FAMILY HISTORY MONTH
August is Family History month. Throughout New Zealand, local and national groups have organised talks and informative days to assist the beginner to the advanced genealogist. Thames has events at The Treasury and the local branch of the New Zealand Genealogists Society.BRICKWALLS
If I could start again on the research of Thamesites (and my ancestors), I would start a notebook or spreadsheet and document when I had literally given up on 'someone'! Meaning I had hit a 'brickwall' and that I was sure there are no detours or solutions to proceed with that person's history. With so much information available at our fingertips via places like ancestry.au (free access for library users till end of August), or free within most New Zealand Libraries - Never say 'brickwalls' exist forever. They are just treasures awaiting solving.
Below is the case of Andrew Duncan, interred at Shortland Cemetery in 1935. I have previously spent hours trying to locate and verify this man's / soldier's details. Follow the tale below and you will see 'brickwall's' can be broken.
PLOT 3768 SHORTLAND CEMETERY - Who is Andrew Duncan?
Plot 3768 Shortland Cemetery - Andrew Duncan
- The Thames Coromandel Council District Cemetery database provides information on Andrew Duncan. He was interred 23 December 1935, aged 43 years.
- Unfortunately there is no plaque on the headstone, which based on its shape and size indicates Andrew Duncan was a World War One soldier. A monumental inscription project completed in the 1970s by the New Zealand Society of Genealogists, luckily records the details that were on the plaque. (Source ancestry.au) "NZEF 252563 Pte A Duncan, d 21 December 1935"
- Next step to check the Auckland War Memorial Cenotaph for Andrew Duncan Regimental Number 252563. The regimental number didn't fit the format of WWI soldiers, so suspected a '/' may have been omitted. After checking the files of all the Andrew Duncan's there was no match, no wrongly written regimental numbers. Remember you can view the files online and usually the military service will have recorded the date of death and may have even included a notification of death notice.
- The death notice in the paper held the next clue to solving if and where Andrew Duncan completed his military service, given that being part of the first New Zealand Expeditionary Force seemed to be doubtful. Andrew was indeed from Scotland, so may have served for a branch of the army in England or Scotland.
AUCKLAND STAR, VOLUME LXVI, ISSUE 303, 23 DECEMBER 1935
- The death notice also revealed that Andrew Duncan who is interred at Thames had a family in New Zealand. Mrs J Bowman, Mrs A Griffiths, Mrs R Cooke and two brothers. So who was Andrew's sister Mrs A Griffiths recorded in the death notice? A search on papers past, following a search for a marriage at NZ BMD Marriage registrations revealed that his sister was Margaret Scouller Duncan who married Andrew Griffiths September 1930. Described as a Scotch Wedding, Miss Duncan's parents were Mr A Duncan and the late Mrs Duncan of Paisley, Scotland.
- Now given the naming patterns in Scotland, it was possible that the mother's maiden name was SCOULLER, and this was confirmed in family trees on ancestry.au (accessed 31 July 2020). Andrew Duncan's parents were: Andrew Duncan and Jane Scouller of Scotland. Leaving the family researcher with options to research back in Scotland via sites such as Scotlands People.
- Now with the Scottish ancestry confirmed, the military records on ancestry.au and also available via the Discovery site (National Archives, Kew) site confirmed the regimental number was in fact correct. Not for the NZEF but for the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.
Andrew Duncan's Medal Card, Discovery, The National Archives Kew.
So, the discovery journey has taken us from wondering who and where Andrew Duncan served in World War One, to being as certain as we can be without purchasing all the relevant certificates, that our Andrew Duncan at Shorland Cemetery was - Private A Duncan #252563 of the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders.
We have also learnt, that despite having a broken headstone, that Andrew had a large family in New Zealand. We could go on very easily and track those people and build the tree even further.
Another path could be to find out what Andrew's occupation and where he lived in the Thames area. The 1935 electoral roll for instance has an Andrew Duncan, Labourer at Paeroa.
I hope you can see how the hunt can be both easy and hard; plus very addictive. Keep following those leads and you too will break down the odd brickwall or two!
