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.

 

 

Corippo Ancestry- using Images on Family Search, 2025

In the 1990s when I first started researching my Scettrini ancestry, I was able to order a Corippo parish microfilm into the Family History Centre here in Palmerston North. 

I spent many evening/weekend hours going through that microfilm, writing out entries that I thought might be relevant, using my School Cert Latin to work out the basics. It wasn’t possible though to get very many images of the entries. Later I wrote out ancestral names and dates on numerous pieces of paper, and sorted them on the lounge floor so I could put together a family tree.

I was reasonably confident with my tree, and thought I had been careful in what I put together. But the parish register was all in Latin, and there were a few things I wasn’t sure that I had completely right. One of those things was that I thought my Giuseppe Scettrini’s grandfather, also a Giuseppe, had two marriages, both to a Maria Caterina Gambetta, but each of those women had a different father. The other confusion was that my 3X-grt-grandparents on the Scettrini-Scilacci line seemed to sometimes be using the name Beneda as part of their Scettrini surname, or even to replace it.

I was very fortunate quite a few years later to be contacted by Rae Codoni, from California, who had done extensive research into his Codoni family from Corippo, and as part of this had drawn up a huge draft Scettrini tree. He was able to confirm that yes indeed, there were two different women named Maria Caterina Gambetta who married Giuseppe Scettrini senior. And indeed, there were so many Scettrini families in Corippo, that some did start using other names with their surname to differentiate themselves from each other.
Rae Codoni was actually descended from the first marriage on 4 Feb 1788, of Giuseppe Scettrini to Maria Gambetta, daughter of John Jacob Gambetta. Our family is descended from his second marriage to Maria Gambetta, daughter of Joseph Antony Gambetta.

Then at some stage it was no longer possible to access microfilms via a Family History Centre, and none of the parish register information was available online. It was magic for me to find out the other day that these images from the parish register are now available via Family Search in the images search section!

The images from the parish register can be found on Family Search at: 

https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/search-results?place=3057713

In images search, you put in Corippo, Ticino, Switzerland, and then use the image group number 008342031 (Item 6 of 8) to find most of the records below.

However, the people from Corippo sometimes migrated to a pasturage level at a lower altitude closer to Lake Locarno and those records might be found at Vira (Gambarogno) https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/search-results?place=3060031&page=1

I found a baptism I was looking for in 008191155 (Item 3 of 6) which had baptism records from 1774-1826.

I intend to spend some time this year going through the images and documenting our Scettrini ancestry using them. Just as a taster- this is the baptism of my 2X-grt-grandfather, Giuseppe Scettrini- Joseph, son of John Scettrini and Maria Johanna Scilacci.

Full-Text images- Jeremiah Malone

The buzz in the genealogy world is all about Full-Text images, where for some record sets on the FamilySearch website you can now search through documents for specific words or phrases. Several people told me that it was possible now to search for Irish Deeds this way, so I thought I might have a 'quick look'. 

And a 'quick look' was all it took.  Jeremiah Malone, my great-grandfather, has a reasonably distinctive name, and a record turned up for a land conveyance to him in Ballynadrideen quite easily, in 1887.  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKS-2YN?view=fullText

Jeremiah was able to purchase the land at Ballynadrideen on which he was the tenant farmer, from the vendor Standish Henry Harrison Esquire, of Castle Harrison. The purchase, for £705, was made possible with an advance to Jeremiah from the Irish Land Commission. This happened under the provisions of the purchase of Land (Ireland) Act of 1885.

There is another document for Jeremiah Malone, dated April 1904 in which Maurice Malone (his son) is described as also being a subscriber to the deed. I don’t know enough about the legalities of this, but perhaps this was part of the process of Jeremiah passing his interest in the land over to his son more fully? https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKS-2S2L-7?view=fullText

At this stage in April 1904 both parents of Maurice Malone were alive, though Margaret Malone née Riordan died a few months later on 11 July 1904. Jeremiah Malone himself died two years later on 22 July 1906, with probate being granted to his son Maurice Malone. Probate applied to his Effects, £143 5s 0d, and did not mention the land. 

 I don’t understand all the complexities of the history, but in the 1870s/1880s in Ireland, there were legal moves made to help tenant farmers take ownership of their land from the large landlords who had had control of them. In 1870 a Land Act was passed that gave tenants some very basic rights including a right to compensation for improvements in case of eviction. In 1871 in Cullane, John Riordan became one of the tenant farmers facing eviction when the landlord hugely increased the rents. Cullane became a test case for the power of the new Land Act.

By the way, I tried a similar Deeds search for John or James Riordan in Ballylanders/ Cullane South- but there was a lawyer called John Riordan, so much more diligent searching will be needed to filter and find what I am sure must be there!

Family Search have made it very easy to download the full document as well as the AI-generated transcription. You can then find the url link and citation text at the end of the download.

Of course I then had to delve more deeply into this rabbit-hole, which wasn't on my Priority List for 2025 in any way! I found something about the history of the great house that was Castle Harrison on Wikipedia. It was demolished after 1956, but Wikipedia had a photo of it.

And I also then looked for an Ordnance Survey map on the National Library of Scotland's Map website. Ballynadrideen, where the Malone farm was, was quite close to Castle Harrison. (It's interesting looking at earlier maps before the railway ate into the Great House's land.

I'm unlikely to ever find my way back to Ireland now, but you never know, one of my nieces or nephews might, or perhaps a cousin's child. It would be good if someone can go back and stand on the land.

 

Maria Catterina Margherita Scetrini di Giovanni Beneda

 I was delighted to discover recently that the parish records for Corippo, Ticino, Southern Switzerland, have now been digitised from the parish microfilm that you used to be able to get in Family History Centres a long time back. Back then I ordered in the Corippo microfilm and wrote down as many 'likely' entries as I could, but it wasn't possible to get many images copied and printed. I will now be able to go through the parish records at a much more leisurely pace, and take screen shots as I wish...

Just as a sample of what is available, here is the 1839 baptism record of Maria Catterina Margherita Scetrini di Giovanni Beneda. She was the first sister born to Giuseppe Scettrini, my great-great-grandfather, who was born in 1835.

A rough translation follows:

Maria Catterina Margherita Scetrini di Giovanni Beneda
In the year of our Lord 1839, on the 25^th day of February, Father John (priest?) of Locarno (by licence?) have baptised an infant (?) born of John Scetrini and Joanna Scilacci, legitimately (married?), and the name given was Maria Catherina Margherita.
Godparents were Antonius Scilacci (son Gugliermus?? not sure) and Joanna Maria wife of Joseph Codoni, all of Corippo.

It's found on Page 68 of the Family Search microfilm at:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSTT-D335-B?view=explore&groupId=M9MH-J1C&grid=on

Notice how the surname here is Scettrini di Giovanni Beneda. There were so many Scettrini families in Corippo that they were sometimes distinguished by a ‘nickname’- in this case Beneda for our Scettrini line. Giovanni is the father of Maria Catterina Margherita, and also of our Giuseppe. In some later entries, the surname is rendered Scetrini-Beneda, or even just Beneda.

 

Scettrini is the spelling used in Ticino today. In the registers/census etc in the 1800s, various spellings are used- depending on whether the entry is in Latin or Italian; and if in Latin, what case of the word is being used. I'm grateful for the three years of Latin I did in high school that has helped me to work out many of the parish entries.

Catherine Rowland- Summary

 I have decided that 2025 needs to be a year of summarising and sharing much of my genealogy information, starting off with my eight great-grandparents. I have recently been busy finding out as much as I could about my Arbuckle and Heneberry lines in Victoria, so thought my first summary should be about my great-grandmother Catherine Lalor née Rowland, whose mother was an Arbuckle. But I realise she has already been paid some attention paid via this blog. (I wrote about her here already.) So this blog post just has a few points.

This is the way Catherine and I are connected:

It is quite tricky finding out more about a woman in the mid-late 1800s, and early 1900s. Just as a basic, you have to remember to use their husband's initial in any search of old newspapers etc. (This shouldn't surprise me- my mother was always addressed as Mrs JK Riordan, and even after she was widowed she had to make a determined effort to reclaim Mrs KH Riordan.)

However, here are a few things about Catherine Rowland, my great-grandmother, from my summary:

Catherine Rowland was baptised on 20 December 1845 at St James Church, Melbourne. Her father was described as a gardener, and the family was living in Heidelberg.

 

Catherine had two younger sisters. Isabella was born in 1853 but sadly she died of Diphtheria aged only 7, on 1 May 1860, near Kyneton. She is buried in the Kyneton General Cemetery, where her mother Margaret was also buried just 15 months later. Margaret suffered from consumption (Phthisis Pulmonalis) for 12 months, dying in August 1861. 

 

Catherine’s youngest sister, Margaret Jane Rowland, was born in 1856, so was only four years old when their mother died. Margaret was later listed on the Victorian Children’s Register, and was admitted to care in 1867 as a result of neglect. Her father Christopher had deserted sometime after her mother Margaret had died. She was discharged on 21 November 1872, to her sister, Mrs J Lalor (Catherine Rowland) in Greymouth on the West Coast, per the Albion S.S.

 

It appears that sometime in early 1871, Catherine crossed the Tasman and ended up in Greymouth. On 14^th September 1871, she married James LALOR in the Roman Catholic Chapel. In their ‘Intentions to Marry’ form, she was described as a spinster who dwelled in the Greymouth District. Her stated ‘length of residence’ was possibly 8 months, but I found the entry hard to decipher. A marriage notice appeared in the Grey River Argus, 18 Sep 1871 in which she was described as a native of Victoria.

 

 

Catherine and James had six children. Their first daughter, Margaret Jane, was born 22 August 1872, while they were residing at South Beach, and subsequent children were named John, Mary, Robert, James and Thomas.

 

In a very sad instance of family news, Catherine was recorded as the one looking after a grandchild, Evelyn Schroeder, in 1903, when the toddler went missing and was found drowned in Nelson Creek nearby.

 

From the electoral rolls, we can see that Catherine lived for many years at South Beach- possibly her entire time since marriage.
In the 1899 West Coast (Grey) roll, she is listed as “Lalor, Catherine, South Beach, housekeeper, residential”

In the 1914 West Coast (Westland) roll, she is listed as “Lalor, Catherine, South Beach, married.”

In the 1928 West Coast (Westland) roll, she is listed as “Lalor, Catherine, South Beach, Greymouth, widow.”

Catherine was left a widow on 3 October 1916 when her husband James Lalor died of throat cancer. All their children were still living at that date, four males and two females. 

 

Catherine herself died on 3^rd January 1934 at South Beach of  sudden myocardial failure. (In the causes of death on her death registration it is also noted that she had a leg amputated due to ‘senile gangrene’ two years previously.) She was said to have been in New Zealand for 62 years.

Trying to find out more about Catherine Lalor née Rowland in newspapers has not led to many finds. In 1915 there was a euchre and dance evening at South Beach for which she contributed some beautiful handwork as a prize. She donated 2s6d to an X-Ray Fund in 1920.

 

** On 2 November 1928 in the Grey River Argus, it was recorded that: “Mrs J. Lalor, senr., of South Beach, has received word of the death of her sister Mrs E. Bradley, at Auckland.”

Mention of Catherine Lalor happened a few times in the military records for her son Thomas Patrick Lalor. When he enlisted for war service, he listed his mother as “Kate Lalor”, born in Melbourne, Australia, and resident in NZ for 45 years. In September 1917 when he was in Featherston Camp, he was in the hospital with influenza and Mrs J Lalor, (Mother), Greymouth, was listed as the person to contact in case of necessity.

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