died 1896)
1896/10889   Reed    Ivy                     Frances Louisa    Charles (died 1897)
1898/14580   Reed    Frances Daisy    Frances Louisa    Charles
1899/15287   Reed    Herbert Charles Frances Louisa   Charles
1901/2354     Reed    Ernest George   Frances Louisa    Charles
1902/16384   Reed    Albert Edward  Frances               Charles
1907/10183   Reed    Frank                Frances Louisa    Charles

The names on the back of the photo are obviously their family nicknames:-

Back left: Herbert Charles (Charles), Frances Daisy (Daisy)
Front left: Ernest George (Eddie), Frank, Albert Edward (Bertie)

At first I had thought the birth on the Aloe (reverse of photo) referred to one of Charles’ children but realised later that is must have been one of his siblings. There doesn’t seem to be a Reed death after Jun 1863 that would correspond with a birth in 1863 listed in the NZ deaths so perhaps the person who had written that on the back of the photo was mistaken that he/she had died later. If daughter Aloe had been the one born on the ship then why was her birth not registered for another 3 years after the ship arrived. Then again we do have the two late birth registrations for brothers Henry & Benjamin.

Frances Louisa Reed died on 26 Dec 1938 aged 68, she was living in Mt Eden, Auckland and her death notice lists her husband Charles and three of her children, Daisy, Ernest & Edward. Her other children had pre-deceased her – Charles Henry on 4 May 1925 aged 25 and Frank on 4 Jun 1930 aged 13.

All in all there’s a few anomalies that can’t be explained without a lot more research, time will tell no doubt. Although the tree on ancestry that lists George & Emma mentions that George came from Berkshire I’ve found nothing to confirm this one way or the other. Also in that tree Emma’s maiden name is given as Carter, again I’ve found nothing to substantiate this. There are too many REEDs in the 1861 & earlier census to know for sure which one he might be, nothing found in Berkshire at all. I will continue with my search from time to time but in the meantime I’d be delighted to hear from anyone who is connected to anyone in this family.

References: Papers Past; NZBDM Online; ancestry.com.au; NZSG Magazine Oct2013 Page 221

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the REED family please do contact me, I would love to pass this 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

Arnold Mitton 1856-1910

Subject: Arnold Mitton
Date: 28 Jan 1880
Photographer: Clifford & Morris, Royal Arcade, Dunedin, NZ
Found: Unknown

I’ve had this photograph for so long that I can’t remember where it came from. I’ve never had any luck researching Arnold before so I had put him to the bottom of the pile waiting for another day, and finally that day has arrived, and what a day (or three) it’s been! Make yourself a cuppa and settle down to read quite a nice little story about Arnold’s life – as I know it.

Originally I was at a loss as to what his surname was, I thought it was MITTON or WITTON but couldn’t find any reference to an Arnold of either surname in the NZ BMDs. When I first found this photo either it was before Papers Past arrived online or before I became aware of it. This time, after still having no luck in the BMDs I tried Papers Past and had five pages of hits turn up!

It seems the few years that Arnold was in NZ might not have been a very happy time for him, but let’s start at the beginning.

Arnold was born on the 28 Dec 1856, the son of the Reverend Joseph Mitton & his wife Ann née Barrett, Joseph was the Vicar of St John the Evangelist Church in Baildon, Yorkshire and Arnold was baptised there on the 14 Apr 1857. 

Arnold was living at home with his parents in the 1861 & 1871 census. In 1876 he was admitted into Peterhouse College at the Cambridge University, I’m not exactly sure what this all means but from his photo above it would seem he matriculated sometime later.

Then in 1877 we find him in Brussels, Belgium getting married to Louisa Thompson of Shipley, Yorkshire. Louisa was the daughter of Joseph & Margaret Thompson, baptised at Shipley on 8 Oct 1858, her father was a solicitor. They were both underage so this is the declaration they signed before Her Majesty’s Vice-Consul in Brussels on the 12 Jan 1877. I presume they did get married as I didn’t actually find the marriage itself.

After this they disappeared from the UK census and turned up on the 17 Apr 1878 living at 2 Windmill St, Sydney, Australia where they had ‘five white shirts’ stolen off their clothesline in broad daylight!

The following month they arrived in Otago, New Zealand on board the SS Harrington, 2nd cabin, on the 21 May 1878. Later that year or early 1879 he was appointed by the Committee of the Athenaeum & Mechanics’ Institute to the position of ‘Librarianship’, reported in the newspaper 11 Feb 1879.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then disaster struck! On the 24 May 1879 he was declared bankrupt and soon after he was more or less forced to resign his position. On the 26 Nov 1879 he was charged with three counts of embezzlement and was committed for trial, set down for the following Jan 1880. To cut a long story short he had been let out on bail at one of the hearings, by the time his trial started on the 7 Jan he had absconded and didn’t turn up! Two months later on the 15 Mar he was arrested in Timaru and remanded to Dunedin. On the 7 Apr the judge stood down from the case and so finally on the 23 Apr his case was heard and after deliberating for only ¾ of an hour the jury found him ‘Not Guilty’! This is just the shortened version, you can read the full story in Papers Past by searching on ‘Arnold Mitton’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr & Mrs Mitton immediately disappeared from NZ and soon after turned up back in Australia again, advertising a new private school for young children they were opening in South Yarra, Melbourne. Strangely I found Louisa Mitton living in England in the 1881 census, listed as married and working as a nurse in a hospital, but there was no sign of Arnold so it remains a bit of a mystery.

If it was Louisa in England in 1881 by 1883 she was back in Australia where she had three children, all born in Melbourne, Lionel born in Mar 1883 who died 11 weeks later, Pleasance Katharine born in 1884 and Guy Myddelton born in 1885. Then sadly Louisa died in Nov 1885 aged 27. When Arnold died in Jun 1910 he was aged 53, his death notice in the newspaper said he was the son of the late Rev Joseph Mitton, Vicar of Baildon and the father of Mrs Farrell and G M Mitton. So far no grandchildren found by me.

Oh yes, finally I deciphered all of the writing on the back of Arnold’s photograph and this is what it says:-

Arnold Mitton
Vide N.Z.P.G.  (see New Zealand Police Gazette)
January 28th 1880
Page 9

References: Papers Past; NZBDM Online; ancestry.com.au; Trove

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the MITTON family please do contact me, I would love to pass this 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

Allene Annie Ruddell 1900-1965

              

                       Subject: Allene, Elsie & Zoe
                       Date: 1918 
                       Photographer: T G Palmer, Cameron St, Whangarei
                       Found: Trade Me

No surname was written on the back of this lovely photo of three girls that I found on Trade Me. Thankfully Allene is not such a common name & I had two hits straight away when I searched Papers Past on ‘Allene Whangarei’. One was a court case that ‘Allene Annie Pollock’ was mentioned (innocent party) and the other was this In Memoriam, it seemed like a good place to start.

 

I looked for grandma in the NZBDMs online and found that she was Alexandrina Stewart who married Samuel Watts Ruddell in Auckland in 1864. Alexandrina was one of the original Nova Scotian pioneers. Samuel was a policeman in Auckland before they left to move to the Whangarei area of Parakao. There they reared their family of nine sons & two daughters (that I found).

One of their sons, George Kenneth, born 1870 later married Annie Gough in 1899 and their eldest daughter was Allene Annie born either late 1899 or 1900. I’m not sure of the year because I haven’t found a birth registration for her yet. However, I found an newspaper article about her marriage which gave the names of her parents.

 

 

 

George Kenneth & Annie Ruddell had the following children:-

Kathleen Hilda 1901
Star 1902
Cecil 1903
George Kenneth 1906
Elsie 1905 d 1905 aged 6 mths
Hugh Ross 1908
Elsie Rose 1911
Zoe abt 1914

Zoe doesn't show up on the NZBDMs online yet but presuming about 1914 as she was 3 years younger than sister Elsie Rose. Allene was born & reared in Mangakahia & was the postmistress at Pakotai for many years before her marriage. On 14 Feb 1920 she married Alexander Thomas Pollock in the school room of Pakotai School with the wedding breakfast being at the home of her parents.

 

During the course of my research as usual I went out on a limb and looked into Allene’s mother’s line, the Goughs. Annie, born 1877, was the daughter of Thomas Gane Gough & Mariana Patira. Thomas Gane was born in Timberscombe in Somerset & arrived in NZ when he was 18 years old. He was born in 1857 the son of Joseph Gough & Priscilla Sheppard Smith. Thomas had two brothers, John James & Joseph Orlando William. According to one of the articles I found in the newspapers Joseph first went to America but later joined his brother in NZ, the other brother John stayed in England. Joseph never married & he died in mysterious circumstances although the inquest verdict was ‘death from gastro-enteritis’.

 

 

 

The Ruddells, Pollocks & Goughs seem to be fairly well known in the North as there were frequent articles on any number of them in the newspapers I looked at. So I’m sure someone connected to either Allene or her sisters Elsie & Zoe would love to have the photograph go home again. I didn’t find out who Peggy was so maybe a friend, cousin or even her Aunty Margaret, sister of Allene’s father.

I found some information from this RootsWeb page that has details from a book titled ‘Parua Bay 100 years and more by W R Vallance’, lots of interesting stuff there.

Also, this article written last year about the Parakao School, not sure if it’s the same school though.

References: Papers Past; NZBDM Online; ancestry.com

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the RUDDELL or POLLOCK family please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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

The LEANING Family of Nelson

 

• Photographer: Tyree of Nelson

Could these two children be the son & daughter of Thomas & Elsie Leaning of Nelson? Possibly son Willis Robert Steven born 1910 and daughter Esther Mary Ellen born 1912?

I found Elsie Jane Leaning living at the above address in 1946 in the NZ Electoral Rolls, she was a widow with a son Eric Leslie living in the same house.

In the NZ BMDs I found Elsie Jane Way married to Thomas Steven Joseph Leaning in 1907. They had three children before the online cut off date of 1913 but from another family tree I found it seems they had at least another 8 children after 1913. So these two could be any of them really although just two of them suggests there were only two at that stage, the eldest son, Charlie Percy Thomas had died aged 1 yr in 1910.

From what I can gather Thomas & Elsie were living in Nelson after their marriage & probably up until Thomas died in 1937, she must have moved to Westport soon after.

References: ancestry.com, NZ BMDs

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the LEANING family please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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

Marjorie Melrose Burnett 1917-1999

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subject: Marjorie Burnett
Date: abt 1918
Photographer: Tyree, Nelson, NZ
Found: TradeMe

 

Here we have Marjorie Burnett, a cute little girl whose photo was taken by the well known Tyree photographers of Nelson, two brothers who operated from 1882-1924 and then under the Tyree Studio name until 1947.

 

 

 

There is no birth listed in the NZ BMDs for Marjorie Burnett before 1912 so I tried a search for anyone named Burnett married to a Hope and came up with this marriage:-

1915/7009    Ethel Hope Vaughan     Ernest Hillin Burnett

Then siblings of Ernest’s:-

NZ Births
1879/6229  Burnett John Edwin Thomas  Ellen Thomas Rock
1881/12435 Burnett James Richard  Ellen Thomas Roach
1884/17206 Burnett Clement Martin  Ellen Thomas Roach
1887/15358 Burnett Amelia Ellen  Ellen Thomas Roche
1890/11038 Burnett Fenton Montague  Ellen Thomas Rock
1890/11039 Burnett Ernest Hillin  Ellen Thomas Rock
1894/9934  Barnett Percy Casper  Ellen Thomas Roach

James Richard died in WWI in 1915 so that left four brothers who married:-

NZ Marriages
1909/1223 Margaret Jane Couch  John Edwin Thomas Burnett
1911/3976 Ada Bertha Win  Clement Martin Burnett
1916/1361 Barbara Dorothy  McRitchie Fenton Mont. Burnett
1920/6297 Muriel Edith Papps  Percy Casper Burnett

In the 1938 Electoral Roll I found Marjorie Melrose a spinster living in Thorpe, also living in Thorpe were John Edwin Thomas, wife Margaret Jane, Percy Casper & wife Muriel and Barbara Dorothy wife of Fenton Montague although he wasn’t listed. There was no other address other than ‘Thorpe’ so I still didn’t know who Marjorie’s parents were.

Then serendipity stepped in and in the middle of Googling names I came across this sentence on this website:-

Children of John and Margaret: Marjorie Melrose b. 28 Mar 1917 Richmond m. 8 Nov 1938 Trevor Steer b. 23 Dec 1908.
Hilda Jane b. 7 Jul 1920 Washington Valley, Nelson.

Marjorie Melrose Burnett married Trevor Steer in 1946 & is listed in various Electoral Rolls in the South Island until she passed away in 1999, her birthdate is listed as 28 Mar 1917, Trevor died in 1992.

References: Adrienne’s Website; ancestry.com; NZ BMDs; Papers Past.

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the BURNETT family please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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

Is this Lionel Alfred Skipworth 1897-1932

Subject: Lionel Skipworth
Date: WWI
Photographer: Ellerbeck Studio, Gisborne
Found: TradeMe

Here we have another little mystery to solve. This time a postcard photograph of a man in what looks like a WWI military uniform. I’m no expert on Army Uniforms but his hat looks to me like it might be the one known as the ‘lemon squeezer’, hard to tell really. I found some information on the Ellerbeck Studio in Gisborne, it was opened in 1902 by Lawrence Anderson Ellerbeck and most probably continued there until the Ellerbeck family moved to Wellington sometime between 1919 & 1928.

 

 

 

 

 

I Googled ‘75 Thorndon Quay’, which is in Wellington but there’s only a carpark there now! Beat may have been his sweetheart, or a cousin or just a friend, whoever she was she didn’t marry him!

Lionel survived the war and in 1922 he married Mary Marjoribanks. In the 1928 Electoral Roll they are listed as living at different addresses in Gisborne but at some stage they must have been living together as they had a baby in 1929, unfortunately the child was stillborn. As the online births only go up to 1912 I don’t know if they had any other children.

 

 

NZ Births
1929/27411    Skipworth    NR    Mary    Lionel Alfred    S

In the 1935 Electoral Roll Mary is listed as a widow, Lionel passed away earlier that year and Mary died in 1945 aged 47.

NZ Deaths
1932/11517 Skipworth Lionel Alfred 35Y
1945/16797 Skipworth Mary 47Y

Lionel doesn’t seem to have been born in NZ, I can find no birth registration for him. His mother was Margaret nee Ruddock, she married Alfred Skipworth in 1896 at the age of 38. Lionel was born about 1897, his parents were married in NZ so I don’t know why I can’t find a birth reg for him, there’s nothing under either Skipworth or Ruddock. Alfred & Margaret were living in Gisborne in 1900 but I can’t seem to find them together after that, they’re both living at various addresses in the region until Margaret died in 1933 aged 74. They don’t seem to have had any other children. However, we know by the above Cenotaph record that Margaret was his mother, she was living at the same address in 1919.

References: Early New Zealand Photographers; ancestry.com; NZ BMDs; Auckland Museum.

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the SKIPWORTH family please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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

Is this Thomas Bonsall & Frances Collins Skeats in 1898?

Subject: L Bonsall & wife
Date: late 19th century
Photographer: Arthur Robert Perry, 13 Wellington Place, Hastings
Found: eBay

First off I had to find out just which Hastings it was referring to as there is one in New Zealand as well as in Sussex in the UK. I thought most probably it was the UK seeing as I had found the photo on eBay and it was posted to me from England, but you never surmise anything in genealogy, right?

I found this nice little article on Arthur Robert Perry on the SussexPostCards.info website:-

Perry was born on January 19, 1866 at Holdenhurst near Throop on the northern edge of present day Bournemouth. His father was Robert Perry, a farmer, and his mother was Emily Perry, formerly Emily Wareham. He was the fifth of six children.
Robert Perry died aged 39 in 1873, leaving Emily to bring up the children at Holdenhurst on her own. The 1881 census describes 15-year-old Arthur as a photographer, but gives no indication as to where he worked.
On July 24 in 1890 Arthur married Elizabeth Emily Fisher at Lydney Parish Church in Gloucestershire. Elizabeth was the daughter of a tin plate worker, William Fisher. She worked as a national schoolteacher at Lydney, which was where she had been born, and was eight years older than Arthur. By this date, Arthur was already settled in Hastings, and continuing his career as a photographer. The 1891 census gives his address as 64 Mount Pleasant Road in Hastings and describes him as a photographer's assistant.
By 1893 Arthur Perry set up in business on his own account at 13 Wellington Place, taking over the studio and shop of Frederick Mann, who perhaps had previously been his employer. The 1901 census records that he and Elizabeth lived at 82 Mount Pleasant in Hastings, but by 1911 they moved to 3 Baldslow Road to a house called "The Brambles". They had no children.
Arthur Perry was still in business in 1924, but retired by 1927. He died at Christchurch in Hampshire in 1948, aged 82.

I’ve now established it was the UK and that Arthur Perry was in business from about 1893 to 1924, which is a rather large time frame in which the above photograph might have been taken. I would say before the turn of the century but I’m no expert!

So now I have to work out what the initial of Mr Bonsall is, is it an L or an S or maybe a T? After a few hours searching through the various census and not finding anyone in Hastings or anywhere in Sussex who would fit I tried FreeBMD, still nothing that jumped out at me! Luckily Bonsall is not that common a name but there were still a few named Isaac, Thomas & Samuel to choose from. In the end I think it was just fate that I found Thomas Bonsall in the 1911 census living in Croydon, Surrey aged 78. He said he had been married for 12 years which seemed like a short time for a man of his age which suggested a second marriage. He was a retired timber merchant but unfortunately his wife was not at home. Another few hours research brought me to this conclusion, as to whether it is correct is another matter!

Thomas Bonsall was born on 1 Mar 1833 and baptised 12 May in the St George the Martyr Church in Southwark, Surrey. His father was Thomas a shop-keeper in Union St, mother Ann.

I can find no sign of him or his parents & siblings in the 1841 or 1851 census. On the 11 Aug 1851 he married Elizabeth Harriet Dalton in Newington, Surrey. Over the next four census they were living mainly in London or Camberwell where they had at least four sons before Elizabeth died in the last quarter of1897. A year later in Dec 1898 Thomas married Frances Collins Kynaston nee Skeats in the St Luke’s Church, Camberwell. Frances had been previously married to Frank Kynaston in 1877 in Dorset.

In the 1901 census they are still living at the same address, 9 Elizabeth Tce, Camberwell along with ‘adopted son’ Robert Henry Kynaston aged 9 (his birth was registered in the 3qtr quarter of 1898).

On their marriage certificate they are both listed as widowed but wait, Frank Kynaston I found was still alive in 1901! Was Frances a bigamist? You wouldn’t say you were a widow if you were divorced would you?

By 1911 Thomas & Frances were living at different addresses, Thomas boarding in Croydon, aged 78, been married 12 years, a retired timber merchant. Frances was still in Camberwell with her son who is now ‘Robert Bonsall’, married 13 yrs had one child still living, she was living on ‘her own means’.

Thomas passed away later the same year and in the probate of his will he mentions only one son from his first marriage and the man he was boarding with in the census, no mention of Frances or Robert. I’ve found no death or remarriage for Frances although I did find that Robert died in France in WWI in 1917.

Frank Kynaston died in 1929 and the probate of his will mentions only two schoolteachers.

Thanks to Linda, whose husband is connected to the Skeats line, for all her help in sorting this out. Unfortunately none of it actually proves I have the right people for the photograph but it seems to me they make a very good match.

The man in the photo looks like he’s quite well to do and it could be that it was taken in Hastings while they were on their honeymoon in 1898, to me personally the woman in the photo looks to be a lot younger than him because she has no wrinkles yet! And he obviously had some descendants from the children with his first wife as the person who wrote on the back said ‘grandfather’.

The reason they were no longer living together could be that Thomas found out about Frances’ first husband still being alive, my own personal opinion though. Whatever the reason, it seems their marriage just didn’t work out, it might have been the rather large age difference.

References: sussexpostcards; ancestry.com; FreeBMD; familysearch.org; Commonwealth War Graves

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the BONSALL or SKEATS families please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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

Leslie Edwin Hill & Kathleen Agnes Cleghorn

We have lift off! With many thanks to Margaret Johnston & Angela Reynolds we’ve been able to identify the couple in the previously posted unidentified marriage group photograph titled ‘The Dorset Wedding’.

It turns out that the bride’s mother was Miriam Maud Matthews, (circumstantially) the sister of Mary Emily Matthews (wife of William Leslie Dorset) and the Aunt Emily the photograph was originally sent to for Christmas.

Miriam Maud Matthews married Arthur Cleghorn in 1882 and the rest is history!

NZ Marriages
1882/2995 Mariana Maude Mathews Arthur Cleyhorn (the spellings are theirs not mine)

Kathleen Agnes Cleghorn was born in 1886 and Leslie Edwin Hill was also born in 1886, his parents were Edwin James Hill and Clara Anita Aitken.

Leslie & Kathleen lived in Ballance near Pahiatua in 1928 but by 1938 had moved to Houto in the Kaipara area in Northland. That fits in with Helensville being the place I found the photograph originally.

I don’t know if they had any children, there is a Desmond Leslie Hill living in Houto in the 1954 census along with his wife Evelyn Violet. Desmond was born in 1926 so if he was their son they had him quite late in life, Kathleen would have been 40 by then.

Kathleen passed away in 1886 aged 69 and Leslie in 1962 aged 76, and they are buried in the Maunu Cemetery in Whangarei. Desmond & Evelyn are also buried in the same cemetery.

References: Papers Past; Wairarapa Archives; NZ BMDs.

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the HILL or CLEGHORN family please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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

The Dorset Wedding

Further to this wedding photograph I posted back on 23 Nov 2008:-

 

 

The Photographer, George Edwin Harvey, was in business for just a few short years in Pahiatua, from about 1911 to 1918 when he died. In trying to work out when this photo was taken I thought originally it was about the 1910 mark. It is possible that his business was taken over by someone else and they may have kept the name so the photograph could have been taken much later.

 

I think I may have been able to work out the family this photo belongs to although I can’t say for sure who the couple are. On the back is hand written:-

To Aunt Emily & Uncle Willie
With love from Kathleen & Leslie

That in itself didn’t really help me that much but further down written in very large letters in pencil it says:-

10 x 8 Mrs Dorset

Since 2008 the NZ Electoral Rolls have become available on ancestry.com so I searched for a Dorset family living in Pahiatua in the early part of the 20th century, and found a Willliam Leslie Richard Dorset who looked promising. I searched in the NZ BMDs and came up with William Leslie Dorset marrying Mary Emily Matthews in 1865, the parents of Wm Leslie Rd:-

DORSET Births in NZ
1866/15596 Dorset    Mary Charlotte       Mary Emily    William Leslie
1868/93      Dorset    William Leslie Richard Mary Emily    William Leslie
1869/38792 Dorset    Alice           Mary Emily    William Leslie
1871/41933 Dorset    Reginald           Mary Emily    William Leslie
1873/133    Dorset    Norah Hamilton       Emily Mary    William Leslie
1875/8238  Dorset    Norman           Mary Emily    William Leslie
1877/15089 Dorset    Mabel Mary Jane       Emily        William Leslie
1879/11266 Dorset    Olive Matthews       Emily        William Leslie
1881/3227  Dorset    Richard Mathews       Emily        William Leslie
1883/11309 Dorset    Margaret Richaline       Emily        William Leslie
1887/389     Dorset    Norman Hampton       Emily        William Leslie

It seems to me that Mary Emily was later known as just Emily so there we have a Willie & Emily who might possibly be the Aunt & Uncle the photograph was sent to. William was a sheep farmer in Mauriceville in the Wairarapa for many years, both he & Emily died in 1926 both aged 84.

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Attribution: Matthew25187 at en.wikipedia

It seems that perhaps a sibling of either William or Emily lived or married in Pahiatua and that one of their children sent the photograph as a Christmas gift.

So without going into further research to find out who Kathleen & Leslie are I’m going to leave it a that for the time being. I’m sure that will be enough for descendants of the Dorset family of Pahiatua to know who they are.

References:
ancestry.com; NZ BDM Records; Photographer’s Database Auckland Libraries

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the DORSET family please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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

William George Peacock Dyson 1898-1986

• Subject: Dr Dyson & his mother
• Date: early 1900s
• Photographer: Fouls & Hibberd, Seaforth, Oxton & Southport
• Found: eBay

I didn’t think I was going to have any luck in identifying these two people as this was all that was written on the back of the photograph:-

With love & best wishes for Xmas
Dr Dyson & mother
Leek

However, it turned out to be fairly easy after all. The UK Phonebooks have recently become available on ancestry.com and this is the first source I found when searching for any Dyson living in Leek (1940):-

As there was no other Dr Dyson living in Leek at any time that I could find I think maybe the following family is the right one.

William George Peacock Dyson was born in Horwich, Lancashire on 5 Sep 1898, his parents were John George Peacock Dyson and Ruth née Lawton. In the 1901 & 1911 census William was living at home in Horwich with his parents. By 1940 he had moved to Moorland House, Regent St, Leek, Staffordshire and in 1944 he married Mary Gailey Burnett.

William & Mary were still living at the same address when Mary passed away in 1977 and William in 1986. I can find no evidence of any children for them so that is probably why this lovely photograph turned up on eBay. However, William did have at least three siblings:-

Dorothy Mary Lawton Dyson born 1897
Ernest Thomas Benjamin Peacock Dyson born 1904
John Noel Peacock Dyson 1909

References:
ancestry.com; NZ BDM Records

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the DYSON family please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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

Gerald Gordon Briggs 1901-1964

Subject: Gerald Gordon Briggs
Date: abt 1923
Photographer: S P Andrew, 10 Willis St, Wellington
Found: TradeMe

Today’s lost photograph is of a good-looking man who turns out to be a barrister & solicitor of the Supreme Court in NZ, graduating in 1923:-

NZ University Graduates 1870-1961
BRIGGS Gerald Gordon Victoria Uni  Degree-LL.B. (bach of Law) 1923

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 24, 28 July 1923, Page 8
Mr G G Briggs, LL.B., of Wellington, was this morning admitted as a barrister & solicitor of the Supreme Court by the Chief Justice.

I presume the photograph was taken on the day of his graduation or very soon after.

Gerald Gordon Briggs was the third son of Charles & Sarah Briggs, born in 1901 in NZ. Sarah Power had previously married Charles Briggs in 1897.

In 1928 Gerald married Madge Elizabeth Black and they settled in 78 Orangi Kaupapa Rd, Wellington where they lived until at least 1935. By 1938 they had moved to 20 Hardley St, Hamilton where they resided until they passed away, Gerald in 1964 & Madge in 1967.

It doesn’t seem as though they had any children as there were no other people living at their address in any electoral roll up until 1981, but of course any children they may have had could just as likely have moved away from home before they were 21 and able to vote.

If they didn’t have any descendants then that could be the reason this lovely photograph turned up for sale. However, Gerald did have four siblings and perhaps there are descendants of theirs out there who would love to have this family photograph back.

NZ Births
1898/7386   Briggs    Charles Eardley     Sarah    Charles
1899/17557 Briggs    William Leslie        Sarah    Charles
1902/10231 Briggs    Ethel May              Sarah    Charles
1905/10259 Briggs    Lindsay Heathcote Sarah    Charles

References: Papers Past; NZ BDM Records

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

If anyone knows anything about or is connected to the Briggs family please do contact me, I would love to pass this photo onto a family member. 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