Newsletter
Convenor: John Graham 871 8986
Email: jmrg@xtra.co.nz
Te Awamutu
Branch
No 199
Secretary/Treasurer:
Sandra Metcalfe 871 3250
Email: Metcalfe@wave.co.nz
Editor at large: John Graham
Email: jmrg@xtra.co.nz
October 2009
Te Awamutu Website: www.teawamutu.net/genealogy
New Zealand Society of Genealogists Inc. www.genealogy.org.nz
Meetings are held in the Parish Lounge at St John's Anglican Church, Arawata Street
(parking off George Street), Te Awamutu, at 7.30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each
month – February to December. Visitors are most welcome.
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Next Meeting: Tuesday 6 October: Many of you will be familiar with the TV
programme Heir Hunters. Our October speaker started his career over 50 years ago as
an "heir hunter" in the Public Trust office so it was interesting to read in a recent
Herald on Sunday article about the role of the Public Trust in tracking down the
relatives of those who die intestate. And even more interesting to read that today's
version of the Public Trust "heir hunters" are called genealogists and they get paid to
do what they love! As a solicitor of over 50 years standing, there is little that Eoin
Morrison hasn't come across when it comes to wills. Eoin's stories will help explain
some of the fascination that wills hold for genealogists. We will also have some
interesting examples of wills available at the meeting for you to peruse.
At the November meeting Ken Glew will talk on DNA
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Convenor’s Corner:
Katherine O’Reagn’s presentation at our last meeting was insightful as far as a snap
shot of New Zealand history associated with soap making by her great grandfather
John Newton, Soap Manufacturer, Caledonian Soap Works, Kaiwarra, Wellington.
Mr. Newton, who hails from Glasgow, had thirty-seven years experience in the soap
trade. He arrived in Wellington in 1885, bringing a complete soap-making plant direct
from his native city, where he had long been in business. The leading brands turned
out at the Caledonian Soap Works were known as Borns' A1, made in tablets and
bars, and Newton's Perfection Soap, both of which were registered. With the advent of
the multi-nationals moving in on the scene it became difficult to compete, so the
business closed its doors.
We wish Maurice and June safe travelling as they head back to the UK to live and
genealogical research will be on their doorstep!
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 199 – October 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
Page: 1
Wendy & I have recently been on a back country trip to heartland New Zealand which
is steeped in history. Mangakino to Whangamomona via the centre of the North
Island in the Pureora forest, then down into Taranaki travelling around the mountain
in a clockwise direction (we think it was there in the clouds). On the Sunday morning
we confirmed that Mt Egmont/Taranaki does exist as it stood out majestically for a
couple of hours.
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We are very pleased to inform you that our system has now been updated with the
2009 UK Electoral Roll.
With 6.5 million more records added, it is now even easier to find who you are
looking for on ukphonebook.com.
To search the Electoral Roll, all you need to do is:
 Enter a name and location (or just a name).
 Select the person you are looking for from the list of results.
Visit www.ukphonebook.com now to see who you can find on our Electoral Roll
Search.
A note of caution, you will have to buy credits
Thanks to Margaret Main for sending this article and the next one
SCHOOL RECORDS
Back to School - Introducing historic School Registers on Familyrelatives.com
New and exclusive to Familyrelatives.com - The most recent additions to our ever expanding
collection are the School registers to over 120,000 pupils and masters dating back to 1500.
The list is comprised of major schools which are among the oldest of independent educational
establishments in the United Kingdom, such as Sherborne School which was founded in 710 and
re-founded in 1550 by Edward VI. The young King, a keen reformer, took an interest in
establishing a system of grammar schools through endowments providing free education for the
talented poor. The charitable concept of education for scholars of limited means gradually
changed over the centuries to that of education for gentlemen entering the military, church and
professions.
The term Public Schools is often confusing especially where Americans consider Public Schools
to be government or state sponsored education available to all. The distinction is that the British
Public School system was available to anyone who could afford it and was independent of the
State.
It became a part of the structure to instill service to the Crown and Empire and provide future
rulers for the nation and administrators for the Empire. Although with many detractors, the
excellent all-round education provided by the British Public School system is envied by other
countries and has been successfully exported across the world.
Many of the schools now available online are famous for their traditions and rich history as well
as the famous pupils they turned out most notably the war time leader Winston Churchill, the
first Prime Minister of modern day India - Jawaharlal Nehru and the great explorer of the
Antarctic Sir Ernest Shackleton with a host of former and current British Peers and members of
Parliament, as well as future Monarchs and members of foreign royal families. There are Victoria
Cross holders, famous individuals and many leaders in the arts, sciences and business.
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 199 – October 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
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Many Public School pupils decided to study at the universities that existed in the early 1800s but
in the 1900s many former alumni were called to Military service and distinguished themselves.
The registers are fully searchable and provide a useful resource. They are exceptionally well
detailed and usually give the surname, father's name, address, birth date, date of death. School
and University education, School sports teams, qualifications or profession, Military service and
achievements.
A spokesman for Familyrelatives.com added "We are pleased to be releasing this dataset as the
School Registers provide a useful source of quality detail to family historians in their research.
This is a growing dataset and more School and Alumni registers will be added to the records
online".
The collection is part of over 650 million historic records available online to all members and
visitors by way of an annual subscription of only £30.00 or US$50.00 at
www.familyrelatives.com
Familyrelatives.com has recently added
School Registers Collection
The Great Landowners of Great Britain and Ireland 1883
Burkes Landed Gentry of Great Britain
London Marriage Licences 1521-1946
Directory of Directors 1897-1946
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Spotted in the New Zealand herald
Where would a gardener be if there were no more weeds?
Chuang Tzu
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 199 – October 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
Page: 3
Some old occupation names
ALE-CONNER / ALE FOUNDER - official who tested quality and measure of ale
served in public houses
ALE DRAPER - seller of ale
ALE TASTER - tested ale and beer for quality first recorded in 1377 in London.
Appointed by the Manor and forerunner of the Inspector for Weights & Measures
ALE TUNNER - employed by the brewery to fill ale casks (tuns} with ale
ALEWIFE - woman tavern-keeper
ALL SPICE - name for a grocer
BELLEYETERE - bellfounder
BELLFOUNDER / BELTER / BILLITER - made bells
BELL HANGER - installed bells in churches
BELLMAN - employed as a watchman or town crier or who worked for the post
office and collected letters for the mail coach by walking the streets and
ringing a bell
BELLOWFARMER - responsible for the care and maintenance of the church organ
BELLOWS MAKER - made bellows used for organs or blacksmiths fires
BELLY BUILDER - built and fitted the interiors of pianos
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From RootsWeb's Weekly E-zine
MAILING LISTS: More Than Names and Places
If you are like most genealogists you search by surnames and localities. While
RootsWeb offers thousands of mailing lists on all sorts of topics, there are some
excellent mailing lists pertaining to other categories, such as
how to operate and get the most out of genealogy software. Among the popular
genealogy software programs with mailing lists devoted to them are: AFT, BK, FTM,
LEGACY, PAF, ROOTSMAGIC, and TMG, plus various other
software-related topics available. If you want to get the most out of your family tree
software programme then check them out at:
http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/other/Software/
CITING ELECTRONIC SOURCES
“Genealogy without sources is mythology”.
A great misconception of family tree
hobbyists is that citing sources is only for
professional or "serious" genealogists, and if
you are doing genealogy for fun or "just for
your family" you don't need to bother.
Wrong - unless, of course, you have lots of
time and money to waste (so you can do the
same research over and over again because
you don't know where you have looked or
where you found the information) or if you
don't care whether your genealogy is as
accurate as possible and worth being passed
along as a gift to your descendants so they
can continue the work without reinventing
the wheel. One of the most difficult
concepts about genealogical research for
many to grasp and accept is that when you
are citing sources you should use YOUR
sources -- not your cousins' and not
someone else’s. Always cite the source that
you actually used, not the one that someone
told about or the one someone else makes a
reference to. If Cousin Jack tells you that he
obtained your mutual grandfather's birth
information from a census, then your cousin
is your source for that information.
However, if you examine the census
yourself, then it is your source and not
Cousin Jack.
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 199 – October 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
Page: 4
Here are three examples of methods of citing sources correctly:
E-MAIL. Author. (author's e-mail address) "Subject Line." Date of post.
Personal e-mail. (Date read).
Example: Andrec, Mike. andrec@glyco.chem.yale.edu "New England School
of Bandura." 18 April 1996. Personal e-mail. (19 April 1996).
WEBSITE. Author (if known). "Title" (Main title if applicable). Last
date updated or revised (if known). (URL) (date accessed).
Example: Ignatius. "To the Trallians." Early Church Documents (circa
96-50 A.D.). 1994.
http://listserv.american.edu/catholic/church/fathers/ignatius/igntrl.txt (20 June 1996).
MAILING LIST. Author (if known). (author's e-mail address) "Subject
Line." Date of post. (mailing list address) (date accessed).
Example: Tracz, Orysia. tracz@cc.umanitoba.ca "Shevchenko in Love."
1 May 1996. ukes-social@sema.crl.mcmaster.ca (23 June 1996).
See also the following articles by Drew Smith:
"Citing Messages"
http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/gencomp/2707.asp
"Citing the Sites"
http://www.ancestry.com/library/view/gencomp/2719.asp
as well as: Citing Sources topic at Cyndi's List:
http://www.cyndislist.com/citing.htm
SOURCE OR EVIDENCE: What's the difference?
 Source is the means by which information comes to a researcher.
 Evidence is the physical form in which information is presented to the senses.
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Image Viewers - www.faststone.org
FastStone image Viewer - an image
browser, converter and editor that
supports all major graphic formats
including BMP, JPEG, JPEG 2000,
GIF, PNG, PCX, TIFF, WMF, ICO and
TGA. It has a nice array of features such
as image viewing, management,
comparison, red-eye removal, emailing,
resizing, cropping, colour adjustments,
musical slideshow and much more. If
you don’t have Photoshop or Photoshop
Elements on your computer, this could
be a good substitute.
Also FastStone Photo Resizer.
Another freeware programme that
enables digital images to be converted,
renamed, resized, cropped, rotated, text
added, watermarks etc
Tip: Do you realize that FreeBMD
shows 10,987 deaths in the GRO
indexes with the surname ‘Senior’.
There are also 775 marriages and 645
deaths in the indexes with the surname
‘Bachelor’. Can’t find the person you
are looking for? Try searching under
Senior or Bachelor in the indexes. You
may be surprised!
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 199 – October 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
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