Do you have Huguenot ancestors? 

Yes? Then you will be interested to know that we added these new 
CD-ROMS to the family history collection this week. 

1 GEN REL HUG    Huguenot Families Numbers One to Twenty
4 ENG REL HUG   Consistory and Administrative Records c. 1560-1660
4 ENG REL HUG    Reg. of the French Church of Threadneedle St, London
4 ENG REL HUG    Reg. of the French Churches of La Patente & Saint Jean, Spitalfields
4 ENG REL HUG    Reg. of the French Churches of the Cities of London &  Westminster & of Spitalfields

4 ENG REL HUG    Reg. of the Walloon & Huguenot Churches of Canterbury, Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton & Stonehouse
4 ENG REL HUG    Reg. of the Walloon & Huguenot Churches of Norwich, Colchester, Thorney & Thorpe-le-Soken
4 IRL REL HUG      Reg. of the French Churches in Dublin & Portarlington, Ireland
5 EUR REL HUG    Reg. of the French Churches of Guisnes, Cadzand, Dover & Le Mans
6 AAM REL HUG    Naturalizations of Foreign Protestants in the American Colonies

To find more resources in the family history collection, type the word 'Huguenot' in the subject search box of the Classic Catalogue and limit the search to 'Heritage & Research' in the drop down menu.

Good luck with your search!

The Family History Team

Sometimes the journey depends on the strength of the passengers. Sir George Grey Special  Collections, AWNS-19230816-40-1.

The Knights depart London aboard Orvieto on 30 April 1927 bound for Australia:

UK, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 from Ancestry.com

Fremantle, Western Australia, Passenger Lists, 1897-1963 from Ancestry.com

New Zealand, Passenger Lists, 1839-1973 from Family Search.

Happy searching!

Karen & Maureen

This week Auckland Libraries is celebrating Samoan Language Week starting today through to 1 June 2014. The nationwide theme is ‘Taofimau i au measina’ or ‘Hold fast to your cultural treasures’. We have found some Samoan family history treasure!

Many of you reading this will use the subscription database, Ancestry.com on a fairly regular basis but how many of you ever refer to the card catalogue?

There are probably quite a number of records “hidden” away treasures that we are unaware of, and an example of this is some select records of baptisms (1805-1910) and burials (1895-1970) for Samoa. To access these, click on “card catalog” which is in the lower left-hand side of the Ancestry.com Home Page.  Enter Samoa as a keyword and you will have a selection of record sets including these select baptism and burial records.

The entries on Ancestry are only transcripts but do give a (FamilySearch) film number and are included in the catalogue entries for films held at the Central Auckland Research Centre - the desk staff are always available if you require any assistance.

The Ancestry.com database it is accessible through Auckland Libraries Digital Library from within any of the 55 libraries for free.

Marie Hickey

If you – or your ancestor – was a bright young thing in 1940s Auckland, chances are the name El Rey might ring a few bells.

The El Rey Country Club was a nightclub operated out of an Arts and Crafts style house on Hillsborough Road in what was then still farmland. The location was panoramic, set amidst acres of bush and with gorgeous views out across the Manukau Harbour to South Auckland. Equally as panoramic, it might be said, were the goings on in the El Rey itself. It came under the eye of the law for illegally serving liquour several times, and regularly featured in the Auckland Star’s Lost and Found column:

“Topaz ring in the vicinity of the El Ray, substantial reward.”
“Watch, gold, ladies between El Rey and Devonport.”
“A five pound reward for the return of a diamante evening bag and contents, lost or taken by mistake at the El Rey.”
“A raincoat, marine officer’s, between Farmers and the El Rey night club. Reward”
“Watch, wrist, chromium with brilliants, El Rey Saturday night. Reward.”
“Fur cape, brown velvet, New Year’s Eve between Grand Hotel and El Rey.”
 (All from Papers Past)

Visiting American soldiers, aka “bedroom commandos,” also added glamour to the scene. As noted in The Encyclopedia of New Zealand Te Ara, they flocked to the El Rey and other clubs “where they could dine on steak and drink whisky as a swing band played the latest hits of Glenn Miller.”  If you did fancy dance music and couldn’t make the trek out to Mt Roskill on a Saturday night, 1YA would relay the dance music on the wireless.

Interestingly, Te Ara also reports that the El Rey was a favourite club of the intrepid Admiral Richard E Byrd who used NZ as a base for his Antarctic explorations.

Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19400410-41-1

The El Rey ran from 1934 to 1944. In 1944 the Americans had gone back home, and the house and land was subsequently sold with plans to use it as a rest home. But only six years later, the land was subdivided and the house sold again. This time to the Presbyterians who planted a new church - St David’s in the Fields. The congregation soon built a hall alongside the house, with plans to one day knock down the old den of iniquity, turn-of-the-century house, and erect a brand new church. That never eventuated, and so, the former El Rey nightclub lived on– albeit these days as a church office and Sunday school rooms.

Joanne

The UK family history magazine “Your Family History” was rebranded late last year as Discovery Your History and yippee, we have a subscription to it. Whereas “Your Family History” was more dedicated to genealogy, the new publication promotes itself as “Ancestors, Heritage, Memories.” Even just flicking through a couple of issues (namely the late arriving issues of September and October) shows that there is going to be some great browsing material over the coming months.

The issues are packed with treats, such as an article on the New Zealander Archie McIndoe, who pioneered plastic surgery in World war two – the article focuses on the town of East Grimstead, West Sussex, where his patients, the ‘guinea pigs” lived. (He is held in such esteem in the town they are going to unveil a statue of him there this year.)

January 2014 issue

There’s an article on the London Underground – it turned 150 last year – and also on the subject of  travel, a lively piece on The Perils of Travel in Jane Austen’s day and how this most beloved author may have travelled –  she apparently got around England far more than most women did of the time.

Food – oh my gosh, who can possibly go past an article on food – especially an article on biscuits, with an interesting 1854 recipe for a “brown digestive” from the digestion-obsessed Victorian era. Not sure I’m game enough to try that one, even if my British ancestors may have enjoyed them.

But one of the most fascinating articles is on Port Sunlight in Merseyside, North West England  – the “industrial garden village” created by William Lever (the inventor, with his brother Darcy, of Sunlight soap). William wanted to create a beautiful village for his employees to live in, with Arts & Crafts styled houses, welfare provision, and facilities like a training college -and thus he founded the village of Port Sunlight. Last year Port Sunlight celebrated 125 years – ¾ of the properties are now privately owned, although almost all buildings are “listed” and the village is a conservation area managed by a trust set up by Unilever. Fascinating!

If you’re in the research centre, do take a look at publications like “Discover Your History” – some of these magazines are not available as borrowable copies, but they are jam packed with information about things British - and entertaining to boot.

Joanne