Table of Contents

Welcome 2

Past Branch Convenors 3

Letter recording the First Branch Meeting 4

Past Branch Convenor’s Messages:

Heather Murdoch – Hall 5 Karen Crowe 9 Wally Brown 12 Noeline Carey 14 Ann Evans 15 Gail Tanner 16 Michael Butler 17 Annette Larsen 18 John Berntsen 19

List of Branch Indexing Projects 20

Transcribing Headstones 21

Taranaki Odyssey 2001 Conference 26

The L.I.N.Z. Project 28

Branch Library and Rooms 29

Swainson’s Negative Recovery 31

New Plymouth Genealogy Computer Group 32

1

Welcome

On behalf of the Organising Committee a warm welcome is extended to everyone who is present today for this, the 50 th Anniversary of the founding of the Branch of the Society of Genealogists. I wonder if the small group of enthusiastic people, who were at the first meeting of our Branch on 20 November 1969 could have envisaged that the Branch would still be going strong 50 years later?

A special welcome to Mrs. Mary Shadbolt, Chairperson of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists and Mrs Jan Gow QSM, who has supported our Branch with her visits to New Plymouth, on many occasions over the years.

This booklet has been compiled to mark our 50 th Anniversary and you will find messages and memories from past Convenors, together with the descriptions of some of the projects that members of our Branch have undertaken over the years, by the people who were involved.

I would like to thank our Organising Committee comprising, Ann and Murray Evans, Lorraine Austin, and Lea Bellini for all the time they have put in helping organise this weekend.

Thanks also go to Murray Evans who suggested that this booklet be produced for this weekend and special thanks to him for the time he spent collecting the stories and assembling this booklet.

Our Organising Committee hope that you have a most enjoyable weekend, not only listening to our exciting speakers, but also sharing your memories of our Branch activities over the years.

Bruce Bellini, New Plymouth Branch Convenor

2 New Plymouth Branch NZSG Past Convenors

1969 - 70 Peter White

1971 L M Stephenson

1972 – 1973 Mabel Owen

1974 – 1975 Geoff East

1976 – 1977 Heather Hall

1977 – 1978 Anne Talbot

1979 – 1986 Karen Crowe

1987 – 1988 Wally Brown

1989 Owen Mills

1990 Noeline Carey

1991 Betty Lark

1992 Karen Crowe

1993 Merla Baylis

1994 – 1997 Ann Evans

1998 – 2001 Gail Tanner

2002 – 2005 Michael Butler

2005 – 2010 Annette Larsen

2011 – 2013 John B Berntsen (Acting Convenor)

2014 – 2016 John B Berntsen

2016 – Current Bruce Bellini

3 4 Early Days for Genealogy in New Plymouth By Heather MurdochMurdoch----HallHall

My interest in genealogy started when the family moved from Hamilton to New Plymouth in July 1970. After settling into our new home in Devon Street West, I discovered a Hobbies and Arts Exposition was being held in the YMCA building. The stand displaying genealogy caught my eye and the lady I spoke to soon informed me what was involved. My mind jumped back 20 odd years when I had enquired from my parents, the names of their siblings and my grandparents. My maternal grandmother was the only one I had known, and died when I was about 6 years old. The other grandparents died before my parents had married, so I knew very little.

The helpful lady on the Genealogy exhibit was Mrs Mabel Owen, and when I said I had grown up in Otahuhu, she laughed and said “So did I”. Mabel gave me Family Tree sheets to take home, and that was the start of my becoming a member of the New Plymouth Group and then of the NZSG itself. Years later when we became a Branch, there was great excitement as our NZSG Branch banner was presented to us.

The first meetings I attended were in Mrs Franklyn’s home in Octavius Place; then at a little grey painted church building which I recall was on Powderham Street near the Liardet St corner.

On the 23 rd November 1972, our New Plymouth Group hosted some Auckland visitors from the NZSG, which was most enjoyable. The photo below shows NZSG “Tourists”. Lucy Marshall stayed with me that weekend.

“The Tourists” from left to right. Olive Duck, Peter Hunter, Dick Messenger, Lucy Marshall, Heather Hall and Margaret Webster

5 The hall adjacent to the Whiteley Church became our base for some time and on 15th December 1972 we had a “Come as your Ancestor” dress-up evening. I can remember Mr. Stevenson, one of the New Plymouth Branch senior members, all decked out as Adam.

In 1995 when Ann Evans was convenor, our library was housed in the King’s building. Lynne Wilson organised members to assist when the library was open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays 12 to 3pm, and Saturdays 10am to 12 noon. This was long before the Motorua site was acquired. For some time, meetings were held in member’s homes: Joan de Abaffy, Merla Baylis, Gladys Morecraft, Thelma Orr, Jo van Uden, and Ann and Murray Evans, to name a few. The latter of course, still very much involved with our New Plymouth Branch.

I can’t recall exactly when, as I went only a few times, but I know a tremendous amount of work typing out records etc, was accomplished in Pat George’s basement by our members, with the assistance of P.E.P. workers.

The photo below was taken at Merla Baylis’ home on the occasion of the New Plymouth Branch Anniversary.

Cutting the cake are from left: Joan de Abaffy, Marjorie Robinson, Pat French, her grandson Terry O’Neill, Rosalie Hay (née Ledingham), Joy Okey, Marjorie McConnachie at back, Heather Hall, Patricia Linehan

6 An enormous project which Peter Hunter and the NZSG Committee were quite concerned about, was the deterioration of New Zealand gravestones, particularly those from early settlers’ families. Transcribing and recording these details could be heartbreaking at times, as sadly many babies and young children’s names were found. Holidays and weekends often saw us with pen, pencils, chalk, brushes, torches, and thermos flasks of soup, when we needed a break for lunch. One winter outing took us to the Old Stratford Cemetery, where we moved some sheep out of our way. There was one large stone face downwards, so one member got a rope from his car and was able to tie it around the top half, throw the other end over a strong camellia tree, and we pulled! Hey Presto! Mabel Owen got down on her knees, brushed away the earth and read the details out, which were duly recorded. The things we got up to!

Bruce and Lea Bellini along with Ann and Murray Evans, and later Sharon Guthrie, encouraged people like myself, to purchase a computer for recording our genealogy research. It was some time before I finally acquired a computer. Up until then I had been typing a copy of the New Plymouth Branch gravestone transcriptions to forward to June Springfield, who was co-ordinating these records for the Society.

I accompanied Mabel Owen to an Auckland AGM in the early days, and in 1994 many of our Branch members travelled to Hamilton for their genealogy conference held at the Waikato University. Shirley Thomson kindly provided transport for some of us in her van.

I do recall some of us attending the session on Irish research and watching the screen, when up came names for a NEALIS family. I was so surprised that I stood up and said aloud, “That’s my family.” Everyone else was in hysterics. We did have a wonderful weekend though and I am sure I wasn’t the only one to gain from the exhibits.

From left, Heather Hall, Beryl Spencer, Betty Lark, Karen Crowe, Noreen Potts, and Shirley Thomson

7 When the conference was over, it was a slightly tired but satisfied group of members from the New Plymouth Branch of genealogists, as below.

Back left: June Stratford (Whangarei), Ann Evans, Shirley Thomson, Phil Haarer, Bruce Bellini, Ivan Ward.Centre: Lea Bellini, Beryl Spencer, Ruth Benson, Front: Noreen Potts, Karen Crowe, Betty Lark, Murray Evans

Quite a number of our New Plymouth Branch members drove all the way to Whangarei for the 1999 NZSG Conference, and in 2001 New Plymouth Branch members under Ann Evans’ guidance produced an outstanding weekend, hosting the NZSG Odyssey Conference.

In December 2001, I packed up 31 years of genealogy research and departed northwards, to live nearer some of my family. My daughter Robyn suggested I concentrate on producing a Family History starting with my Murdoch paternal great-grandparents, which I did. Both my Murdoch and Nealis great-grandparents were Fencible soldiers and arrived here in 1849 and 1852 respectively.

My interest in genealogy has not diminished - I have continued delving into my great-grandparents paternal lines; publishing three family history books, which includes my mother’s paternal Irish family of McElwain. I am now concentrating on the Patterson and Montgomery families in Ireland, Scotland, and the immigrants to Canada.

I have always kept my New Plymouth membership and remain interested in what the Branch is doing. I trust everyone here has a memorable 50 th Anniversary Celebration and plenty of; “Do you remember him or her, or when we did that?” Cheers to all and “Slan Aghat” – safe journey home.

Heather Murdoch-Hall NZSG #818 Convenor 1976 to 1977

8 My personal recollections of the New Plymouth Genealogy Branch Karen Crowe

My brother-in-law took me along to my very first genealogy meeting in November 1976; which was the Christmas meeting. The meeting was held in the Whiteley Church lounge. I became a member of the branch on 15 th February 1977. Heather Hall nominated me for the chairman/convenor on 19 th October 1978. I stayed in this role until 1986. I have done a variety of other jobs, from librarian, editor of the newsletter and also looked after the microfiche.

Because our membership numbers were small at the time, it was decided that we meet in a member’s home. Mrs Jo van Uden, 77 Gover Street, New Plymouth, offered the use of her lounge. Our library was a shelf above a bed. The subscription was $3.00. In August 1978 the group very nearly closed. Lucy Marshall, the founding member of the New Zealand Society of Genealogists came down from Auckland to New Plymouth to discuss the matter, as we didn't meet the rules of the New Zealand Society and our membership numbers were very low. Ideas were put forward by Lucy on how we could still continue.

We continued to meet at Gover Street, until 1979. Our membership at meetings was around 10 to 12 people. In 1979, we again moved; into a home of one of our members Mrs Marjorie Robinson, 241 Coronation Avenue, New Plymouth. Our numbers of library books had grown. At the time I was working for a television repair company. I obtained two old black and white TV sets which we converted into bookcases to hold our books.

Over the years our membership continued to grow. In 1983 we then moved again, to Mrs Pat George's basement, 70 Blagdon Road, New Plymouth. In 1988, the next move was to another basement at the home of Mrs Merla Baylis, 30A David Street, New Plymouth. From David Street we then moved into the King’s building in 1995. Next move in 2002, was to our current premises in . I helped set up the Stratford, Waitara and Inglewood Genealogy branches.

Projects: One of our members was Mrs Christine Cannell. She was a member of the Methodist Church, and arranged for the group to index the New Plymouth Wesleyan Methodist marriages. The records were typed up and at our monthly meetings we did the checking of what had been typed.

The New Zealand Society of Genealogists’ major project was in cemetery transcribing. Heather Hall was the archivist for the group in the early days in this important project, obtaining information from councils on where cemeteries were located.

9 In September 1981, we employed four people under the United "Y" job creation programme. Mrs Pat George who looked after this project, was our archivist at the time. The four people transcribed the Te Henui Cemetery, and other cemeteries around North Taranaki. In 1982, indexing was started on the New Plymouth Court House records of births, deaths and marriages, St Mary's Church Records and St Joseph’s records. In 1986, we had PEP workers work on the North Taranaki school records, and the Salvation Army records. Another project was the indexing of the Wills by our members; at the Court House.

In the good old days, the way we indexed was to photocopy records, then cut up the sheets into strips each with a name etc, and sort into alphabetical order. Sort again within each letter, and then glue these strips onto used computer paper ready for typing. Pat George did the typing up of the records and also answered any genealogical queries. Pat George, Jill Harvey and I transcribed Maori cemeteries mainly in the Waitara region.

Moving on to November 2016, Pat George, Lorraine and Rodney Austin, Noreen Potts, and I; made a start on transcribing, cleaning and taking digital photographs of headstones at Te Henui Cemetery, , Okato, Tataramaika, Rahotu, Oakura, Waireka, , , , , , and two in Bell Block, and Waitara. Mike Merrick arranged with the New Plymouth Boys’ High School and New Plymouth Girls’ High School for boarders to help clean the head stones of the Inglewood Cemetery, so over the three weekends of March 16, 23, and 30, 2019; we made a start on the cleaning of the headstones. Hopefully this next summer we will finish this cemetery.

Early in 1992, Ann and Murray Evans came down from Whangarei to live in New Plymouth. They set up the New Plymouth Genealogy Computer Group. We met at their home in Bell Block. One of the computer group members was Mrs Judy Kirkland, who used to work at the Swainson/Woods photography business. She arranged for the group to index this collection of photographs. We then published the index on microfiche. Members of the branch rescued the negatives from a garden shed. The negatives are now housed at library. Some of our members helped clean and conserve these negatives. The years covered are 1923- 1997.

Highlights over the years. In 1985, we decorated a float for the New Plymouth Christmas Parade to raise awareness of our group. In 1986, members enabled the group to purchase the 1984 International Genealogical Index (IGI) microfiche.

10 In May 1994, the New Zealand Society of Genealogists’ annual conference was held in Hamilton. Shirley Thomson took her van and the following members with her, Heather Hall, Beryl Spencer, Betty Lark, Noreen Potts and me.

Another New Zealand Society of Genealogists’ AGM, was held in in May 1995. Some of us went out to “Death by Chocolate” restaurant, which was all the rage at the time.

In 2001, the New Plymouth Genealogy Branch and Computer group, in conjunction with the Waitara, Inglewood, Stratford and Hawera branches; held the New Zealand Society of Genealogists’ annual conference at the New Plymouth International and Conference Centre.

Over the years the branch has held open days for the general public to find out about genealogy. The birth of the internet has certainly helped people with researching their families.

In conclusion I would like to wish the branch a very happy 50 th birthday celebration.

Karen Crowe NZSG #1953 Convenor 1979 to 1986 Convenor 1992

11 Recollections Wally Brown

First, a little bit of background. I joined the Genealogy Group in 1985, following on from the Brown Family Reunion in November/December 1984 at Naseby, Central Otago. My father and I had volunteered to compile the Family Tree for the occasion, and I wrote a brief summary of what we knew about each branch of our family. My Great-Grandfather, Moses Brown, came to New Zealand from Yorkshire in 1880 and spent the rest of his working life mining for gold in the Kyeburn Diggings area, so it was quite an interesting history to research and relate to the younger generations of the family. He had five sons and one daughter. Three sons, including my Grandfather, moved to Taranaki and took up dairy farming, the others remained in the Naseby Kyeburn Diggings area. I still have distant cousins living there today.

At the reunion, people read my handwritten booklet, and several of my father’s generation asked if I would carry on with it and produce a book that they could buy; hence the reason for my joining the group to find out how to research and trace the family back to Yorkshire etc. We had taken the kids down to see the Christmas Parade in 1984, and we spotted a float with all these ladies on board dressed in period costumes, if my memory serves me correctly; The New Plymouth Branch of the NZSG. I soon got in touch and joined up.

I had a demanding job and a young family, so my time was quite limited for research, or even finding out how to do it. I attended my first AGM that year and got elected to the committee. I was very green, but thought I could help out to some small degree.

At the next AGM I got hijacked into the Convenor’s role, and I think I was too timid to say no. However, I did my best at the time. I always left work late, so it was a rush to get home, have a feed, shower and tear off to the meetings, usually with a good dose of indigestion.

The time came when we had to find somewhere else to meet and store our Branch Resources. Merla Baylis kindly put her hand up and offered the use of her basement. It was our only option at the time and an absolute rabbit warren, bless her kind soul; but it served the club for several years; even after my time as Convenor.

After we moved to Merla’s basement, we made use of the Blind Foundation rooms on Vivian Street when we had a guest speaker.

I recall the occasional open day upstairs in the War Memorial Hall, Ariki Street, when we invited some of the prominent and knowledgeable people within the Society to come and speak. Names that spring to mind, are Jan Gow and Verna Mossong, shipping advisor; too long ago though to be certain that they actually attended. There was a microfiche reader/printer at my work, so I used to lug it up there and print off pages for people.

12 We also took the group’s microfiche readers’ the 1881 census records, cemetery books, and lots more resources. I also remember the big cans of soup powder and other food that was prepared on site to keep us sustained for the day.

One silly recollection. I told this one last time. We were in Pat George’s basement with a guest speaker; a gentleman talking about old photographs, or maybe embalming or some other serious subject. While he was speaking, my tummy started gurgling like clockwork, every 30 seconds or so; probably the indigestion I mentioned earlier. The ladies each side of me started sniggering each time it happened, then the row of people in front and behind. I was so embarrassed; the speaker must have wondered what on earth was going on.

I stood down after two years to continue my research, and eventually published; “Browns of Kyeburn Peninsula”, in 1991. I still maintain my family tree on the computer although it has a lot of the distant, younger generations missing, but even so, it has grown to something like 4500 names, including our very new granddaughter, Lylie-Jean Aria Brown.

Please do publish your family history, if you haven’t done so, as my book still comes up all the time in family circles, and occasionally with strangers. I was in the Naseby Library a few years ago, and a Dutch gentleman volunteering there, started with some enthusiasm, to tell me all about a book he had just read about the area and gold mining. I had the pleasure of telling him that I was the author.

I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate the group on attaining its 50 years, and I wish the group well for the next 50.

Thank you.

Wally Brown NZSG #6685 Convenor 1987 to 1988

13 Recollections Noeline Carey

Being elected as a Convenor of the New Plymouth Branch of the Genealogy Group was a great honour; being able to assist others in their family search and guiding the branch on projects that year.

I wish to thank the other committee members – Judy Thompson, Jocelyn Bell, Shirley McKay, Ruth Sim, Mary Dobson and Lindsay Reid; in the projects that we had on the go that year.

One of these projects was to record details of the inscriptions on the gravestones in cemeteries; which had not yet been recorded.

The private cemeteries were a bit of a challenge; getting to the gravestones along with scrambling through lots of bush, and avoiding being stung by bees.

Another project was cutting birth, death and marriage clippings from the local newspaper; pasting them into scrapbooks, and making an index of these clippings by name.

We also looked at a trip to Wellington, to visit the various genealogy repositories like the National Library, National Archives and a visit to the Internal Affairs office which was in Lower Hutt at that time. We had to catch a train to Waterloo, and then walk to Lower Hutt, and back.

My project was; while working at Lands & Deeds; compiling a list of wills of people who had died, and owned property. It was a requirement that their will was registered against the title of their land. This document showed the names of their wife and descendants, and occasionally a death certificate. This information is recorded in the Kiwi index.

Noeline Carey NZSG #4520 Convenor 1990

14 Recollections Ann Evans

My journey into Genealogy and Family History research started in 1984, as a member of the Whangarei Branch NZSG. During my 35 years, I have had many appointments on several committees and NZSG Council.

This also included tuition in “The Basics into Genealogy”; at the New Plymouth Polytech (now WITT), and New Plymouth Public Library/Puke Ariki Staff in 1993/4.

1986 Secretary Whangarei Branch during their 10 th Anniversary. 1988 Co-Founder for the first Genealogy Computer Group in Whangarei. 1988-1992 Elected to NZSG Council. 1991-1992 NZSG Council Assistant Secretary. 1992 NZSG Council Projects Coordinator. 1992 Co-Founder of the New Plymouth Genealogy Computer Group. 1994-1997 Convenor New Plymouth Branch NZSG during their 25 th Anniversary in 1994. 1996-1998 NZSG Research Officer – CD ROM Index Service to all NZ members. 1998-2001 Convenor Annual NZSG Conference; “Taranaki Odyssey 2001” held in New Plymouth. 2002-2003 Convenor Whangarei Branch. 2006-2010 Committee Inglewood Branch. 2014-2016 Convenor-Secretary-Newsletter Editor Whangarei Branch. 2019 Planning Committee for New Plymouth Branch 50 th Anniversary.

The highlight of my involvement with the New Plymouth Branch was being elected as the Convenor for the NZSG Conference; ‘Taranaki Odyssey 2001’, which was regarded as being a very successful conference by all those who attended. This was three years in the planning, and many people did not know how the conference originated. Would you believe?, about mid-1998, it was over one of our usual Friday night ‘Pizza and Wine’ sessions (plus a bit of Genealogy research) with Bruce & Lea.

Indexing has been my main Genealogy passion, and I still continue today with large local and Military indexes; some of which have been included in the Whangarei Public Library searchable database, and also with the Puke Ariki database which is currently being discussed. Projects I have been previously involved in, are the Swainson’s Photo Index database, which resulted in the microfiche production for Branch sales and Library sales within New Zealand. Schools, Cemetery and Shipping Indexes have also been compiled both in Whangarei and New Plymouth.

I would like to extend my congratulations to the New Plymouth Branch NZSG on achieving 50 years of continuous Genealogy research in the Taranaki District.

Ann Evans NZSG #5414 Convenor 1994 to 1997

15 Recollections Gail Tanner

I joined the New Plymouth Branch of the Society of Genealogists in 1996, in order to learn how to further my family history research.

In 1997, I was voted onto the committee and then in 1998, I found myself the Convenor of the group. What a learning curve that was. I was still learning how to research, but now I had some rather big shoes to fill as I took over from Ann Evans.

What a blessing it also turned out to be. It taught me that I could stand up in front of people and talk, and I wouldn’t die of fright; and that it could be actually quite enjoyable. I have to thank the members of the group for being understanding and patient as I learnt the ropes.

We had some great visiting speakers, and always had good turnouts at the meetings.

The biggest highlight of my time as Branch Convener would have to be when we hosted the 2001 Taranaki Odyssey NZSG Conference and AGM. I was Treasurer for the conference, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had some great speakers, lots of attendees, and fun evenings.

At the time it was regarded as one of the best ever held, and was the benchmark for future conferences.

It was during the Conference that I was approached by the New Zealand Society Treasurer to take over her position on Council. I told her I’d do it when I turned 40. She didn’t forget and two years later I found myself sitting in a Council meeting in Whakatane with another rather large learning curve ahead of me. After five years I stood down, as I had done my tour of duty, and returned to normality. I still hadn’t learnt how to research my family history properly.

Gail Tanner NZSG #14745 Convenor 1998 to 2001

16 Recollections Michael Butler

Michael gave much energy and enthusiasm to his role while Convenor of our Branch. He was a committee member for about 11 years before standing down in May 2009.

In that time, he organised and led a number of beginners’ courses on Genealogy. - 2007 through to 2011. The courses always ended up with new members and a raised profile for the Branch.

The biggest event in our Branch’s history when Michael was Convenor was the opening of our rooms at Moturoa in October 2002. A lot of work was undertaken by many of our members to get the rooms ready for use. Lynn Bublitz, Deputy Mayor formally opened the room. Guest speakers were Ann Evans, Jan Gow (past president of NZSG) and Richard Hollier (vice-president NZSG).

Lady Teviot, President of the United Kingdom Federation of Family History Societies, visited us in Sept 2002 for a Saturday meeting.

In 2004, the Branch hosted Lynley Yates from Personnel Archives, New Zealand Defence Force Headquarters.

In 2005, Michael helped with the rescuing and cleaning of the Swainson-Woods photographic negatives. All these images are now online on the Puke Ariki website.

In June 2005, Viv Parker and Keith Vautier from Auckland led a weekend seminar in our rooms, which was very worthwhile.

Further along 2005, the Branch was saddened by the death of one of our much-loved members, Midge Williams, who was often on duty at the LDS Church genealogy centre in Rd.

During the time when Michael was Convenor, there were a great number of indexing projects including the indexing of the Photo News.

A good relationship with Puke Ariki Research Centre was maintained and Michael helped there as a volunteer.

Thanks go to Michael for all his work for our Branch over so many years!

Michael Butler NZSG #13995 Convenor 2002 to 2005

Written on behalf by Annette Larsen

17 Recollections Annette Larsen

My time as Convenor was a very busy one. However, I was blessed with a lot of support from the committee and many volunteers.

One of the big events that our branch was involved in; was Puke Ariki’s family identity exhibition Takapou Whariki that ran for two and a half months (Dec 2006 until March 2007). Our Branch was asked to help with this, so a roster of volunteers was created.

In 2008, our branch was involved in a; “This is Your Past” project for the Midweek, where two families were chosen to be researched. The Slaters and the Chilman/ Robertshawe/King families were chosen. This project was spearheaded by Mike Merrick, and gave our group extra publicity in the local newspaper.

In November 2009, our branch celebrated its 40 th anniversary. A very enjoyable and successful birthday; thanks to all those who helped me with the organisation. Jan Gow and Richard Hollier were guest speakers.

In 2010, some of us were involved with the Family History Fair at Hamilton. I coordinated the other Taranaki branches and we had a wonderful display at our Taranaki stand.

That same year, Michael Butler and I ran a four-week Beginners’ Genealogy course at the Research Centre at Puke Ariki on Wednesday evenings. Michael also ran courses in 2008, 2009, and 2011, which I helped with.

Among the many wonderful speakers we had over the time I was Convenor, were: Else Churchill (post-conference tour); Lady Teviot (President of the United Kingdom Federation of Family History Societies); Colonel Ray Seymour (Waiouru Army Museum); and Margaret Pool (Scottish Interest group).

In 2008, our branch was registered with the Charities Commission as a charitable trust. During my time as Convenor, our committee also decided to do away with the Friday opening of our library due to insufficient patronage.

So many projects were undertaken while I was Convenor, notably indexing of the NPBHS and NPGHS rolls. Again, thanks to all those indexers who gave of their time.

A good relationship was developed with Puke Ariki in those years, which was to our mutual benefit. In 2010, our group visited Puke Ariki to view their exhibition of the 150 th Anniversary of the Taranaki Wars.

Our group was in good heart during that time and a great deal was accomplished.

Annette Larsen NZSG #16882 Convenor 2006 to 2011

18 Recollections John B Berntsen

I took over as Acting Convenor after the 2011 AGM, as no one put their hands up for the job.

I continued as Acting Convenor until the 2013 AGM, when I was nominated for the job of Convenor.

I continued as Convenor until I resigned at the 2016 AGM.

Over my time, I represented the Branch at Area Meetings arranged by the NZSG representative for our area.

The Committee managed to arrange over that period, many good speakers, who we know people enjoyed listening to, and I hope we all learnt something new.

We also purchased 2 new computers for the branch, and got the Internet connected, so that our members could do a lot more research.

We received a grant from the TSB, for our computers.

Our members managed to transcribe a great many records which were incorporated into the Taranaki Biographical Index.

John B Berntsen NZSG #16923 Acting Convenor May 2011 to May 2013 Convenor May 2013 to May 2016

19 New Plymouth Branch Projects

Listed below are some of the Indexing Projects undertaken by Branch Members of the New Plymouth Branch of NZSG.

BDM’s from the Daily News Newspaper Wedding Anniversaries and Engagements New Plymouth Photo News New Plymouth Spotlight Magazine NPGHS Enrolment Registers NPBHS Enrolment Registers Abraham’s Undertaker Records Boon’s Burial Register Vosper’s Undertakers Index Woodleigh School Register Wills Index Welbourn School Photographs Envelope Collection Funeral Sheets North Taranaki Birth, Death and Marriage Records Taranaki Cemeteries Headstone Photographs The LINZ Project Swainson’s Negatives New Plymouth Shipping Index; Arrivals and Departures 1852-1880 Wills at Lands & Deeds Abraham’s Undertaker Index 1928 – 1954 Taranaki Biographical Index (TBI) New Plymouth Photo News & Spotlight Magazines electronically scanned

20 Transcribing headstones and copying other records in Taranaki By Pat George

I joined the New Plymouth Genealogy group late 1979 and at my first meeting, Heather Hall requested help in transcribing cemetery records. Jill Harvey and I volunteered. We started with Te Henui Cemetery. Heather then asked if I would take over being the Cemetery Archivist. We spent many a Sunday with Karen Crowe and other volunteers going to the out of town cemeteries.

In 1981, Ray Watemburg and I, went to see David Lean (the then Mayor) to request the use of students in the holidays to help transcribe the headstones. He sent us along to see the “Y” Job Creation Scheme. Des Whelan was the man-in-charge. He suggested we have P.E.P (Project Employment Program) workers on a 6-month scheme instead of students for 6 weeks. We agreed this was much better and within a month the Labour Department had supplied us with 4 girls who took over transcribing Te Henui. Three months later it was completed. The P.E.P. scheme increased to 5 girls and 1 supervisor. Our area covered North Taranaki; Opunake to Mokau and across to Whangamomona. The P.E.P. people worked for us for 3 years.

Pat George with Project Employment Program (P.E.P.) workers

21 In their time they covered most of the cemeteries. While the P.E.P workers were busy with the cemeteries, a member of our New Plymouth Genealogy group was indexing the Whiteley Memorial Methodist Church marriages pre 1915; held in New Plymouth.

I had been researching the Koru Monastery and cemetery, and this led me to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church records. The first name I had was Brother Elias Regis. Unfortunately, the church records had a gap in them, and the burials at Koru were in that period. I mentioned to the St. Joseph’s Church what had been done with the Whiteley Methodist Church and the cemeteries, and they agreed we could index their baptisms, marriages and burials with the help of the P.E.P. workers.

Lewese Davies and I went to see a Mr Franklyn at the New Plymouth Court House, and he gained permission from the Registrar General, for our workers to index the Courthouse births, deaths and civil marriage records to 1980. They worked on these in the Jury room as the records could not leave the premises. We had to vet the crew, to ensure that none of them were adopted, as they could have come across their own records. At that time, members of the group could go along to the Courthouse with the record number and obtain the full details for a mere $2.00. These records have now moved to Wellington.

This then led to us indexing the Waitara Post Office births, deaths and marriages. First, we had to photocopy everything at a cost of $140.00. The Waitara sub-branch helped cut and alphabetically sort the deaths and marriages. A few members and I, did the same with the births, at my house. I then typed all 250 pages which were then checked by the P.E.P workers. The photocopied pages were returned to the Post Office to be destroyed.

We then gained permission to index the Inglewood Post Office births, deaths and marriages. These records did not commence until 1894 due to a fire. These records were transferred to the NP Court House where the P.E.P. workers typed the first run. The original records were returned to Inglewood Post Office, and the Inglewood sub- branch completed the alphabetical typing of the indexes.

Karen Crowe, Lewese Davies and I, went to the St Mary’s Church Parish Committee to gain permission to index their records. After much persuasion we were able to convince them to let our P.E.P. workers index their records; with the promise the records would never be passed on to the Latter Day Saints Church, and only 2 copies were to be made; one for our Group and one for their Church. They also had a volume with the 1842-44 MALE census for New Plymouth, which we were also allowed to copy. The church; having had rain get into the safe and damaging some of the books, agreed to have a card version made of the census records with far more details than the index.

22 Concentration was then focussed on the Inglewood records, including Sacred Heart Catholic Church, United Church, Post Office, Catholic School and Primary schools. The only church we could not obtain the records for, was the St. Andrews Anglican Church, as their records are sent straight to the Diocese.

I felt it was time to start working on the school rolls. I talked Jill Harvey into being the school records Archivist which she started. Eventually Noreen Potts took over from her. Jill and I paid a visit to the Taranaki Education Board for permission which they gave, but only if each school Principal agreed.

Back in the mid-1980s my ultimate aim was to buy a computer with a memory capacity large enough to carry all the indexes on a personal data base. Now, in the 2000s the New Plymouth Genealogy Group is doing just that. Oh! Don’t you wish all dreams were fulfilled!

I took a 20 year break from genealogy and low and behold I returned in 2017; and was asked by Stuart Scarle ( Council Sexton) to update the cemetery transcriptions, and to photograph all the headstones. This is being done by Karen Crowe, Noreen Potts and me. Lorraine and Rod Austin also helped us at the beginning. I think this is where I say; “Here we go again”.

Continued by Noreen Potts

I had joined the New Plymouth Branch of the New Zealand Genealogists Society in 1979. During the 1980s, many new projects were being undertaken by members. I took over the school records project in 1983.

Pat George had organised P.E.P workers to help with the cemetery transcribing, and some of these were for the School Admission Rolls project as well. We accumulated typewriters for the workers to copy information from the school registers to individual pieces of paper with a supervisor in charge of the workers, in a room provided for us at the YMCA building at Lemon Street New Plymouth. Charlie (my husband) and I spent a lot of time travelling to most of the schools in North Taranaki. He also made the boxes and shelves for these indexed papers.

I would visit each school and get permission from each principal to copy their registers. Some would allow us to photocopy them at the school, and some very kindly would allow us to take them away for copying. I was always very careful to return them as soon as possible. Many of the very old school registers that were closed around the war years were found at a lot of these schools. They had been passed on with the children who had gone on to another school. Also, I found a lot of the closed registers at the old Education Board. A short time later these were all sent to Archives in Wellington.

23 It was very interesting finding the information on a lot of the very old schools we had never heard of, as these were mentioned in the admission rolls. It would refer to the previous school they had attended. This service was provided by the government at that time, and went on for perhaps 2 or 3 years.

About 1986 we had a long list of schools that had been done, and the P.E.P. scheme had finished. It had been a great bonus for us. Sometime later these slips of paper were copied onto A4 sheets. We had a member, Tui Gernhoefer, who was skilled in book binding. So, as each school was typed up, I would take them to her, and she would bind them into those yellow books you find in our rooms. She also did the same with Churches and Cemeteries that feature in the green books. In later years when computers became the thing, member Peter Hewett was in charge of getting these records on to the floppy disks that were in use at that time. Then onto CD’s and now, you can view them on your own computer.

I gave up being the School Records Archivist sometime in the early 1990s and Beryl Spencer took over.

Through the 1980s another project was underway; The Wills Project. A few of our members were able to transcribe at the New Plymouth Court House, and about 2 or 3 of us at a time, would copy the information we were allowed. Not long after, these huge books, held at our Court House, were all taken to Wellington. We are so very lucky to have saved this information for our Genealogy Branch.

Sometime in the 1990s, member Judy Kirkland was able to access the boxes of negatives from the Studio of the Bernard Woods collection which also included the Swainson Collection of negatives. Several of us met at her home and spent a lot of time indexing these negatives in their boxes. Later these were put onto microfiche.

When the Swainson negatives were rescued from the shed and were taken to the New Plymouth library in 2005, volunteers were needed to clean these boxes of negatives after they were all fumigated. I joined the volunteer group and for 2 or 3 days a week would go into the library with others and clean. This was required as the first stage. We were to brush off all dirt and grit keeping all names. These were all put in new paper envelopes ready for the experts to work on later. Some were so bad that there were blocks of negatives all stuck together with no chance of separation.

The latest Project is updating all the North Taranaki Cemetery Transcriptions from the 1982 – 84 years, when all the cemeteries were done. Karen and I started on the Te Henui cemetery in New Plymouth in November of 2016. It took us 14 months to do the cleaning, checking and photographing of all the headstones, adding all new information and then taking photos of each headstone. Lorraine and her husband joined us for a short time until Lorraine got busy on other projects. In February of 2018, we began on the smaller cemeteries of Lepperton, Okato, Oakura, 2 at Bell Block, , Huirangi, Tikorangi, Urenui, and Rahotu.

24 At the end of 2018, we began the Waitara cemetery, finishing in June 2019. Early in 2019, we were given help in the cleaning process of a small area of the Inglewood cemetery. We had help for 3 weeks from a few New Plymouth Girls’ High boarders, under supervision. They had some fun, and learnt a little of what Karen and I are doing for our Genealogy Branch; and in the way of conservation. Inglewood is the 12 th cemetery that we have started, at this time in July 2019. After photographing, with Karen checking and adding information to each headstone, I downloaded photos and named each one in order of Block, Row, and Plot. These are copied onto a USB stick and handed to Pat, and she does the time-consuming work of getting them ready for the website. Many hours of work. Karen and I have done huge amounts of travelling and countless hours spent on this job, but very interesting and rewarding, and to us, a very worthwhile project.

Noreen Potts

25 Conference Taranaki Odyssey 2001

This Conference was conceived probably more as a passing comment, and not being too serious, but the more it was discussed between 4 or 5 of the Branch members; the more it started to become a reality. Initially we had a volunteer committee of six members, but with one person moving away, we then reorganised and became a final committee of seven; following the approval from the NZSG Council in late 1998.

Little did we realise the amount of time that was going to be involved with the organisation, programme, correspondence, finance, overseas speakers, and finding a suitable venue; to get this Conference organised ready for June 2001. We attended the 1999 Conference in Whangarei to see how it was presented; and then the Taranaki Odyssey committee were required to attend the 2000 Conference in Christchurch to introduce the 2001 Conference in New Plymouth; and to receive the official NZSG Banner and Committee Sashes.

June 2001, Taranaki Odyssey was underway with overseas speakers from Scotland and Australia, as well as 17 speakers from around New Zealand. Our Saturday night formal dinner was very well attended with practically everyone dressing in period costumes to really make the weekend a memorable one. There are almost 400 photos that captured the whole weekend in one form or another.

The venue was the Plymouth International Hotel. The conference booked all of the accommodation, function rooms and catering from Friday until final departure on the Monday. The Hotel staff made our organisation very easy, by making sure everything was available in the right place at the right time; and in particular, the catering for morning and afternoon teas, buffet meals, lunches and Saturday night formal dinner was exceptional.

It was a very successful conference enjoyed by all who attended.

26 Our two Australian speakers – Gary Presland and Helen Doxford Harris OAM

One of our committee members; – Merv Smith enjoying the Saturday night dinner

27 The L.I.N.Z. Project

This project came about following a New Plymouth Genealogy Branch visit to the local New Plymouth office of Land Information New Zealand in 2001. During that visit it became apparent that the local office of LINZ would be closing at the end of that year and all the land records were going to be transferred to the Hamilton LINZ Office. Realising the great loss of information that it would be to local genealogists, it was decided to try and capture some vital data in the remaining months. A small team of volunteers was gathered together, and the decision made to transcribe the ownership of land details for the original township of New Plymouth from its beginning in 1840 until approximately 1900.

Forms were designed to transcribe the information from the Deeds books. First, the Sectional Index book containing the 2348 sections for the original township of New Plymouth were captured, entered into a database, printed and corrected. This initial part of the project proceeded reasonably quickly and smoothly. The second part of the project was then to capture the data for each section from the “I” and “R” books. Our team of transcribers was given several pages of the Sectional Index book printout and began the process.

At first, for the sake of completeness, we decided to capture all the details entered in the “I” books, relating to each section. As time progressed it became evident that we would not have time to complete the project; and to the relief of several of our team we made the decision to capture just the “change of ownership” (conveyancing) details for each section. Luckily, several members of our transcribing team were able to spend several hours, several days each week, transcribing at the LINZ Office, and we achieved our goal.

The resulting data from this project is now available in the Branch Library.

28 Branch Library and Rooms at Moturoa

For a time up until 2002, our Branch had been using a small thirteen square metre room on the second floor of the King’s Building for our Branch library. It was too small to hold meetings in, but had served well to house our research library holdings.

At the beginning of 2002, one of our long serving Branch Committee members, Merv Smith, was asked to approach the owner of the King’s Building with a request for more space. As that request was not granted, Merv then searched elsewhere for larger accommodation.

In March, Merv reported the library options to the Branch Committee, and in May the Committee visited the basement at Moturoa. After the visit, Merv moved a proposal to re-locate the library to Moturoa, which was endorsed by the Committee. Merv was given authority to negotiate the terms of a tenancy agreement, and our Branch was given permission to commence work on our new premises on 1 st July 2002.

An appeal was made to our members for help to refurbish the basement.

Several members came forward to help build dividing walls, fix Gib Board, plaster it and then paint the ceiling and walls.

The new shelves from Puke Ariki

29 Re-housing the books

We built the computer table, and we also erected the shelving that had been donated by Puke Ariki, for the library collection.

The New Plymouth Genealogy Computer Group donated over $5,000 to the Branch to purchase the carpet, 50 stacking chairs, overhead projector, screen, and computer scanner for the new rooms. When the rooms were completed, it was time to move all our library holdings from the King’s Building to their new home at Moturoa.

As usual our members rallied around, and the books, microfiche and equipment were soon in place at their new home.

The new Branch Library and meeting rooms, were opened on 3 rd September 2002, and have served the Branch admirably over the last seventeen years.

30 The Swainson’s Photographic Studio Negative Recovery

During July 1994, Judy Kirkland suggested to the New Plymouth Genealogy Computer Group, that they index the photographs taken by professional photographer Joseph Swainson, between 1923 and 1939. Judy, who had been employed by Joseph, was aware that the negatives of photographs of local weddings, sports groups, portraits and business premises, were stored in the ceiling of the Bernard Woods Photographic Studio.

The project was undertaken by a small band of willing helpers who recovered the estimated 15,000 negatives from the ceiling, cleaned them and produced an electronic index of names. Fortunately the negatives had the surnames written in indelible ink, followed by an identifying number on each envelope, which could contain up to six negatives.

The project had been completed by June 1997, when Judy wrote an article for the “GenCom News” advising researchers that copies of the negatives could be purchased from Jenny Woods at Bernard Woods Studio.

During October 2005, Bruce Bellini became aware that Jenny Woods had made the decision to stop practising as a professional photographer, sell her home and move away from New Plymouth. Bruce then arranged a meeting between Judy Kirkland, Dianna Gibbons (Curator, Puke Ariki), and Jenny Woods; where Jenny agreed to donate the Swainson negative collection to Puke Ariki. At the meeting we learned that Jenny had already sold her house, and it was only a few days before the new owner took possession of the property. Genealogy Computer Group members were hastily organised to collect the negatives from the shed in which they had been stored, and transport them to Puke Ariki, using their own vehicles.

Annette Larsen recovering some of the Swainson’s Photographic Studio Negatives

31 New Plymouth Genealogical Computer Group

The New Plymouth Genealogical Computer Group was founded on 18 th October 1992, at the home of Ann and Murray Evans in Bell Block. At the first meeting there were 7 attendees, with many others expressing their interest, but unable to attend on that day.

Our membership gradually increased to the point where we needed to find a larger meeting place, and were fortunate to be able to use the Knox Church hall in Fitzroy, where we stayed until about 2002; finally moving into the present Branch rooms.

We grew up with operating systems from MS-DOS; the terminology for which, a lot of us are still familiar with today. Next to follow were Windows 1 & 2, - A completely different look. Followed by Windows 3.0, 3.1, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and now Windows 10.

During our early days, we talked about the different Genealogy Database programs, e.g. PAF, Brother’s Keeper, and Roots 3, to name a few. Then the group got into some serious indexing; e.g. “Swainson’s Photographs”, and “Shipping Arrivals into New Plymouth”. Some were recorded onto Microfiche which generated income for the NPGCG.

With our membership up to around 20-30, the group were starting to have fun. We had Genealogical Computing Interest Days, open to the public. We had Garage Sales, a combined Computer Open Day together with other Branches from Waitara, Stratford, Inglewood etc; Demonstration Internet Days, Crazy Hat nights, to name a few.

Guest speakers from Auckland (as well as local speakers), made regular visits to be with us for weekend presentations, usually ending up at Marbles for dinner.

In the days before proper networking and data projection; and to have sufficient computers at our monthly meetings for all our members to be able to view, it usually ended up with at least two carloads of computers and monitors being transported to Knox Church Hall. They were then set up with Bruce’s magic “Spider” cable system, so that the demonstration could be run from one master computer, allowing everyone to see, via other monitors. It was a marathon to set up, but it worked remarkably well.

Then, in 1998–2001, both the NPGCG and the New Plymouth Branch became involved with the running of the Taranaki Odyssey 2001 Conference, held at the Plymouth International Hotel. This took up a huge amount of our time, but the end result shows today with having our own rooms and library, which are a great asset.

After 20 years of continuous meetings, the NPGCG officially ceased to be part of the NZSG as a Special Interest group in 2012, and now meets informally every two months.

Congratulations to the NP Branch NZSG on your 50 th Celebrations 1969 – 2019.

Murray Evans

32

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