My grandfather in the newspaper

I have just completed a bio for my grandfather Martin Riordan. He bought a farm in Hurford Rd, Omata, Taranaki about 1910-11, and lived there for a decade or so before moving into town in 1921. He was there during a time when 'District News' from Hurford Rd commonly featured in the local New Plymouth newspaper, and this added interesting 'flavour' to his bio. There are the various committees he was on- for instance he was chairman of the School Committee- but there are also some more 'offbeat' snippets.

In 1917, his bull earned a trip to the meat works after it gored several of his horses overnight. (TDN 28 Feb 1917)

 

In 1915 he was taken to court for failing to control the ragwort and blackberry on his property, and that brought to light the sad fact that his wife had been ill and away on holiday. (TDN 6 May 1915) 

It wasn't uncommon to find that he was thanked for playing music at some community event or other. (TDN 27 Oct 1920)

Sadly, only a few months after leaving the farm, he died after contracting influenza. He had attended an event on Hurford Rd not long before his relatively sudden death, which left the rural community shocked. (TDN 5 Sept 1921).

As was typical of those times "Mrs Riordan" was mentioned less often in the papers. 

 

 

Beulah Masciorini (1906 -1979)

Beulah was born in 1906, the second child born to Jane Masciorini of Goldsborough. Her birth registration has not yet been found, but on her death certificate her date of birth was stated as 10 August 1906.

Beulah had an older brother, John Antonio Masciorini, born in 1905, (1905/11188). However, John died at 19 weeks of age (1905/3648).

Her mother, Jane Masciorini, married Joseph Scetrini (son of Giuseppe senior) in 1908. (1908/4822).

Beulah had a close association with the Scettrini family, and in particular with Joseph Benada Scettrini. However, it appears that Joseph was her stepfather, as there is an entry for 1906 in the NZSG Illegitimacies collection where her mother Jane Masciorini was granted maintenance from a different man.

We see an early photo of Beulah at Goldsborough School in 1912 , and in a version of this photo from the Peter Tinetti Collection, we see her name handwritten as Beulah Cetterini. (from West Coast South Island History FB group- using a search for Goldsborough.)

Beulah’s mother Jeannie Scettrini died on 6 October 1919 at Otira, aged only 33 years old.
The funeral left Greymouth by train for the Stafford Cemetery, where Jeanie was interred on 9 October 1919. On her death registration there was a Coroner’s Verdict recorded: “That deceased died from Syncope brought about about by alcoholic gastritis”.

Beulah was only 18 years old when she married David Joseph Yorwarth on 23 February 1925 in the Presbyterian Church in Greymouth. Her birthplace was recorded as Reefton. Only her mother’s name is listed, on her marriage registration - Jane Andrietta Mascorini- with the space for her father’s name left blank. David was 23 years old, born in Ross, and a motor mechanic.

Within just six years Beulah and David had had five children, one stillborn:-
Coleen Angelica (1925);  William David (1927); Beulah Jean (1928); Stillborn (1930); and 
Betty Josephine (1931).

From the electoral rolls we can see that in 1928 Beulah Yorwarth is listed as living in Marlborough St, Greymouth. David Yorwarth is listed with the address of 110 Tainui Street, Greymouth, with the occupation of mechanic. (Perhaps this is a business address?) 

In the 1931 roll, both Beulah and David are listed at the same addresses as in 1928, but it would seem that Beulah separates from David this year, as she also appears in the 1931 Supplementary roll for Motueka, with her details given as: Yorwarth, Beulah Jane, Gowan Bridge, married.

Beulah remains living at Gowan Bridge for many years. She appears in the 1943 roll with the same details. And in fact both Beulah Yorwarth and Joseph Beneda Scetrini are listed as living in Gowanbridge on the electoral roll until 1966 when Joseph dies, aged 90.

In the 1938 Wise’s Post Office Directory in the listing for Gowan Bridge we see both Yarworth Buelah and Scetrini Jos B listed. There is also a listing for the store keepers Percy and Ralph Diserens.

This is a map showing where Gowan Bridge is, not far from the Kawatiri turnoff. Both Joseph and Beulah are listed as living here until 1966 when he died. Joseph was living near here in 1928 when building the railway at Pikomanu, while Beulah first appeared here on the electoral roll in 1931.

Near the Kawatiri junction, there is the Kawatiri Historic Railway Walk, which is apparently a short easy walk that goes through a tunnel.

Brian, a descendant of Alice Scettrini, told me that he recalled a Beulah Yorwarth, who lived at the Gowan Bridge Store with a "Dizzy". He said they used to call in when up that way, and the store was a pure delight. Very, very, old style, with a great smell, and farm merchandise hanging from the rafters.  He said that his brother Bill recalled Beulah visiting their grandmother Alice in Greymouth.

Although it appears that Joseph Beneda Scettrini was Beulah’s step-father rather than her biological one, they clearly had a close bond over many years. When Joseph died in 1966, it is stated on his death registration, that he had one female living issue.

In the death notice that was placed in a Nelson paper for Joseph, it is listed that he was the ‘beloved husband of the late Jane Scetrini of Gowan Bridge, formerly of Otira, and loved father of Beulah (Mrs B J Yorwarth, Gowan Bridge.)'

He was also listed as the grandfather of eight grandchildren:
Colleen (Mrs Granger, Stoke).  Jean (Mrs D. James, Picton).  Betty (Mrs E Blain, Nelson)
Nola (Mrs N Yanko, Auckland).  Dorothy (Mrs A Bradley, Murchison). Sandra (Gowan Bridge)
William (Huntly). Neville (Murchison). And also as Great-grandfather of 18, and Grt-grt-grandfather of 2.

After Joseph died, Beulah moved into Nelson. In 1969 her address was listed as 26 D’Arcy St, Richmond, and she was listed as a widow.

 Joseph was buried in the Marsden Valley Cemetery, Nelson, on 6 September 1966 in Block 01C, Plot number 118, aged 90 years. Beulah died in 1979 and was interred in the same plot on 13 October 1979. They have a shared memorial plaque, where Beulah Jane Yorwarth is described as Joseph’s ‘beloved daughter’.

 

Payn-Scettrini-Heneberry NZ Descendants

 Recently we started a Payn-Scettrini-Heneberry NZ Descendants Facebook page. It's for descendants of Giuseppe Scettrini & Catherine Heneberry, and Frank Payn & Johanna Scettrini. It'll hopefully become a place where cousins from different lines of the family can share information and ask questions about our shared family history. It's a private group, but all descendants are welcome. 

The address is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2186077118570688. You have to apply to join but we are pretty quick approving people usually. At the date of this post, we have 37 cousins as members.

 Our Facebook header photos show- Giuseppe Scettrini, Catherine Heneberry, 
Frank Payn and Johanna Scettrini.

John Burke (1844-1895)

John Burke was a brother to Martin Burke (my 2x-great-grandfather). He was born in Co Mayo in 1844, moved to Perth, Scotland with the family around the time of the Famine, and then emigrated to New Zealand around 1883. He died at the residence of his brother Martin in Burnham in 1895, and is buried in the Darfield Catholic Cemetery.

The first time we come across John is at his baptism. He was baptised on 2 June 1844, in Aghagower Parish, Co Mayo. His baptism entry reads:     June 2^nd John Michl Biddy Burke Derrycraugh   Richard Jennings Cathy(?) Flynn 

John’s parents, Michael Burke and Bridget Flynn, later moved to Perth, Scotland with the family. We also see those with the  sponsors’ surnames, Jennings and Flynn, in Perth. Bridget’s mother’s name (discovered from Scottish records) was Derrig / Derrick.

Aghagower (Aughagower) is a rural village, 8km from Westport, Co Mayo, that was once the site of a powerful medieval monastery on the pilgrimage route from Ballintubber to Croagh Patrick. It still has a round tower, and an extensive graveyard. This whole area was severely impacted by the Famine.

The rural townland of Derrycraugh was listed as the location of the family at the time of John’s baptism. Burton cousins who have visited report that there is nothing much to see there now, other than a few ruined buildings scattered in the rural landscape.

Within a few years of John’s birth, the family had left Aghagower Parish behind, and were next found in Perthshire, Scotland. Whether they left solely because of the Famine, and/or whether there might have been an eviction by the landlord, is not known at this stage. It's also not known whether they went directly to Perth or perhaps stopped somewhere else first.

By 1851 the Burke/Flynn family are established in Perth though I haven’t found them there in the 1851 Scottish Census. However, in April 1851, Mary, another daughter for Michael and Bridget Burke, was baptised there, and in 1852 we see that Patrick Jennings, a son of Richard Jennings and Mary Flinn, is also baptised there. (Richard was a sponsor for John’s baptism.)

At the time of the 1861 census we find the family living at 134 High St, Perth (having a room with 1+ windows). At home on census night is Michael Burke, aged 52, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Bridget aged 49. John is listed as being unmarried, aged 16, and a cabinet maker apprentice. Their son Martin is described as married aged 19, and a ploughman, while John’s unmarried brother Thomas is listed as being aged 20, and also a ploughman. His younger sister Mary is listed aged 9, with her birthplace given as Perthshire, Perth. She is the only family member with a birthplace other than Ireland.

In the 1871 census, the address of the family appears to be 129 High Street, with Bridget listed as head of the household, her husband Michael having died in 1868. John Burke is said to be aged 26 and a labourer. His older brother Thomas, younger sister Mary, and nephew Michael Burke are also living there.

In the 1881 Scottish census, we find just John and his brother Thomas sharing a household, and this is the last census in which we find mention of John Burke in Scotland. The brothers are both described as unmarried, and they are living at 126 High St  with their residence described as having two rooms with one or more windows. John is said to be head of the household and a railway porter. Thomas’s occupation is listed as waggon wright.

John emigrated soon after this census it would seem, as he was said to have been in New Zealand for 12 years at the time of his death in January 1895. He must have arrived in New Zealand around 1883, but I have found it very difficult to find out anything much about him here. (John Burke is a common name in South Canterbury, which doesn't help!) 

 In 1893, the first year in which women could vote, four members of the Burke family are enrolled to vote on the Selwyn Roll- including both Ann and Martin, and their two adult children, Thomas and Ann. These are John’s sister-in-law, brother, and nephew and niece. John, however does not appear. Perhaps he was living and working elsewhere? Or perhaps he simply never enrolled.

If I later find out more about John’s life in New Zealand, I will update this document, but for the time being I am going to skip to John’s death and burial.

A death notice appeared for John Burke in the Lyttelton Times on 7 January 1895, saying that he had died at his brother’s residence in Burnham on January 5^th, aged 52 years.

 There was a funeral notice the same day saying that Mr Martin Burke informed friends that the funeral of his brother John would leave his Burnham residence for the Darfield Catholic Cemetery at 8.30am on Tuesday 8^th January.

John’s death registration says that his occupation was a labourer, and that he died of cancer of the liver with a duration of six months illness. It is stated that he had been in New Zealand for a period of 12 years. His funeral was conducted by Fr Chataigner, a French Marist priest, and he was buried at Darfield Catholic Cemetery 

It is easy to find John’s grave, as his headstone is one of four tall similar ones, on the far right as you walk in the main gate of Darfield Catholic Cemetery.

The first headstone in the group was erected in 1892 for his niece Mary Riordan née Burke, who died aged only 29 of consumption. Alongside him is a headstone for his sister-in-law Ann Burke née Philp, who died just over two months after him. The last plot amongst the four was filled in 1911 when Patrick Riordan, husband of Mary Burke, died. (Ann was also said to have died of cancer of the liver, which makes me wonder whether something else like typhoid or hepatitis might have been the culprit for both her and John's deaths- just supposition though.) 

John Burke's headstone reads:
Of your charity pray for the soul of
John Burke,
who died 5^th Janry 1895,
aged 52 years.
R. I. P.
Have pity, have pity on me, at least you my friends.”

John Burke, late of Burnham, farm labourer, died intestate, and Letters of Administration had to be granted through the Supreme Court, Canterbury District to settle his estate.These were awarded to Martin Burke, ‘brother and next of kin of the said deceased’. Martin had to give an oath, and one of the things he stated was that John Burke was unmarried,  and that he believed the estate effects and credits would be under the value of two hundred and fifty pounds.

John, we don't know a lot about you and your life, but you are remembered as one of our family.  Rest in Peace.

My Aunty Mary Riordan as a nurse

 It's often trickier to find out more about our female relatives than our male ones. I have been trying to find out more about the career of my Aunty Mary as a nurse for a while, and more recently I was searching (unsuccessfully) to find a NZ Gazette that had a Nurses' Register with her name in it. Instead I published an article in our local genealogy newsletter about the NZ Gazette, and the range of 'name' lists I had found in it. Once I had finished that I turned to Papers Past and did a deep-dive for any "Riordan Nurse" kind of snippets- quite successfully in the end as it turned out. I must have wiggled my nose correctly and sent a proper message to the genealogical ether!

Previously I had actually found an electoral roll entry from 1935 where a Mary Margaret Riordan was living in the Timaru Nurse's home.

 

I doubted that could be my aunty though, as why would she go that far away from home (in New Plymouth) for her training? Perhaps at that time in the 1930s, there simply weren't enough training positions around. And she did have Riordan cousins in Christchurch. I had in fact been told many years earlier by one of the Christchurch cousins that Aunty Mary had helped nurse her mother Bridget (Ryan) when she was dying in 1935.

As it turned out, my Papers Past rabbit hole soon threw me lots of bits and pieces. The earliest was this extract from November 1931 saying that M. M. Riordan of New Plymouth had been placed on the waiting list of probationers. You can see that people were applying from all around the country, and in fact Aunty Mary was the only applicant listed from Taranaki.

I soon found lots more snippets. The fact that my aunty was living away from the family home in New Plymouth seemed to lead to bits in the newspaper every time she came back to or left home. In January 1936 was the following information. And this confirmed that the entry in the 1935 electoral roll was actually my aunty.
 

And finally, something I had been searching for, a date that showed when Miss M Riordan became registered as a nurse. Her success in the Nurses' State Registration examinations  was recorded in the Taranaki Daily News on 15 July 1936.

More details were found in Papers Past as her early career continued. She did maternity training, as well and midwifery training and a Plunket stint. She was mainly in Auckland, but also Hamilton and Karitane. She even had a very brief stint in Palmerston North before she moved to Auckland to start her maternity training at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital. 

A marvellous thing  happened as I was doing this research. Because of an article about his NZ Ancestor Search Helper that I had included in our newsletter, I had sent the magnificent Luke Howison a copy of our May newsletter. He saw what I had written about the NZ Gazette, and replied to me with a copy of the register page from the 1931-1940 Register of Nurses (R22227911) at Archives NZ, that included the entry of my Aunty Mary Margaret Riordan as a registered nurse #8627 in Timaru, on 6 July 1936. Also written on her entry were her qualifications as a midwife, postgraduate diploma, a Plunket Certificate and as a Maternity Nurse.

This of course is just the 'preliminary' to Aunty Mary's career as a nurse. She spent many years as a Public Health Nurse in New Plymouth. But I'll finish with this one piece. Vaccination was obviously an issue then as now. She was being quoted as giving advice for the whooping cough inoculation in 1944.

Baptisms of my 3x-great-grandparents

 I have started looking closely at the Corippo parish register on Family Search, and have been writing up the entries along with translations of the bits I can manage. Here are the baptisms of my 3x-great-grandparents, Maria Johanna Scilacci, and John Scettrini.

Maria Johanna, like most family members, was baptised in Corippo. However John was baptised in Vira Gambarogno, which was a pasturage area at a lower altitude, closer to Locarno. All parties to his baptism were from Corippo though.

 

My Dad- writing things up

I have decided that one of the things that I need to do this year is 'write up' and check the information I have about my New Zealand family. I have started with my father, James Kevin Riordan (Jim). I have quite a lot of information about him as it happens, as he was a Railway worker, and went to the Middle East in WW2. Men tend to give rise to a more detailed paper trail than women.

This is my father with his mate Curly, somewhere at a camp in the desert in 1941.

 

 

 

 

Dad was born in 1917 in Omata, just outside New Plymouth, to Martin Riordan and Margaret Malone. At the time of his birth, the family was living on a dairy farm in Hurford Road. One of the things I would like to find out sometime is where exactly on Hurford Rd the family lived. I know it was somewhere not too far from the Royal Oak factory which his father Martin supplied. If I can find some old maps, I will hopefully be able to narrow the location down a bit.

Dad obtained Proficiency at primary school, and by 1938 was working with the Railways, firstly as a junior porter, and by 1955 he was a Guard. When men were sought for the War, he joined up serving in Railways Operating and Construction Companies, after entering Egypt in September 1940. In a chance meeting at a genealogy conference in the early 90s, I met a man who served in his unit, who told me Dad was much in demand in the canteen of an evening, where he sang Irish folk songs.

Dad moved to Waitara at some stage after his war service, where he was a guard. As a single man, he was boarding at the Masonic Hotel. It so happened that my mother, Katherine Lalor, was working there doing 'domestic duties', which I know included cooking. There was a courtship, and in 1956, my parents married, when my father was 39. Just under a year later, their first daughter was born, to be followed by three more in succeeding years.

From a moving company receipt, it was clear we moved into our Waitara home in July 1960. Dad clearly enjoyed being a husband and father, and making our house a home. (Back then, lower income people could still buy homes, through State Advances home mortgages.) I have many happy early childhood memories of Dad working hard around the property. He had a huge vegetable garden, planted fruit trees, and also numerous flower gardens. He had magic green fingers. He laid the concrete paths, dug drainage, and made a fence.

There was a day that I remembered walking down to the Railway Station with my Dad, to find the steam train was in its shed, with a wagon in front of it. I was only four at the time, but I still knew that wasn't 'normal'. I asked Dad why the wagon was there, and he told me it was so nobody could steal the train. I thought he was being silly! But it turns out that is exactly why the wagon was there. In the very early hours of 3 March 1962, shortly after my father had come home from work, he heard the locomotive AB.817 going past our house, when he knew it should have been in the loco shed. There was a chase with cars up to Big Jims Hill, but the train was by then returning to Waitara. Newspaper accounts appeared in various papers, and are all collected up in a file at Archives NZ, as are copies of 'official' documents. My father received a letter of commendation for his part in the incident. There was even an editorial in the Christchurch Star about the event on 10 March 1962.

Excerpt from editorial in Christchurch Star, 10 March 1962

 I have many idyllic memories of my early childhood. But in early June 1966, my childhood came crashing down, when Dad collapsed at work, and died not much later, of a sudden heart attack. I missed him acutely. 

Over the years, I have written various pieces about him, from the heart. The posters above are ones I prepared for the genealogy conference in the 90s in Palmerston North, when Anne Carian was organising the wall displays. The conference theme was 'Tracking the Lines' with Railways being one of the sub-themes.

Requiescat in Pace my dearly loved father.