Newsletter
Convenor: John Graham 871 8986
Email: jmrg@xtra.co.nz
Secretary/Treasurer:
Sandra Metcalfe 871 3250
Email: Metcalfe@wave.co.nz
Te Awamutu
Branch
No 198
September 2009
Editor at large: John Graham
Email: jmrg@xtra.co.nz
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 1 September, Katherine O’Regan will be our guest speaker.
Katherine is a Waikato person through and through; she represented Waipa as Member
of Parliament and held ministerial appointments during her time there. Her topic is ‘The
history of soap making in New Zealand’ – “My great grandfather’s role in it”. This will
be of interest for all you Wellington folks.
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Convenor’s Corner:
Thank you to all who attended the mid winter pot luck dinner and what a dinner it was.
The ‘gramophone’ was wound up and the music flowed with the following: My old
man’s a dustman, O mien papa, You’ll never walk alone, Northern lights of Aberdeen,
You got your troubles, Song of the Volga boatman, Ag Pleez Deddy, March of the
Toreadors, I don’t like Mondays and Born Free. Winifred Atwell ‘played’ around the
world in eighty tunes during dinner. Steph and Bruce jived to their music but none else
joined them on the floor.
Items of clothing were on display and in some cases modelled – see photos on page two.
An enjoyable evening was had by all.
There still are some subscription renewals outstanding
A reminder that fiche readers are located in the Te Awamutu library for general public
use. For good viewing it is suggested you use them earlier in the day before the sun
streams through the front window.
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 198 – September 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
Page: 1
A selection of items of clothing displayed at the last meeting
The black embroidered net cape belonged to Henrietta
Jackson, Vic Smart's maternal grandmother, who was
born in Cropston, Leicestershire in 1852, the daughter
of a shepherd. She had a family of 3, the younger
daughter and only son came to NZ between 1912 &
1915. Henrietta had 16 grandchildren but never saw 11
of her NZ grandchildren. In March 1943, she was the
oldest living inhabitant in Anstey, near Leicester, aged
91. She had lived in one Anstey house for 57 years.
When she died in 1944 her eldest NZ grandson was on
leave in England so was able to attend the funeral.
When Vic & I & our daughter visited England in 1990
the Cape was given to us as there was no living
granddaughter in England. Joyce Smart
Ngaire Phillips showed off her mother’s swim suit (right)
from the dim distant past. It was a woollen garment
On the left Ngaire is wearing the swim suit,
probably in the 60’s or 70’s
Thank you Ngaire for sharing this
Copy of a mans’ nightshirt of the time, which was hand
sewn by Mary J Ford, aged about 18 years, whilst she
was studying to become a school teacher at Norwich
College in England in about 1887.
Mary Ford is Wendy Graham’s maternal great grand
mother
More photos and stories will be in the next newsletter
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 198 – September 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
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Thank you to June and Maurice for sending in this website about Genealogical Early
Occupations. For example did you know a BOLTER = sifted meal?
http://www.familyhistory101.com/encyclopedia/job.html#T
Inventory of CDs available to members
Title & Details
No of
Disks
The Lancashire 1891 Census
39
CD Pack of Acrobat files containing fiche images with street
and area indexes.
Paper copy of how to install and navigate.
Published by S & N British Data Archive Ltd
The London 1891 Census
39
CD Pack of Acrobat files containing fiche images with street
and area indexes.
Paper copy of how to install and navigate.
Published by S & N British Data Archive Ltd.
New Zealand Electoral Roll 1893
1
First time women were allowed to vote.
Published by New Zealand Society of Genealogists
Convict Connections
1
Paper copy of instructions on installation.
Published by Members of the Genealogical Society of
Queensland, Australia
Waipa District Council – Cemetery Information
1
Spreedsheet alphabetically by surname
Irish Web Sites – Version 1
1
Published by Irish Interest Group (Waikato) NZSG Hamilton
Irish Web Sites – Version 2
1
Paper copy of how to install and navigate.
Paper copy of Irish Family History Research – Where do I
begin?
Published by Irish Interest Group (Waikato) NZSG Hamilton
World War 1 Personnel CD 2nd Edition
1
New Zealand Society of Genealogist Inc
New Zealand Marriages 1836 – 1956 Version 2
1
Published by NZSG
New Zealand Electoral Roll – 1881
1
Published by NZSG
Anderson’s Bay Cemetery, Dunedin – to 2004
1
New Zealand Burial Locator – Version 2
1
Published by NZSG
Genealogical Research Directories 1994 to 2007
1
Waikato Times B,D & M’s 1864 – 1900
1
Published by Jeni Palmer
Waikato Militia
1
Published by Jeni Palmer
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 198 – September 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
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List of Family Tree Magazine CDs
Family Tree Magazine – August 2004
Contains: Complete Reading 1891 Census; Hampshire Parish Records Volume 1;
Back Issue – August 1990; RootsMagic V2 Demo
Family Tree Magazine – September 2004
Contains: Comple Gateshead 1871 Census; Cornwall Parish Records Volume 1; Back
iddur – September 1991; Legacy 5 Demo
Family Tree Magazine – October 2004
Contains: Complete Preston 1871 Census; Gloucestershire Parish Records Vol 1; Back
Issue – October 1992; Family Historian Demo
Family Tree Magazine - November 2004
Contains: Complete Westminster 1901 census: Norfolk parish records Vol 1,
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FREE BMD TIP from Roy Stockdill
Here's a useful little tip for when you are searching at the FreeBMD website for the
entries of births, marriages and deaths of relatives, etc. This is particularly useful for
those running one-name studies but it can also work for ordinary family historians if they
want to identify possible relatives with an unusual surname where it was used as a
middle name, i.e. possibly the name of a mother or grandparent, etc. If you enter nothing
at all in the surname field but enter in the first name field a surname with a + sign in
front of it, this produces entries in which the name was used either as a forename or a
middle name.
To give you an example - Entering just "Stockdill" in the first name field produces only
ONE entry, for a child called Stockdill Middlebrook registered in 1896 at Dewsbury. But
if I enter "+Stockdill" in the first name field, nothing in the surname field and choose All
Types, this produces NINE other entries for births, marriages and deaths where Stockdill
was given as a middle name. I can then identify all of these as being either relatives of
mine or linked to my one-name study. Remember, it's important to put the plus sign
before the name and the more unusual the surname the better the chance you have of
finding the entries. Looking for people with Smith as a middle name will not be very
helpful!
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UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS: A GREAT NEW FEATURE! It is from a
Lost Cousins newsletter in 2007/08.
Until recently the only people you could enter on your My Ancestors page at the
LostCousins site were your relatives - but in January we introduced the 'Neighbours'
feature, to allow you to make contact with descendants of your ancestors' neighbours.
From today you can also enter servants, apprentices, and other workers who were living
in the same household as your relative(s). You can do this whether your relative was
another servant - or whether it was your relative who was the employer.
Click the Search button and we'll not only look for your cousins, but also for living
relatives of the servants you've entered.
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 198 – September 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
Page: 4
If your relative was employed by someone rich or famous there could be records that
have survived to this day. But even if it was a humbler household the opportunity to link
with someone whose ancestor lived with yours opens up all sorts of possibilities.
During 2008 we'll be publishing some of the best stories told to us by members who
have found the descendants of servants, fellow servants, or their masters and mistresses.
BOARDERS, LODGERS, AND VISITORS
Over 1% of the people entered on the 1881 Census were visiting the
household where they spent census night. Some will have been relatives, perhaps distant
ones, of the family - others may simply have been friends.
But experience has shown that when you're researching a particularly difficult line
following up on leads like this can work miracles. Perhaps the visitor, though not shown
as a family member, was actually a cousin?
Maybe the visitor later married into the family? Or could he or she have been a life-long
friend, perhaps one who was a witness at the couple's wedding?
Boarders and lodgers can also provide clues - perhaps they worked in the same
occupation, or even for the same employer? Maybe they came from the same village?
Over 5% of the people recorded on the 1881 Census were shown as boarders or lodgers.
Whilst many will have had no connection with the family they lived with either before or
after the census there will be a proportion who did.
You can now enter boarders, lodgers, and visitors who were staying with you relatives
on census night. Who knows what you might discover by making contact with their
living relatives?
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Live! Interviews on TV
Interviews recorded by American-based Roots Television at the Who Do you Think you Are?
Live! Show are now online. They include leading figures from the world of family history, such as
Paul Blake, Roy Stockdill, Else Churchill, Chris Pomery, Maggie Loughran, Josh Hanna and
Colin Chapman.
Watch the interviews at www.rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php by clicking on
the WDYTYA Live! 2007 icon
From Ancestors, August 2007, page 59
Surname site improves
Visitors to the British Surnames Profiles site at www.britishsurnames.co.uk should find it more
user friendly following a redesign. The site publishes data from University College London’s
CASA surname Profiler at www.spatial-literacy.org/UCLnames
Improvements include putting both modern and 1881 census surname distribution maps on the
same page for easy comparison, and the addition of a meaning / etymology for many surnames.
A “browse by region” option provides lists of surnames with the highest likelihood of being found
in one of 120 towns or cities across Great Britain.
From Ancestors, August 2007, page 58
Thank you to Sandra for providing these articles
Te Awamutu Branch NZSG # 198 – September 2009
Disclaimer: All efforts are made to ensure the information published is accurate
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