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New Zealand Family Stories - published family histories

New Zealand Family Stories are treasured assets in our Family History collection.

These published family histories, are books written by family history researchers, and are frequently self-published. Often they are donated to the library, although we do also have a budget that allows us to purchase them too.

They contain stories about individuals and families, and most have genealogical tables, photos, and documents. Ideally they also have a name index in the back.

Since our lovely refurbishment, we’ve been able to get them out into the spotlight to display and make them more accessible.

They are a reference-only collection which means that they are always here for researchers to consult – and this also helps with their preservation.

They represent years, sometimes decades of research, and its always a delight for me when someone brings one of these treasures up to the desk to tell me that they've found their family in one of these books.

Happy hunting

Seonaid

The Best of 2016 - the new PapersPast

Bridget tells us one of her highlights for 2016 - the new format for that indispensible family history aid, Papers Past.

One of the highlights for me was the new format for PapersPast that was introduced by the National Library.

PapersPast has always been intuitive to use but the way it's set up now makes it even more so. Also, the loveliest thing is having on the same site access to the databases Magazines and Journals, Letters and Diaries and the Parliamentary Papers. The way it has been formatted makes it easier to see more of the Māori content in newspapers and magazines. It also means that if you were unaware of these other resources, they are there on the home page, easy to click on and explore.

Te Ao Hou/The New World, Maori Affairs Department, 1952-1975

The Newspaper section contains digitised NZ and Pacific newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries. If you are wishing to make a specific search, you will have a more rewarding experience if you use Search Articles using the different sections to limit your search.

The Magazines and Journals section contains digitised New Zealand journal publications. Each magazine and journal has its own page containing information about the publication, including the date range available online. Well worth exploring if you haven't visited lately.

Bridget - Central Research

Merry Christmas from the Kintalk team

It's almost Christmas, and as many of us wind down for a few days, we trust that this year has been a most interesting time for you in your family history endeavours ... maybe some of those impenetrable brick walls were finally smashed to pieces... maybe a new lead opened up... maybe it was just pure frustration and you really do need a break before you head back into the agony and the ecstasy that is family history research.
May you all have a lovely time this Christmas season.
Merry Christmas from the Kintalk team.

For more olde Christmas card goodness, here's a link to the Christmas Card exhibition online. Enjoy.

Do Over Your Genealogy

The Genealogy Do-Over workbook: Get your genealogy and family history research back on track and still have fun! by Thomas MacEntee UNLOCK the past, South Australia, 2016

When placing books on display or returning them to the shelves, you sometimes come across a title that intrigues you, and this is one such booklet. The author decided to put aside all his family history research and start afresh, using material previously unavailable in a variety of formats. He acknowledges that not all readers may want to do this, so he also addresses the person who wants to re-examine their research methods.

Each month is devoted to a particular task. For instance, month one is setting all previous research aside and preparing to do the research, while month five is citing sources and building a research toolbox - and so on. The author takes you through a variety of steps: he provides website addresses and ideas on how to progress your research, questions to ask yourself along the way, and he illustrates these with examples of pitfalls and successes.

Even if you've been researching for a number of years, this book is well worth reading as it shows methods we should be using for our research. We may have fallen into bad habits and aren't necessarily getting the quantity and quality of results that we would be – if we'd employed better habits! The book is easy to read and I'm sure everyone will get something from it – so give it a try.

Check out the entry on our library catalogue here.

Marie Hickey – Central Research Centre

Travel Tuesday: 150th Commemoration of the Arrival of the S.S. Viola, Waikato Immigration Scheme

A new title into the Central Auckland Research Centre recently is a book written to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Waikato Immigration Scheme 1864-1865.

The book was published by the Clevedon and Districts Historical Society to coincide with the arrival of the Viola settlers, part of the Waikato Immigration Scheme.

Showing a stereoscopic view through trees of
All Souls Church, Clevedon
Heritage Images, Sir George Grey Special Collections,
Auckland Libraries, 4-8640

Title: 150th Commemoration of the Arrival of the S.S. Viola in April 1865, 29th March 2015: Commemorative Booklet
Author: Clevedon and Districts Historical Society
Subjects: Viola (Ship), Ships, Auckland, Passenger lists, Immigrants, Genealogy, Clevedon, History
Location: 2 NZL IMM AKD

Abstract from the book:

“In April 1865 a shipload of mainly Lowland Scots arrived in ignorance and hope into the depressed province of Auckland and into the depleted community of the Wairoa. They had come, recruited in advance before confiscation was even finalised, as part of the Northern Waikato Immigration Scheme. Under this scheme, two main inducements were offered to labourers and mechanics. The first was a free passage to Auckland, and free transport from Auckland to the settlement for every settler and his family. The second was free land to be surveyed at Government expense. A quarter or half-acre town grant would be given, plus a ten-acre suburban or rural grant. The immigrants were not allowed to absent themselves from the allotment and were to repay half their passage money in three years. The Viola was one of the last ships to arrive under this scheme,” – ‘Clevedon Sustainable Development Plan Project: European Historical Assessment’, p 36.

In the Research Centre, this book is reference only - but do look in our catalogue to find a borrowable near you

Happy hunting

Seonaid

Talented Tuesday: Colleen Fitzpatrick, forensic genealogy - video presentations online

Colleen Fitzpatrick, forensic genealogist and author

On 20 April, 2015, we were extremely fortunate to have Colleen Fitzpatrick PhD, visiting forensic genealogist and author from the US, come and speak for us at Central Library.

Colleen is a nuclear physicist, who is a consultant in some high profile cases that involve using both genetic and forensic genealogy to solve a case.

She has a really impressive CV.

Colleen is also the author of

Colleen is a talented researcher and an excellent speaker with a wide choice of subjects to choose from and has a real talent for making the complicated and the technical both easily understood and entertaining.

Fortunately, her visit to us coincided with our "pilot" scheme and we were able to video her talks which you can find here on our website.

The presentations she gave us were:

CSI meets Roots
Forensic genealogy has established itself as the modern approach to family research. Reference materials such as photographs, databases, and DNA can provide much more information than you ever dreamed. But are you really using your genealogical materials to your best advantage? The goal of this talk is to spark your imagination to discover new ways of looking at your family mysteries.

Adoption searches
This talk will give you insight into adoption searches – how to use explicit and implicit information in conjunction with DNA to locate someone even if don’t know his or her name.

The "Unknown Child" of the Titanic - identified?

Of the 328 bodies recovered by the salvage operation of the SS Titanic, just one was that of a child. His identity was unknown for nearly a century until 2002, when Dr. Alan Ruffman and Dr. Ryan Parr announced that they had identified the remains of the “Unknown Child”. But was this identification correct? How was the controversy resolved so that the Unknown Child of the Titanic was unknown no longer.

So make yourself a cup of tea, sit down for an hour or two and enjoy!

Happy watching

Seonaid

Friday Funny: Thwarting the descendants

In the field of family history it’s fair to say not everyone gets excited by shipping lists, birth certificates, parish registers, and military files. I don’t. I’ve had nightmares about such things. Well, actually, I haven’t, but working in Heritage I fully expect to one day, because it has crossed my mind many, many times that family history is just a legitimate form of stalking. Especially when the people aren’t even dead.

For those who have relatives – which would be pretty much everyone – it’s possible that one day you may be the victim of stalking by some great, great, great grand-person who decides they want to conduct a little “research” into their ancestors. You would be forgiven for thinking this is creepy.

But what’s to be done? What can you do to avoid this if you value your privacy, if you don’t particularly want people, even if they are related to you, poking into your business - even many, many, many decades after your demise? How can you throw this potential “researcher” off your trail and thwart him in his tracks?

I offer suggestions. Caveat: no living or dead person, in any capacity, other than the author, i.e. me, endorses these, and to be fair, even I have grave doubts about a few of them. But here goes…

First up. Spread rumours about yourself. One of the traps the “researcher” may fall in to is to believe the rumour, and analyse the nefarious titbit to the extent that they ignore the real stuff. A hidden spouse, a virgin birth, a secret baby, some folie a deux - these are all fabulous tropes, much like the plot of a romance novel. Fortunately in our enlightened times, the notion of morality is out the window, and in fact the opposite is to be celebrated, so go hither and create a scandal or two. Preferably with progeny. Just don’t get carried away and hurt anyone real although you, of course, may appear emotionally wrecked because of this supposed incident. That would be quite brilliant.

Second. Claim you were adopted. Admittedly, most of us grew out of that fantasy before high school, but you can resurrect it easily enough. Brainstorm with fellow family history-phobics. Plot your story. Have turning points and an inciting incident. Milk that conflict. Give it a black moment and do try and fit some sexual tension in there. Leave no stone unturned. Remember this is not lying. It is creating. Creation is good. And the sublime beauty of it is you don’t need proof. That’s for your ‘researcher’ to tear their hair out trying to find.

Third. Throw in lots of mentions of another country to set people on a false trail. It might pay to go there as well and take photos. Target some unsuspecting but very rich and attractive local and make sure you get plenty of selfies with them around. Preserve the pics. This will arouse the suspicion of the future “researcher”. They won’t be able to sleep for trying to figure out what you were doing in this country, and who that person was, and do they, your descendant, in fact possess this mystery person’s DNA and quite possibly a claim on their fortune? Photobombing a local politician could work to your advantage, too.

Fourth. Stalk.
Now, settle down. I know what you’re thinking. Hashtag hypocrite.

But we are not talking stalking a real person here, or any kind of harassment. (See New Zealand legal information). We are not even talking cyberstalking with fake Twitter and Facebook accounts. We are suggesting stalking a ‘thing’. For example – just throwing this out there – stalking rugby league.

For example, you genuinely loathe league, loathe it passionately, and everyone knows it. What better way to arouse the suspicious mind of your future relative than to start quietly admiring it, and most of all documenting this perplexing admiration but without giving a sufficiently believable explanation. You head off to games. At work you start throwing around phrases like “goal line dropout,” “knock on” and “credit to the boys.” You have www.nrl.com.au in your desktop favourites. You appear at press conferences with a fraudulent media pass. (I have no clue how that happens but I’m sure you can figure it out.)

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19190717-40-1

Be diligent with your documentation so the future “researcher” latches on to this, suspicion mounts, over-thinking will occur, scenarios begin to haunt them at 2am rendering them useless at the day job. The point? That you have something to hide. That there is some dark, possibly deviant family secret lurking just out of reach, something you’ve never admitted to although this “researcher” just knows the puzzle is waiting to be solved. Family historians thrive on this kind of torture, this chase for the truth. Visualise yourself rubbing your spiritual hands together from the grave, or wherever it is they have disposed of your remains in years to come.

Fifth, and finally, this is a biggie. You must record fake death bed confessions even if you are young with no discernible health issues. In some circles this is known as oral history. It behoves you, if you are indeed serious about thwarting this blood related “researcher,” to cover all bases. It would be helpful to leave the recording with your lawyer: this information coming out prior to your demise would totally jeopardise your scheming and unravel horrifically and possibly quite humiliatingly, in front of you. But exercise caution with your confessions. Your future “researcher” might be able to sniff out crazy. Just give them enough to tantalise. To set them off down a long and winding road from which they might never return.

That, then, should do it, so that you go to your grave confident your future relations have no idea who they’re actually dealing with.

And remember this. Biography is fact. Autobiography is fiction.

Go forth, create, and thwart.

Joanne Graves

Workday Wednesday: Engineers

Sir George Grey Special Collections,
Auckland Libraries, 1-W1814

Was your ancestor an engineer in NZ? If so, here are some sources of possible interest for you to explore.

The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (known to its friends as IPENZ) operates an excellent website on NZ's engineering heritage. It includes a small database of biographies of significant engineers.

If you know the engineering field your ancestor was involved in, some of the works in the 'recommended reads' section may also prove of value as background material.

Auckland Libraries has both reference and loan copies available of Early New Zealand engineers by F.W. Furkert; revised and edited by W.L. Newnham. This work is a collection of alphabetically arranged mini-biographies of engineers who were born prior to 1866.

Along with some other sources on engineers, the names from Furkert's book have been indexed into the New Zealand Card Index; for example:

The New Zealand Card Index was closed in 1996 when Index Auckland started. As the name implies, this index has a strong emphasis on Auckland, but also contains references to places and people from further afield; it is worth checking for engineer ancestors even if they are not Aucklanders.

Among the items indexed are obituaries and other biographical mentions of engineers appearing in selected issues of the Proceedings of the Institution of Professional Engineers 1938-1952 and the journal New Zealand Engineering, 1946-1972 (indexing not yet complete).

Sir George Grey Special Collections,
Auckland Libraries , 7-A15208

If your ancestor was already a qualified engineer when they migrated to NZ, or spent part of their working lives in the UK, then they may have joined one of the professional engineering societies in the UK. Some membership records of these are now available as searchable databases on Ancestry.com.

The contents vary, but some have considerable detail, such as the Institution of Civil Engineers’ collection of applications to join the society 1820-1930. Entries often include date of birth, nationality, and summary of education and career, sometimes with supporting correspondence and certificates. Engineers are a highly mobile occupational group, so such information might well include details of service all over the world.

Janelle

Friday's Faces from the Past: Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Karen Kalopulu Family History Lock-in

This year we are celebrating a decade of lock-ins from when the idea first came to the then Family History Librarian, Karen Kalopulu.

Back in 2004 Karen Kalopulu proposed the idea to library management saying that, although the ‘concept is new to libraries in New Zealand’ there are ‘many libraries in United States of America which have strong family history collections hold[ing] very successful lock-ins’.

Since Karen sadly passed away in 2009, the lock-ins have continued under the leadership of Family History Librarian Seonaid Lewis.

Family historians and aspiring family historians start arriving during the afternoon of the last Friday of August, working overnight on their family histories and helping other people with theirs, until leaving at 8am the next day.

The lock-ins have been a collaboration between Auckland Libraries and the New Zealand Society of Genealogists (NZSG), who have supported this venture right from the very beginning with their volunteers contributing to the expert knowledge available on the night. The event has proven to be great fun, we have all learnt so much from each other and have made some good friends along the way.

There are a handful of customers and NZSG volunteers who were at that first lock-in and are still coming today.

The inaugural Lock-in group, 2005.

Geraldene O’Reilly, the NZSG president of the Irish Interest group, has attended every single one of the lock-ins, helping many a fledgling search their Irish ancestry.

Geraldene O'Reilly busy at work.

The format Karen started has carried on, with a few unavoidable tweaks along the way.

Before the evening kicks off at 8pm there are the options of a tour of the Central Auckland Research by Seonaid and then a seminar on some subject, whether it’s Scottish family history or, as it is this year, beginning your New Zealand family history.

The night begins with Seonaid leading a 'meet and greet' and then the library staff NZSG volunteers share their areas of specialty.

A happy researcher!

We then hit the computers, Microfilm readers and books and the momentum continues. Flagging souls help themselves to coffee and snacks in the library atrium and we are all revived with pizza at midnight.

Some succumb to a nap, in a cosy nook but it is amazing, with kindred family historians around and lots to share and learn, how the buzz keeps you going.

There have been many eureka moments:

I finally found something that could possibly lead to more information on my maternal grandmother's birth - the first really good lead in 25 years!

Came away with some exciting information it was certainly well worth it.
Can't wait till the next one.

I got so much information on the night that I am going flat out working out what I need to do next.

I managed to stay awake all night much to my surprise - the time seemed to go so fast. I found a really good skeleton in my mother's side of the family so was very happy.

As Karen said in her proposal, back in 2004, ‘a family history lock-in is an opportunity to promote the Auckland City Library and it’s family history collection in an innovative way and provide a platform for Auckland City Libraries to work collaboratively with the New Zealand Society of Genealogists on a venture that both organisations are passionate and enthusiastic about.’

We are looking forward to more great research and sharing in August 2014. To register for this year's event, click here for more information.

Bridget

Workday Wednesday: Medical Practitioners

Found a NZ doctor lurking in the family tree? There are a couple of very useful research sources that you should know about.

The Central Auckland Research Centre in Auckland Central Library holds a biographical dictionary by Rex Earl Wright-St Clair: Medical practitioners in New Zealand, from 1840 to 1930. As the quote from the work's preface states: "In this work are listed alphabetically all medical practitioners known to have been in New Zealand between 1 January 1840 and 31 December 1930, whether registered here or not, providing at least one forename is known".

Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries
AWNS--19080806-16-4

Entries vary in size but typically contain details of education, career and death. In many cases they refer to an obituary in a medical journal.

Which leads us to the second source: the New Zealand Medical Association runs a helpful website offering the NZ Medical Journal online.

It includes an index of obituaries appearing in the NZ Medical Journal 1887-2013 and archived issues of the journal itself from 1999. For an obituary earlier than 1999, the website gives contact details for the NZ Medical Association and states that one-off requests are supplied without charge.

Janelle

Those Places Thursday: Voyages from the UK

At the Research Centre we frequently have customers looking for passenger lists for ancestors who travelled from the UK through Australia with their final destination being New Zealand.

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

Recently FamilySearch.org added new records to their database for New Zealand passenger lists. We were able to trace the voyage from London to New Zealand for Rev Harold James West Knights and his family in 1927.

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

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

Report of arrival passengers on board Orievto into Australia, note there is no date listed.

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

It appears the family may have spent some time in Australia after their journey as their departure from Sydney to Wellington by the S.S. Makura isn't until 20 June 1927.

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

In this way you can pick up multiple journeys and links in the chain from the United Kingdom to New Zealand.

Happy searching!

Karen & Maureen

Those Places Thursday: On the road to Thames!

The family history team at Auckland Libraries is hitting the road this week to attend the Thames Family History Research Expo 2014!

Country travelling on the Thames-Coromandel Road, 1907.
Sir George Grey Special Collections, AWNS-19070725-13-2.

The Thames Branch of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists is hosting this biennial event and everyone is invited.

So if you are looking for something to do this Saturday, get a hold of some of your fellow genealogists and make a day of it.

Have fun.

Karen

Census Sunday: Alternative Census Records for NZ

Electoral rolls as alternative census records.

Electoral rolls are important genealogy tools in a country like New Zealand where census records are not available. Full names, addresses and occupations are listed in the rolls and, because they are regularly published, it’s possible to track family members over time and place.

1911 election night in Cathedral Square, Christchurch.
Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19111214-4-2

The Central Auckland Research Centre recently obtained a new CD-Rom from the NZ Society of Genealogists which has fully indexed five rolls marking major changes in male and female suffrage in this country.

1881 Electoral Roll

In the first national elections of 1853, only male British subjects aged 21 and over who owned property were eligible to vote.

About 100 Maori men were enrolled out of a total electorate of 5,849 because few Maori qualified under the property requirement - their lands were generally held communally (as iwi, hapu or whanau groups) rather than under individual freehold or leasehold title.

This property requirement also excluded recent arrivals, and transient workers who usually lived in boarding houses, tents or shacks. As these men did not possess property, they were not considered real settlers.

Voter turnout was low and candidates were often elected unopposed until the 1881 election when, after much debate, universal male suffrage (excluding aliens and prisoners) was introduced. Provided voters had lived in the colony for one year, and in their electorate for six months prior to the election, they were now entitled to vote.

In Christchurch’s Heathcote electorate, the Star reported “at the time of closing the poll some disturbance occurred on account of a number of electors having congregated in the lobby shortly after 5 o’clock; and when the hour of closing arrived and their votes had not been recorded, they manifested a somewhat forcible unwillingness to leave the building until the assistance of a constable was called in.”

Observer, 2 December 1911, page 6
from Papers Past

Observer, 31 October 1896, page 7
from Papers Past

1893 Electoral Roll

Despite opposition to women’s suffrage, franchise was extended to include women aged 21 and over in 1893, although women were not allowed to stand as candidates or be elected as parliamentarians until 1919.

“The Hon. Dr Grace opposed the clause to enfranchise women chiefly on the grounds that their system was too complex to stand the strain attendant upon the excitement of election. He thought too highly and tenderly of women to subject them to the excitement of politics.” ~ Wanganui Chronicle, 25 August 1893

Leanne

Wisdom Wednesday: Granny was a Brothel Keeper

Book Review:
Granny was a Brothel Keeper 50 Family History Traps by Kate Broad and Toni Neobard

Available at Auckland Libraries

This title has been added to our collection of family history aid books. It is very cleanly presented and easy to read sprinkled frequently with humorous cartoons and quips as well as anecdotes from the authors. It could be of use to the beginner as well as the more experienced family historian as the authors mention many of the traps it is so easy to fall into.

It is also quick to point out that our relatives and ancestors may not have been as upright as we would like to think they were or have been portrayed as such to us by their children/grandchildren.

The short stories used to illustrate different traps are all true; some are bizarre – like the exploding wheelchair - but all have a touch of humour like the gentleman guilty of bigamy, he married five women in nine months, two within a matter of weeks of each other. One wonders how long he was able to get away with it.

From page 97.

A companion volume is forecast for publication next year and is sure to be as interesting as this volume.

Books such as this are located in the 1 GEN AID section of the Research Centre.

Marie

Census Sunday: Proposed UK Census changes

The other day a colleague handed me an interesting article by Simon Szreter to read from this month's issue of History Today magazine (January 2014) about the proposed changes to the collection of UK census information. In fact, the Office of National Statistics or ONS as they are more often called -- the department responsible for the census 'are proposing two possible options for the 2021 census' which according to the article are:

'One possibility is to try to ensure that the census is returned online as much as possible.

Provided the proper safeguards are put in place to cater for information from the predominantly

older section of the population who would otherwise be disadvantaged by this new method,

this is probably a sensible move.'

'The second option under consideration would represent a historic abandonment of the census's democratic principle of information collection established since 1841. This idea is to drop the census of every individual and instead patch together a number of disparate sources of more partial or anonymous statistical information on the characteristics of the British population already collected . . . . the argument is that this kind of composite database can provide more regular updates on change . . . to satisfy the needs of government bodies . . . and will be cheaper to administer than a census . . .'

If the ONS does decide to follow this radical second option we can all imagine what the ramifications are for future generations of family historians who will have an even greater challenge of finding information on their own UK family's past.

'Taking the Census' an illustration of 1861.
Image from History Matters, January 2014.

If you would like to search the 1841-1911 UK Census records they are easy to access for free at any of the Auckland Libraries through the Ancestry and FindMyPast databases in the Digital Library.

For some useful hints on using census records you may want to check out a new book in our family history collection by Emma Jolly, 'Tracing your Ancestors Using the Census: A Guide for Family Historians', which is packed with advice on how to explore and get the most from these records.

Karen

Workday Wednesday: Old Occupations

Last month I wrote a blog post about revisiting old copies of family history magazines as articles which may not have had relevance at the time could be the very thing you are needing now. This got me thinking about a series of articles which were published in Family Tree Magazine 1987-1994 about old occupations.

How often do you wonder exactly what a strange occupation on the census or certificate involved?

Of course, there are a number of books which describe different trades and occupations but these usually only give a short explanation. For example, a Cheirothecarius is a glove maker, and most records would use that term, however, the articles give more detail as to what was involved with a particular occupation.

One of life's more perilous occupations.
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, AWNS-19290814-37-2

Each article is a minimum of one page and some are split into 3-4 parts over several issues. The occupations covered are varied, there are the usual suspects of agricultural labourer, nurse, shoemaker, midwife, etc but also include: lace cleaning, pugilist, cider maker, Proctor, Chapman, fuller, Mersey Flatmen, and English merchants in Aleppo to name a few.

Have a look at these articles as you never know what you will find and it may be that the mystery which has been put aside may just be solved.

Do check our catalogue as well as we have a growing collection of books concerning specific occupations.

Marie Hickey

Treasure Chest Thursday: Jury List

A while back a colleague from a sister research centre contacted us to see if we had a copy of the Jury List published in the Southern Cross issue of 16th February 1858. Their customer was searching for an ancestor mentioned on that list, and they had found the issue on microfilm, but there was a problem. The jury list on the microfilm was incomplete. The list began on page three and went over to page four only to have the words at the bottom of the page read “For continuation see supplement.”

Supplement? What supplement? There was no supplement.

Did we have a supplement on our microfilm?

So I checked our copy and wouldn’t you know it, just like my colleague, there was no supplement. No separate publication at the end of the roll – nothing. For some reason, it had failed to be copied during the microfilming process many moons ago.

However. We did have the print copies of the Southern Cross in our news stack, those precious 150 year old originals, accessible only via Sir George Grey Special Collections. But did this original have the missing supplement?

Silence in the Court
Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 973-39

Yes, it sure did, and they were, with some difficulty I gather, able to scan a copy of the complete jury list from the original to send to the customer and also provide us with a copy to bind and add to our collection on the open shelves, located at 2 NZL COU AKD. A nice treasure to have here in the Central Auckland Research Centre.

As a bit of background on jury lists, each year in New Zealand the police magistrate in a district would come up with a list of men, aged between 21 and 60, who could serve on jury. These lists were published in newspapers such as the Southern Cross and listed three things; name, occupation and street or suburb.
The Southern Cross as it was known from 1843 to 1862 was a weekly paper which became daily in 1862 – hence the change of name then to Daily Southern Cross. It merged with the NZ Herald in 1876.

Joanne

Treasure Chest Thursday: Jewish Ancestry?

Susan Soyinka has written a remarkable book on her search for the survivors of her mother’s family who fled Nazi Germany. A Silence that Speaks: A Family story through and beyond the Holocaust describes her 18-year search for those members of her mother’s extended family who were now scattered around the world.

Ref: Refugees flee as war between Germany and Czechoslovakia appears to be inevitable, 1938, Sir George Grey Special Collections

For someone who is searching for their ancestors, dispersed through war and tragedy, particularly with Czech Jewish ancestry, Susan’s book is a goldmine with its sources of information and step by step descriptions of her search.

When she gives you her sources, Susan will say how this information was useful to her and with whom she spoke. For example: Czech District and Regional Archives. Research was carried out for me in the Uherske Hradiste and Vsetin District Archives, and in the Moravian Regional Archives in Brno by Martin Kocarik and his wife Sarka Kocarikova. Martin and Sarka work for a private company whose details are available at the Czech Family Tree.

One of Susan’s appendices is a Note on Czech Jewish genealogy, where she explains the network of archives the Czech Republic holds and the different Jewish records held. She has helpfully included a table showing the names of towns and cities in the Czech Republic, with their spelling now, and then, and the German form used during the Habsburg Empire.

Following her own search, the chapter in her book The Nazi machine in Austria contains different sub chapters with one headed Forms and standard letters used during Aryanisation, which explains, as an example, what a Request for approval of sale was. She also lists the Offices, departments and organisations involved in or dealing with Jewish matters, such as, ‘the Office for the calculation of surcharges, who were charged with the task of working out the fee for the “dejewification” process’.

This book is a family history and a biography, giving an insight into the workings of the Nazi regime in Austria which may help other historians struggling to piece together their own Jewish story.

For more helpful information on finding your Jewish ancestors, search the Auckland Libraries catalogue by the call number 1 GEN REL JEW for more resources held in the family history collection.

Regards

Bridget

Treasure Chest Thursday

Prudery and prurience – resources held in the Central Auckland Research Centre

Ref: Current display in the Central Auckland Research Centre

The Research Centre has several resources regarding Truth including a microfiche copy of Rebecca Lancashire’s 1986 thesis “Prudery and prurience” which compares images of women in NZ Truth in 1935 with the “cult of domesticity”.

A second microfiche resource is the “Divorce information extracted from NZ Truth newspaper” between 1946-1966. A common reason for divorce at that time was adultery, and co-respondents are named in this record. Other reasons for divorce included desertion; living apart for seven years; or a spouse being convicted of murder.

Ref: AWNS-19250716-52-6, "I've been married fifteen years, so I think I've well earned a divorce.", 1925, Sir George Grey Special Collections

The collection holds three books featuring Truth – Redmer Yska’s 2010 history “The Rise and Fall of the People’s Paper”; and Lesley Verry’s 1985 “Seven Days a Week” history of Independent Newspapers Ltd.

The third book is Truth’s 1950 Cookery Book with “600 Specially Selected Prize Recipes” including those for invalids, diabetics and the health conscious.

The newspaper collection has all copies of Truth published between December 2007-2013 and local history articles in these issues have been included in Auckland Libraries digital resource Index Auckland.

Lastly, Papers Past has digitised NZ Truth from 7 July 1906-22 December 1930 and these are also available to view on Auckland Libraries digital library.

Leanne

A Successful Family History Club @ Auckland Libraries

On Sunday, we had the first ever Family History Club at Central Library.

It was very well attended, with approximately 25 people - about six of whom were newcomers to family history.

The day included a tour of the Central Auckland Research Centre, and "clinics" with our experts from Auckland Libraries and The New Zealand Society of Genealogists.

Alot of very useful research was accomplished and people are on their way to being acquainted with their ancestors!

"Experts" on the day included Viv, Gay, Robyn and Ray of the NZSG; and Marie, Maureen, Karen, Everett, Angeline, Wynne and myself from Heritage and Research @ Auckland Libraries.

We're all looking forward to the next Family History Club on May 5!

Don't forget to look for our other Family History events on our website!

Happy hunting

Seonaid