Sir George Grey Special Collections, AWNS-19360506-45-4

Do you have any family members who had/have wedding anniversaries, or died between 1934 and 1970? If so, have you checked The New Zealand Herald anniversaries and death notices 1939 – 1970 [microform] : index & transcriptions slips? You may just locate information that you have previously missed.

The names index was extracted from more than 22,000 handwritten transcriptions of death and anniversary notices. The second part of this resource contains the microfiched transcription slips.

The transcription slips contain the full text and date of the notice as it appeared in the newspaper. Usually the names of the people involved are included as well as a date and place. Sometimes there is even a reference to another source of information that may be followed up on later.

Often five or more people are named in an anniversary transcription slip. All of these names have been included in the index. There are over 100,000 individuals indexed, of which about 62,000 names are those of couples married. There may be more transcription slips connected to a marriage, for example when there is a notice for a couple’s silver wedding anniversary as well as one for their golden wedding anniversary.

The microfiche includes a guide on how to use the resource, including a key to abbreviations used in the transcriptions and the principles the compilers followed when putting the names of people in alphabetical order.

Have a look … You never know what (or who) you might find!

The 1995 edition of the index and transcription slips is held at the Central Auckland Research Centre; the South Auckland Research Centre and the West Auckland Research Centre hold a 2004 edition (updated with minor amendments).
Lynn (South Auckland Research Centre)

Sir George Grey Special Collections, AWNS-19021113-2-1

In 1902 the SS Ventnor sank off the Hokianga coast with the remains of 499 Chinese people on board. It had left Wellington just two days before. The bodies were being returned on the Hong Kong bound vessel to their families to be buried in accordance with Chinese tradition.

The SS Ventnor had been hired by the Admiralty to carry a standard cargo of coal from Westport to Hong Kong but was also under charter to the Cheong Shing Tong Society. This Society was concerned with Chinese immigrants from the Poon Yue area in the Guandong Province of southern China, particularly the poor and the elderly, and operated under the leadership of prominent Dunedin businessman Choie Sew Hoy.

Choie Sew Hoy, about 1895

Choie Sew Hoy died in 1901. In 1883 the Cheong Shing Tong Society had exhumed and returned to China the bodies of 230 miners, so it was natural for his son Kum Poy Sew Hoy to arrange for the Society to return his father, along with many others, to his ancestral home.

The Auckland Star, 30th October 1902

Just after midday on the day of departure the SS Ventnor struck a submerged reef just off Cape Egmont. Wellington didn’t have the facilities to repair the vessel so it carried on to Auckland with water starting to enter the ballast tanks and at the entrance to Hokianga Harbour the order to abandon ship was given.

Nigel Sew Hoy, Great-Great grandson of Choie Sew Hoy wrote in 2007:

When Kum Poy Sew Hoy received the sad news, he immediately engaged people to search the area. A canvas bag of bones was found washed up on Ninety Mile Beach in the Far North. This was sent to China as the only remains. The rest of Ventnor's unusual cargo was not recovered. A court of inquiry ruled that the Captain had been negligent and incompetent and responsible for the wreck because of his poor navigation around Cape Egmont. (Bananas NZ Going Global International Conference 18-19 August).

Nigel and his family hoped to be able to carry out their grandfather’s dream to have the Ventnor salvaged, the bones identified and returned to China.

The location of the ship remained a mystery until December 2012 when, after a search of three years, it was found by documentary producer John Albert, assisted by charter boat owners John and Linda Pattinson and underwater explorer Keith Gordon. A recent article from the New Zealand Herald explains the story and highlights the importance of the find to ties between China and New Zealand.

For more on the SS Ventnor read the article 'The mysterious wreck of the coffin ship', pages 160-161, in Secrets & treasures: our stories told through the objects at Archives New Zealand, available for loan from Auckland Libraries.

Bridget

This week is Samoan language week and the theme for 2014 is Taofi mau i au measina: Hold fast to your treasures.

Here in the Central Auckland Research Centre, we do indeed hold fast to our treasures and what better motivation can you have to begin researching your Samoan family history research?

If you search our classic catalogue using the "call number" 3 SAM you will see have a large Samoan family history collection, consisting largely of microfilm - filled with information for the researcher.

Our resources for Samoa include what was formerly Western Samoa and also American Samoa.

The microfilms contain registers starting from around1852 and some going right up till 1993, with titles such as:

• Births within the district of the British Consulate at Samoa, 1852- 1915
• Delayed registrations of births for Western Samoa, 1948-1993
• Marriage licenses and certificates, 1900-1968
• Death certificates, 1900-1972

As well as births, deaths and marriages the records also cover wills and probates, genealogies and pedigrees, immigration records, and published family histories.

The records also cover Europeans as well as Samoans - and cover periods of German and British occupation, as well as New Zealand and American.

So please look at our catalogue - "call number" 3 SAM - to see what we have, or else pop in and see our friendly research librarians on the second floor of Central Library.

Happy hunting

Seonaid



Image from StonePics website



The Central Auckland Research Centre has a brand new collection of 60 CD-Roms from StonePics who have been photographing cemeteries and headstones of The Czech Republic since 2003. This collection, Cemeteries of the Czech Republic contains over 81,000 names on a searchable database, many also important to German genealogy research.

Three CD-Roms contain records from Prague’s Vysehrad National Cemetery which was established in the 15th century next to the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. Many famous Czechs have been laid to rest there including Antonin Dvorak, Bedrich Smetana, Jan Neruda and Karel and Jozef Čapek.

A further 57 CD-Roms record headstones from Prague’s Olsanske Cemetery. This large complex of cemeteries includes Jewish and Orthodox cemeteries and graves of soldiers killed in both WWI and WWII. Olsanske Cemetery covers fifty hectares and according to some estimates, two million people have been buried there.

This is an amazing welcome addition to our family history collection.


LR

New Zealand Historic BDMs are searchable online.

• Births that occurred at least 100 years ago
• Stillbirths that occurred at least 50 years ago
• Marriages and eventually Civil Unions that occurred 80 years ago
• Deaths that occurred at least 50 years ago or the deceased's date of birth was at least 80 years ago

• Vol 1 BDMs from the New Zealander 1845 -1866
• Vol 2 Thames Newspapers 1869-1909
• Vol 3 NZ Herald 1863 -1880
• Vol 4 Daily Southern Cross 1843 -1876
• Vol 5 Index of names of soldiers who died in WWI and whose pictures were published in the Auckland Weekly News.