The Last Post

On October 3rd 1918, John Francis Payn, my great-uncle, was killed in action near Crevecoeur in northern France.

He was born in Kumara on the West Coast in 1895, the sixth child and second son of Francis Davis Payn and Johanna Scettrini.

He was a private in the 2nd Battalion of the Wellington Regiment, NZEF. He departed New Zealand on 17 June 1917, and served in France for just over a year before his death on the battlefield.

Via Twitter, thanks to @NZLainey and @powderkeig, I learned about the Last Post ceremonies at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park in Wellington. These have been held each evening to commemorate the 100 year anniversaries of New Zealand  involvement in World War 1. I decided to apply to read the Ode in English at the ceremony on October 3rd, 2018, the date marking 100 years since the death of John Francis Payn.

Leaving Palmerston North early-ish allowed time for some Wellington explorations. It was dull and a little drizzly first thing, but this seemed to bring out the very best in the tulips at the Botanical Gardens. Somehow, their brightness reminded me of poppies found today on the old battlefields.

Around 4pm it was time to get ready for the ceremony. I had taken my greenstone taonga to wear, which had belonged to a cousin on the Payn side. (I had also decided to wear a skirt to show respect- but the Wellington breeze was swirling around the memorial, so perhaps trousers would have been more suitable!)

When I arrived at Pukeahu I was very pleased to find my youngest sister, who lives in Wellington, had made it there. Lainey and Jane both arrived, and a cousin and her three children were also there. It was heartening to find I had such support.

Soon John, the organiser of the ceremony, arrived, and he made my sister and myself both very welcome. He talked me through what was to happen. Since it was a special anniversary, he said I could say a few words about John Francis, and lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the start of the ceremony. I was introduced to all the military participants, and they also made me very welcome.

The ceremony itself was simple and dignified. There was a senior officer who was in charge, two men to bring down the flags, and a bugler. This day there were three of us to read the Ode, including an Italian man who read it in Italian.

We marched out to our positions, and we three readers of the Ode stood just behind the tomb. I spoke briefly about John Francis and laid the wreath. Then the bugler played the still and the Last Post. We three read our versions of the Ode, in Te Reo, English, and Italian. And then everyone stood still for a minute's silence. At the end we all marched back into the shrine area. It was a simple ceremony, very respectful of the memory of those soldiers who had not come home.

John had a special gift for me before we all departed- this special '100' Last Post commemoration pin. He then kindly took photos of our family visitors in the shrine.

It was a special time at Pukeahu, and I feel privileged to have had the chance to honour the memory of John Francis Payn.

Using the Corippo Parish Register

We know from his naturalisation papers that Giuseppe Scettrini (my great-great grandfather) came from the village of Corippo in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland. And from his marriage and death register entries, we know that his parents were Giovanni Scettrini, and Giovanini (Johanna) Maria Scilacci, and that he was born around 1835.

Corippo is found in Valle Verzasca. The nearest larger town to Corippo is Locarno.

Back in the 1990s when I was researching more about Giuseppe’s ancestors in Corippo, I was able to order the microfilm for the Corippo Parish Registers in to my local Mormon Family History Centre. The film number was 1751127. This film had not previously been ordered by anyone in New Zealand, and it was brought into the country for me. I remain grateful to the Mormon Church for this service.

The parish church in Corippo is named Sancta Maria Virgine de Monte Carmelli (Blessed Mary Virgin of Mt Carmel).

The parish registers in Corippo at the time were all written in Latin.  I had reason to be appreciative of the three years I had studied Latin in high school to School Certificate level, as it enabled me to translate a lot of the important details.

One of the treasures of this register, was that entries commonly named the father of those named. So for instance, when Giuseppe was baptised, each of his parents were named, but so also were the names of the fathers of each of his parents. This clue to the names of 'three generations' made it much easier to trace entries back with more confidence.

The family name is spelled Scettrini in Italian, but in Latin in the parish registers, it appears as Scitrini when in the nominative case. However, one of the characteristics of Latin is that endings alter depending on the ‘case’ of the noun. Thus it appears as Scitrino in the genitive case, eg when someone is the daughter of someone else.

The register was not always easy to read. The handwriting of some priests was more legible than others. Additionally, the entries varied in length and detail according to the priest of the time. (Sometimes there was considerable detail about such things as the degree of consanguinity that I didn’t try to translate.)

There were so many Scettrini families in Corippo at the time, that sometimes our line was called Scettrini-Benada, or even just Benada.

At times family members descended to a pasturage area, Vira Gambarogno, nearer the lake, Lago Maggiore. This meant that occasionally I could not find the entry for a direct ancestor I was trying to find.

I constructed some family group sheets as well as I could. However, then I had some truly fortunate contact with a man called Rae Codoni who hailed from California. Rae had done extensive research into his Codoni ancestors from Corippo. (We worked our that I am a half fifth cousin with his daughter Anne, the half being because of a remarriage.) I was very glad to be able to compare my draft findings with his, and am truly grateful for all the information he so generously shared with me.

"Family" Stamps

One of the things I enjoy most about tracing my family history is finding out more about the places my ancestors came from, and maybe understanding a bit about what it was like living there. And sometimes there are little 'place' treats along the way.

In the very early days when I was working out who my great-grandparents were, I was sent this stamp by Maurice Payn. It represents a "Payn" family coat of arms from Jersey in the Channel Islands.

 

And someone sent me this stamp that represents Corippo in Ticino, Switzerland, where my Scettrini family came from. (I think it might have been a young German friend of a friend who visited there and sent me some photos.) It was a Swiss stamp that was issued 19 February, 1985.

The stamp gives you a bit of an idea how beautiful this mountain village is. I hope to revisit it once more in a year or so- maybe 2020...

Fr John Riordan

Again, I am in debt to the Papers Past website for information about my family's past. This time I am grateful for more things I have been able to learn about my great-uncle, John Riordan, who died in 1925 while serving as Parish Priest in Ross on the West Coast.

In the early 1990s when I was starting to collect genealogy information about my family, I wrote to the Christchurch Diocesan Archives to find out more about Fr John Riordan. A lovely kind priest, Fr K J Clark, was interested to find out more about some of these former priests himself. He contacted the priest in Hokitika to see if someone could check The Guardian, the Hokitika newspaper, and I was sent notes taken from that paper about Fr John's dying and funeral, as well as his obituary.

Time has moved on since then, and a lot more from past newspapers can be easily retrieved online, (though still not from The Guardian in Hokitika it seems.) Some of these old newspaper treasures give such an intimate look at a person from the past. And so it has been with Fr John Riordan.

When he was ordained he served first in Ahaura parish, and though he was not there for long before  he went to Ross, it seems that fond memories of him were still held. This account - Ahaura Notes- appeared in the NZ Tablet on 6 May 1925.

May he rest in peace.

Riordan/Narbey line

I have been looking at the Canterbury Riordan info I have, prior to the NZSG conference which will be held in Christchurch at Queen's Birthday weekend.

Patrick Joseph Riordan (my great-uncle), was the third child born to Patrick Riordan and Mary Burke in 1886. In 1911, he married Mary Philomena Narbey (born in Akaroa) at the Catholic Church in Darfield. Patrick Joseph and Mary Philomena had six children: a son, Patrick Alphonsus, and five daughters, Mary Patricia (Molly), Thecla Philomena, Ursula Veronica, Colleen Cecelia and Aileen Winifred.

Patrick Joseph died in 1944 and is buried at the Broadfield-Shand’s Rd Cemetery along with his wife, Mary Philomena, who is buried in the same plot. Bridget Ryan, Patrick’s sister, is buried nearby.

I do not have a ‘confirmed’ photo of Patrick Joseph, but there is a possibility... Perhaps someone in Patrick's direct line, or someone descended from a Narbey line, might be able to shed some light on this photo.

This photograph, from the HH Clifford collection of Canterbury Museum, is labelled “Mr R J Riordan, bridal couple, c 1911.” I have searched and was unable to find any R J Riordan, nor his wedding in 1911. This man ‘looks’ like  one of our Riordans to me! I suspect- but have not proven- that this is a photo of Patrick Joseph Riordan and Mary Philomena Narbey on their wedding day.

Anyone who has any further info about this photo, I would love to hear from you!

PS: For comparison- this is a photo of my grandfather, Martin, -Patrick's brother. 

How do we know?- Scettrini in Corippo

Joseph Scettrini seated in middle, in Kumara.

 I have been following the ancestral trail of Giuseppe Scettrini in Switzerland for quite some time now. Somehow early on I learned he was from Corippo in Ticino. I am not sure how I 'knew' this- but it must have formed part of the family story passed down somehow. However, recently, I have had someone from Australia tell me we are wrong- the name is really Scattini- perhaps from another village entirely.

So I had to see what kind of 'paper trail' there was for Corippo being the correct place of origin for my Scettrini. I have a copy of Giuseppe's marriage and death register entries. In both it just says he comes from Switzerland. But in both it also names his parents- with spelling variants as always!- as John Scetrini and Giovanini Scilaci.

I began looking through other papers I had, and quite clearly in his naturalisation papers there it was. In 1883, when Giuseppe applied for naturalisation, it is quite clearly written that he was born in Corippo, in the Canton of Ticino, Switzerland.

And back in the parish register in Corippo, his baptism is clearly recorded in Latin- in 1835, as the first born child to Giovanni Scettrini and Maria Johanna Scillaci. See this post.

Corippo, in springtime

Payn-Wallace wedding

How I love Papers Past! I am currently going through all the info I have about Frank Payn and Johanna Scettrini's family, and tidying it all up in neat folders both on the computer and into paper files. Mostly I only have a small amount of info about each of their children but it still takes time.

Next job is to store it all online somehow but I am being so indecisive about what to use. I find Google Docs so cumbersome- not sure about DropBox- and have never really got to proper grips with iCloud. One day...

Every so often I get bored with being neat and tidy, and I delve into Papers Past to find something new...

While I was tidying all my info about Elizabeth Payn, the third child of Frank and Johanna, a little Papers Past delving led me to this wonderful account of her marriage.

 This account was published in the West Coast Times on 7 February 1912. From it we learn that Elizabeth Payn married Mr Kenneth Wallace of Hokitika on February 5th 1912 at Holy Trinity Church. We are told Elizabeth was the second daughter, and was given away by her father. Her sister Mary was her bridesmaid. There were toasts held at the bride's parents residence after the ceremony, and in the evening bride and groom left for their future home in Hokitika. 

One of the other useful features of the Papers Past website is that it is now easy to get the full reference details to an excerpt- and I (usually!) remember to screenshot them, so here they are. 

Someone - I think it was Freda, descended from the Kate Payn (Olsen) line- sent me this wonderful photo of the Wallace family.

Joseph (Giuseppe) Scettrini

Joseph (Giuseppe) SCETTRINI

On September 20, 1834, John, son of Joseph Abondi Scitrini, and Maria Johanna, daughter of  Gugliermus Scilacci, were married at the Church of the Blessed Mary Virgin of Mt Carmel, in Corippo, Canton of Ticino, Southern Switzerland.

From Corippo parish register- via microfilm at Mormon FHC.

A year later, on the ninth of September, 1835, their infant son, Joseph, was baptised at the same church.

From microfilm of Corippo parish register, 1835,- with my translation.

               Joseph was one of many young men who left Corippo where there were many hardships, and he found his way to the goldfields in Victoria. In 1864 he was married at St Kilian's, Bendigo, to a young Irish woman named Catherine Heneberry. He described himself then as a 29 year old bachelor, resident at Sailor's Gully.

             

Their first child, Johanna, was born at Sandhurst on 29 December 1865,  and their second child, John, was born at Eaglehawk in 1867.

           

It wasn't long before the family moved across the Tasman to the West Coast goldfields, and settled first at Waimea, near the Big Dam, during the Goldsborough rush. Johanna is known to have gone to the school there.  At least four children were born at Waimea: the first was MaryAnne in December 1869, and the last seems to be Joseph Beneda, born in May 1876.           

The family is next known to be living at Kumara, where Joseph lived for the rest of his days in a house on Boundary Road. 

 

On 21 March, 1883, Joseph applied for naturalisation. He was described as a goldminer,  45 years old, who had been living in the colony of New Zealand for 15 years.

           

On 6 January, 1887, Catherine Heneberry died, leaving Joseph a widower with eleven living children (nine of them girls), ranging in age from two to twenty-one. He never re-married.

                            

In September of 1890, Joseph discovered gold in a swampy area near Whiskey Creek, and a small rush occurred. He applied for a 6 acre claim and had constructed a 30ft tunnel. A newspaper reporter on Sept 15, 1890, found only one person working on the prospector's claim (assumed to be his son) and states that "I understand that Scetterini is not well at present and is consequently not working." He continues later: "I think we should all be desirous of rewarding a prospector and the storekeepers who had the courage to back him, for months, and though I consider six acres rather too large a slice for a very small party of men, I think the area should be in proportion to the labour expended.” 

Mr Seddon gave notice in Parliament on Sept 16, 1890, that this rush had occurred, and named the prospector as J. Sceterini. He sought Government aid to improve the access track.

Joseph is believed to have buried some of his gold, but when his section was dug up after his death, none was found. 

           

At the family reunion in 1992, Elizabeth Payn's wedding photograph from 1912 was reproduced on the front page of The Greymouth Evening Star. It shows Joseph Scettrini seated in the front row, complete with walking stick and large white beard.

 

           

Joseph lived until 4 October 1928, when he died, at 94 years of age, at his daughter's residence in Boundary Rd, Kumara. He was survived by seven children and thirty grandchildren. His obituary says: "Deceased followed alluvial mining practically all his life, and was for some time employed on Government Roads in and about Kumara. He was one of Kumara's oldest identities, as well as being one of the longest lived of Kumara's citizens."  

Note on SPELLING of Joseph Scettrini's name.

Joseph's original first name in Italian was Giuseppe. On the Latin baptismal entry it is written as josephus. The original spelling in Italian (in Corippo) of the surname is SCETTRINI, though on the Latin Church entries it appears as scitrini.

The surname is OFTEN misspelled, and when searching for information about the family in indexes, it is necessary to think quite laterally!  Some of the variations in spelling that I have detected include Scetrini, Sectrini, Scetrina, Seitrina, Sechini, Seitrino, Scetrim, Setrini, Citrini.

Frank PAYN & Johanna SCETTRINI

Now it is time to briefly introduce my great-grandparents from Kumara, my maternal grandmother's parents- Francis Davis Payn, and Johanna Scettrini.

(Originals of these photos are presently held by Joe Payn, Kumara.)

Francis Davis PAYN was born in November 1854 in St Martin's Parish on the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands. His parents were Thomas Payn and Elizabeth MOURANT. (Their headstone is in French, so I assume Francis Davis was probably able to speak French.) Originally some of us thought he was born in 1851, but it turns out he had an older brother of the same name who died aged 3. Our Francis Davis was born the very next day, and given the same name.

Johanna SCETTRINI was born in 1865 in Australia. She was baptised in St Kilian's (Catholic) Church in Bendigo, and her residence was given as Sailor's Gully. Her parents were Giuseppe Scettrini from Corippo, Ticino, in southern Switzerland, and Catherine HENEBERRY from Ballyporeen in Co Tipperary, Ireland. When she was young, Johanna's parents moved to follow the goldmining on the West Coast, and settled first at Big Dam/ Waimea/ Goldsborough. They later moved to Kumara.

Francis and Johanna married in Kumara in 1886 at the Registrar's Office. He was a goldminer, and she had been doing some domestic duties for the Seddons, who presented the couple with a large clock on their marriage. Frank's residence was given as "Dillmans", and Johanna's as Kumara.
(The spelling of Johanna's surname appears to be written as Scetrini at her wedding- one of many spellings that differ from the original name of Scettrini back in Corippo.)

Frank and Johanna had 11 children that I am aware of:- Thomas- 1886; Catherine (Kate)-1888; Elizabeth (Lizzie) -1890; Mary Ann- 1891; Rose (my grandmother)- 1893; John Francis (Jack)- 1895; Hilda Selina- 1897; Joseph Helier (Joe)- 1899; Matilda (Tilly)- 1901; Albert Edward- 1903; Francis Davis (Frank)- 1908. (I am grateful to cousins Patricia Milne (nee Lalor), Pat Wallace, and Maurice Payn for help researching the details for these children.)

Frank Payn was very involved in the local community. In Papers Past there are references to him as a goldminer, and he was also  one of the Kumara Hospital trustees. Payn's Gully is named after him, and there is a track that Joe Payn has been very involved with creating (at the Boundary Rd/ Londonderry Rock end of Kumara township.)

Frank Payn died in 1929 in the hospital in Hokitika, aged 74. Johanna lived to be 93 and died in November 1957 in Tasman Home, Greymouth.

Greymouth Evening Star 22/11/57

Frank and Johanna are both buried in the cemetery in Hokitika.

Payn-Mourant headstone

Switching tack here- going back to tidying up the folders of papers I already have about the Payn line of my family, from Jersey.

Just as a 'taster'- this is the headstone of my maternal great-great-grandparents, Thomas Payn and Elizabeth Mourant, in the graveyard of St Martin's parish on the Island of Jersey in the Channel Islands-  Again I am thankful to Maurice Payn, without whose help I would probably not have found this headstone.

One of the interesting things on this headstone is that their young child, Francis Davis, who died on 18 November 1854, is buried here. My great-grandfather was born the very next day after his death, and was also named Francis Davis Payn.

The accidental road to the ancestral Riordan farm

It was an accidental and fortuitous road that led me to finding the ancestral Riordan farm in Co Limerick, Ireland. I was really looking for the birth/baptism/ any evidence of my great-grandfather, Patrick Riordan.

1) Pre-knowledge: From Patrick's death registration, I knew his parents were John Riordan and Bridget Quane, and that he was born in Curraheen, Co Limerick.

2) Wrong assumption: I assumed from a list of townlands, that this Curraheen was up near the River Shannon- but it seemed odd even then, as it was so far from Glenroe where O'Donnell priest-cousins were known to come from.

3) Parish registers online: When the parish registers came online -thanks NLI-  I searched this area diligently. Not many likely looking names at all- distinct lack of Riordan, Quane, O'Donnell, Malone families. Hmmmm.

4) Google is my friend: Plugged in "Riordan Quane Curraheen". Bingo! Turned up entry in 1829 tithe applotment books for Curraheen. There was a widow Riordan, and a John Quane. This Curraheen was in Ballylanders Parish, and it was significantly close to Glenroe.

5) Searched Ballylanders Parish register: Found two births to John Riordan and Bridget Quane- Ellen (June 1850) and Bidy (Jan 1855). This register transcript started from 1849, and I never found my Patrick- but I was sure I had the right parish.

6) Turned to Google again: Bingo again- hugely significant find! Found a census extract from 1916 for a James Riordan from Ballylanders Parish. This would have been used to find evidence of date of birth from 1841 census to obtain the old age pension. Official had written in names of parents- John Riordan and Bridget Quane- and listed the siblings down the side- Margaret, Patrick, Mary, Ellen, John and Bridget. Finally evidence of my Patrick... It also listed the Parish- Ballylanders, and the townland- Cullane South.

7) No Curraheen? Hmmm. There was a Curraheen in 1829 tithe applotment books in Ballylanders Parish. But by the time of Griffiths Valuations it seems to have changed its name to Cullane- North, South... Same parish, but a Cullane instead of a Curraheen...

8) John Grenham to the rescue: Google again- this time looking for a map of Cullane South. Found invaluable links on John Grenham's site. It led to...

9) Griffiths Valuations: I can't give you the link here as it is time-limited one to askaboutireland.com But use Grenham's Cullane South link to take you to a list of Occupants, and a map... John Riordan is farming there and section 20 is the land. Use the slider on the map and you can alternate between modern and old maps. (And there is a Carheen Fort on the edge of the Riordan land as it happens...)

First success with Griffiths- Riordan

I am still quite an 'accidental' genealogist. I had looked at pages of Griffiths Valuations before, but they had never made any sense to me. However, armed with "Cullane South" townland and "Ballylanders Parish"  from the 1841 census extract for Patrick's older brother James, I decided to look for a map of the area.

Google was again my friend. It led me to a really useful website by John Grenham to look at Ballylanders Parish. 

When I clicked on Cullane South, it took me to a Griffiths Valuations page.  Clicking on occupants led to list of names. John Riordan was there on the second page. These valuations were done from about 1847 to 1860s or so, so this would be my great-grandfather Patrick's father John. There is also a "Quain" listed in Cullane South. There was a number in the left hand column by John Riordan's name- 20 with an a.

Going back to the first page listing for Griffiths, there was a "maps view" icon. Section 20 was quickly apparent on the Cullane South map.

The maps are incredibly useful because there is a slider that lets you overlay a modern map, and have varying levels of the old/modern maps. So the Riordan farm lies right on a bend on the modern Cullane/Tully road- in fact the farm is bisected by it. I reckon I could find it if I went back to Ireland with a car one day! On the map you could also see that Glenroe/Darragh- where the O'Donnell priest/cousins came from, was right next to Cullane South.