The old adage about putting flesh on the skeleton used by genealogists reinforces the beauty of using local histories when building a picture of your family.

Heritage et al recently blogged about the most recent winners of the J. M. Sherrard award in New Zealand regional and local history.

The ultimate award went to Robert Peden for his book, Making sheep country: Mt Peel Station and the transformation of the tussock lands (Auckland University Press, 2011). Writing on early agriculture, “the economic and ecological transformation of New Zealand”, the information on the early high country sheep farmers and the decisions they made about where they, and how they, farmed provides social context to those others farming in nineteenth century New Zealand. Although focussing on Mt Peel station and John Acland’s experience of establishing large-scale sheep farming, what Mr Acland went through could easily provide the background for a family historian’s understanding of how life was for their own ancestor. As written in the book’s preface, “Acland’s story is in many ways typical of the experiences of his fellow pastoralists.”

Making sheep country : Mt Peel Station and the transformation of the tussock lands by Robert Peden

Another winner from the J. M. Sheerard awards for 2010-2013 was David Verran’s book on the North Shore, The North Shore : an illustrated history (Auckland, N.Z. : Random House, 2010).

This book is also an excellent example of how you can glean a picture of the way your ancestor lived through studying the local history. One of the chapters is on boatbuilding and the various boat yards that existed. Described are these various yards, their owners and how they operated; “At about the same time that the Holmes family was building the Waitemata, George Beddoes’ shipyard was constructing a schooner and three cutters. Other work this yard undertook included the repairs and alterations to a paddle steamer. It was this shipyard that built the paddle steamer Devonport in 1870, the first timber and steel ship built in New Zealand.”

Bailey and Lowe's boatbuilding yard at Sulphur Beach, Northcote Point, around 1910. The North Shore : an illustrated history by David Verran

Auckland Libraries holds a large and varied collection of local histories from throughout the wider Auckland region to around the country. You can search our catalogue under the name of the area to see what we have in our collection.

Bridget

The local church has been a feature of the New Zealand landscape for decades but that landscape is changing as dwindling congregations are forcing churches to reconsider the practicality of staying viable.

A church in point was the recent  sale of Castor Bay Presbyterian on Auckland’s North Shore .  The ageing membership combined with decreasing numbers meant the congregation had to make the decision that it could no longer stay open. 

The process of selling the church was in this case simplified by there being no graves on site, nor historical/heritage classifications on the buildings.

While the parish itself may no longer exist,  there are, fortunately for the family history researcher, memories that have been compiled by parishioners over the years. Castor Bay Presbyterian is one such church. 

In 1983 it published a brief history, “Fifty Years in Good Soil” which related the history of the church up until that point, while harking back to the 1930s when the Rev Morgan Richards, a retired Presbyterian minister began an unofficial ministry to the residents.

While your ancestors may have had no devout affiliation with a denomination that you are aware of, it is possible they may have had a connection to the local church, given it was such a social as well as spiritual focus of the time. So don’t discount church publications when you’re trying to track down family.