Thames (NZ): PUCKEY family

While many of us search to find the earliest we can track our genealogy back anywhere in the world, it is always of interest to see when our ancestors first stepped onto New Zealand shores. Many of New Zealand's earliest settlers and those born in the early days - eventually spent some time on the Thames Goldfields. The lure of gold escaped no one!

The PUCKEY family are pioneers of early New Zealand, and yes they too, spent some time on The Thames. The first recorded Europen marriage in New Zealand was William PUCKEY to Matilda DAVIS.
"At Waimate North on 11 October 1831 Puckey married Matilda Davis (who was then aged 17), second daughter of Rev. Richard Davis, thus becoming the first European couple recorded to be married in New Zealand. Their first child was born in early January 1833, but only survived for seven weeks."

In later years, Matilda PUCKEY (after the death of her husband) would come and settle with family in Thames. Matilda died 15th July 1884 at her son's Sandes Street home and is buried in Shortland Cemetery.

One of her son's EDWARD WALTER PUCKEY was a well known native interpreter in the Thames area (previously mentioned in an article on Daldy McWILLIAMS.) Part of his obituary is below.


Auckland Star 18/2/1924 (full obituary at paperspast)



Mr Puckey would have walked across this Hape Creek Footbridge turning left into Mackay Street, then right into Grey Street (past the little building - the Post Office) to work at the Land Court on the corner of Grey and Pollen Streets.



Thames (NZ): Charles Blomfield (artist)

While collecting obituaries from the Auckland Star, it never ceases to amaze me the names that have passed through Thames. We often say to people, I'm sure you will have a Thames connection somewhere!!!

One such person who spent time on the Thames Goldfields, was CHARLES BLOMFIELD. The extended Blomfield family arrived in New Zealand in 1863 on the Gertrude.

"Samuel found work in the building industry, and Charles was employed by a house painter and was taught paint mixing, wood graining and other decorative skills. He was later to set up a business specialising in decorative art work.
By 1867 economic depression and unemployment had come to Auckland. Following the discovery of gold at Thames, Samuel took his family to live there; he soon found employment building houses for the hundreds of people who joined the goldrush. Charles Blomfield, with two of his friends, was among the gold-seekers, but their claim was very poor and after weeks of hard work they had only a meagre amount to show for their efforts."
Source: Muriel Williams. 'Blomfield, Charles - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10
URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/biographies/2b28/1

Charles BLOMFIELD is remembered today for his landscape paintings, including the one below of the 'pink and white terraces.'

Oil painting of the White Terraces, Lake Rotomahana, by Charles Blomfield, 1888

Thames (NZ): New article Treasury Journal (Nurse Pennell)

A new article is available for reading in THE TREASURY JOURNAL (The Coromandel Heritage Trust).

Title:
Nurse Mary PENNELL and family of Paeroa
by Doreen (Penne) Pennell

The story starts with Mary's father Patrick MCCARTHY who was a fencible and came to New Zealand in 1847. Full family history is given, along with a wonderful account of a women who served her community as nurse and midwife. Mary PENNELL (nee MCCARTHY) died of influenza during the 1918 epidemic.

Remember contributions are welcomed by the Editor, contact details available at the bottom of this page.

Paeraoa Maternity Hospital c1950

Thames (NZ): Early Electricity supply

While many of us experienced several hours of no electricity last Saturday, it makes one realise how reliant we are on this resource.

One hundred years ago, Thamesites were relishing the few hours of electrical current they were being supplied and the joys of having street lighting in certain areas.

In September 1914, there had been 210 application for electric current. Technical details on the electrical plant were in the paper 10 June 1914, along with reports that businesses were busy changing over from gas to electricity supply.

By 1915, there were 308 households connected to the Mains. They were being supplied on certain afternoons: Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. A Street Lamp had been put at Karaka Creek Road, while the people around Clarence Street had petitioned for a lamp.

A few years later in 1919, the community was being reminded about how wonderful Electricity was, and they were urged to sign the Thames Valley Electric Scheme petition.

Thames Star 30 August 1919

Full details on the history of electricity supply in Thames can be found at the Hauraki Pump House in Cochrane Street, Thames.

Thames (NZ): New article in TREASURY JOURNAL

Just alerting readers to a new article in THE TREASURY JOURNAL.
The details are: H LOWE, Mayor of Thames 1910-1919 by A Arundel.

Henry LOWE ran a butchery in Pollen Street, known as LOWE & GOODWIN. The shop was located in the area north of the Mary Street intersect. Full family details can be found in the article.

A list and photos of other early Thames Mayors can be found at The Treasury website.
Captain William DAVIES was in 1874 elected the first Mayor of Thames, following the establishment of the Thames Borough in 1873, and the amalgamation of the townships of Shortland and Grahamstown.

Thames (NZ): Archive building for Thames

An update for Thamesites who are not yet members of 'The Coromandel Heritage Trust.' A newsletter has been sent letting us all know about the exciting progress towards the building of the special purpose archives building, that will be attached to the south of the present TREASURY building.

The final fundraising is necessary to get the building underway...if you can help in any way please contact the trust via their webgage.  Many businesses started in Thames and have gone onto to be very successful...if you are connected to one of these, maybe you can help.

Thames (NZ): A Thamesite

What's in a name, how is it spelt and why was it used?
To start with I have always heard the term THAMESITE used for people who were 'real' Thames folk! People who had their roots and foundations firmly from the goldmining years. Those families that first settled on the Thames goldfields and even after many left, they would still fondly call themselves a THAMESITE.

The question today is the spelling...I am often swayed by others that it should be THAMES-ITE. So to resolve this once and for all I went to Paperspast and searched for both terms. The Thames-ite seems to bring upa handful of false results, whereas the term THAMESITE brings up 378 results.

The first example was by Mr Macdonald in 1876.

NZ HERALD 19 June 1876

The Concept of being a Thamesite remained strong over the years, and there is nothing these old Thamesites like better than a good old reunion! The 1927 Diamond Jubilee was just one excuse for a massive gathering and parade, as so beautifully portrayed in the Auckland Weekly News 11 August 1927. 

 The last entry at Paperspast for Thamesite was in the Auckland Star 1 June 1936, when a reference was made to a meeting. It summed up early memories that many will have of ex town folk making the Sunday trip for cuppa with the relatives...then going back to Auckland. Over the years as generations have died and there are no longer Grandparents to visit, these trips back home, for many, have become a thing of the past.

As more and more people explore their past and genealogy, thanks to places like The Treasury - they often find relatives who have passed through Thames, and we can say...yes you too are a THAMESITE!

Thames (NZ): Heritage Photos at Auckland City Libraries

An ongoing plea for anyone who has old photos of Thames - NEVER throw them out, The Treasury at Thames is always interested in old photos and you can donate the photo or a good digital image. The collection continues to grow, so please go and check it out when passing.

My last few days have been occupied exploring the images at Auckland CITY Libraries online collection. You can access this indirectly via the MATAPIHI site (and then filter your results) or my preferred option is the Libraries Heritage Image link. 

Take a look at this image online or below. The image provided by Auckland Library shows three hotels and four shops that had previously not positively been identified. The photo looks down on Rolleston Street, the hospital would be to the right and the road runs out to Banks Street. In the early days this would still be called Bowen Street from the Hape Bridge. Near the centre of the photo, stands a two storied building - that is the GLOBE HOTEL.

Above: Shortland Thames. Photo by D Richardson 1886
Below: The GLOBE HOTEL on the corner of Rolleston & Sealey Streets - where the present Thames High School Gymnasium stands today (partial of the above for identification purposes)
Source: 'Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 4-RIC133'

 Remember when hunting for information on Thames-ites to check out the digital collection at Auckland City Libraries Website. Examples include: Auckland Passenger arrivals, 1881 Electoral ROLLS plus many more.

Thames (NZ): Early Business Update

Apologies to those new to the blog, who may wonder why my website does not update. Failed computers and new software have meant it is a challenge to update those pages...so for now I keep you posted via this blog.

I am up to the letter N, updating my research into Pre 1930 businesses of THAMES, New Zealand. This information is kept at THE TREASURY in Thames - available for researchers (who visit or request paid research). What is becoming apparent is the number of people that tried their luck at Thames. We often associate this just with mining but people were coming to the Thames to test the commercial waters. While bankruptcy was a regular event, many did also have success and went on to have long, successful businesses in Thames and New Zealand.

Fascinating stories continue to emerge, as well as advertisements that give a wonderful view of what life was like over a hundred years ago. Take the new typewriter available for sale at C CATER's music shop in Pollen Street, Thames.

Mr Cater was noted to be a talented musician and stocked the best “pieces in songs, dance music, and pianoforte solos” It was noted that Thames was a music loving population and “Mr Cater’s stock is calculated to please the artistic taste of all Music-lovers.”

Many businesses also diversified their products, in the case of Mr Cater he catered to the commercial businesses in town with his stock of compact typewriters. “The compact and portable Albus typewriters, which weigh only 51/2 lb; and are veritable works of art in mechanism, and general working capabilities.” (Thames Star 1/4/1913)

Thames (NZ): Early settlers of Thames

The Pioneer Families Register at The Treasury (The Coromandel Heritage Trust), provides a great start for researching families of the wider goldfield region.

"The Pioneer Family Register is a collection of forms filled in by people with early family in this region, under the umbrella of The Hauraki Thames Indexing Group. We have had an amazing response to this project, with forms arriving from all over New Zealand, and from overseas. Frequently people have sent in extra information, or provided a photoand these are filed separately. Some have sent in family history books as well.
The forms contain much interesting information about our early settlers - where they came from, the boat they came out on, their interests, their children's names, as well as the dates for these events where known. On the reverse side is the name of the person submitting this information - so a family researcher wanting more information has the address of someone to contact."

Photos: The Pioneer Families Collection Folders (top) and (above) another view of just a few of the many resources available at The Treasury, Thames

If you have infomation on a family who settled on the Thames Goldfields pre 1900, please consider completing the form today! - you then may find some new family researchers in the weeks to come. In the past week I have had the fortune to meet some new Vercoe researchers, thanks in part to this collection and a visit to The Treasury.