Catherine Rowland- my West Coast great-grandmother

Sometimes when doing your family history, questions come to mind that are 'wonderings' that you are unlikely to find an answer for. One such question for me is: "Why did Catherine travel across the Tasman from Victoria to Greymouth on the West Coast, as a young single woman?"

Catherine Rowland was born on 26 August 1845 to Christopher Rowland and Margaret Arbuckle, in Heidelberg, Victoria, and baptised in St James Church, Melbourne. Two more children were born in East Brighton, Melbourne, including Margaret Jane, the youngest, who also came to New Zealand later. Sadly their mother Margaret died in 1861 of consumption, and was buried in Kyneton, Victoria.  Margaret was only 16 years old at the time (and Margaret Jane only four.)

What happened to Catherine in the intervening years is unclear, but she married James Lalor on 14 September 1871 in the Roman Catholic Chapel, Greymouth. Not much information was collected for marriage documents in NZ at that time and we can only glean a few facts. In her 'intentions to marry' document held at National Archives (NZ) she was said to be a spinster of full age, and although it is not clearly legible, her length of residence appears to be 8 months. This would make it possible that she crossed the Tasman in early 1871, with the caveat that 'length of residence' could have been interpreted as in the district, or in New Zealand.

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 981. 18 September 1871

 

 

The only other document that we have that gives an indication about when Catherine might have arrived in NZ is her death registration. She lived a good long life in South Beach, Greymouth, until she died aged 83 of sudden myocardial failure on 3 January 1934. She was said to have been in NZ for 62 years, and this would give a time of arrival around 1871-2.

These two dates are consistent, and it seems that she did in fact arrive in New Zealand not many months before her marriage in September 1871. (Shipping records between Melbourne and Greymouth of the time are hard to come by.)

So the questions remain, did she cross alone as such a young woman? Or was she with a friend? Did she know someone in Greymouth, or did she just make the crossing in the hope that a better life existed for her away from Victoria? It is unlikely I will find answers, but it is still a nice thing to wonder about. 

Catherine Rowland (Lalor) with a child (thought to be Eileen Hamilton)

Addison's Flat- Unclaimed Mail

I have never been able to find a shipping record that listed my great-grandfather James Lalor when he left Victoria for the gold fields of the West Coast in New Zealand. It seems that such sailings were often treated as 'domestic' sailings, and passenger lists weren't routinely published.
However, I found an obituary from the Greymouth Evening Star, 5 October 1916, that said James came from Melbourne first to the goldmining area of Addison's Flat, near Westport, sailing via the ship Lightning.

With the help of the people at the Westport i-Site last summer, I managed to find where Addison's Flat was, not far out of Westport, and visited it. These days it's not obvious it used to be a thriving mining settlement, though the ground is uneven, giving hints of its past. There is a cemetery still there, and that has some more recent burials of rural inhabitants.

You can let yourself in through a gate, and cross farmland to the cemetery. There is something very special about being able to walk where you know your ancestor was living, treading in his footsteps, even though the 1860s were long ago. And from this relatively flat land, you look across to the mountains of the West Coast, that seem to have a sense of foreboding with them.

There is a historic noticeboard in the cemetery that gives some of the early flavour of the settlement. There are historic photos, a notice about a coach that takes miners to a hotel in Westport on a weekend, and a notice about the formation of a branch of the Hibernian Society, which indicates many Irish miners were on the land there.

Some years ago I attended a talk by Fiona Brooker of Memories in Time where she described tracking a relative's movements down via Trove and Papers Past, but I never got around to diligently trying that. Then the other day I stumbled onto a clue when I was just randomly surfing Papers Past using Lalor as a search term. (I know, rabbit holes and all that!)

What I found, via the Westport Times, 13 May 1869, was a list of unclaimed letters from Addison's Flat in January 1869. I can't be absolutely certain that this is 'my' James Lalor of course, as there were a couple of others on the Coast, but it seems quite likely it is. By September 1871 his marriage was being recorded in Greymouth to Catherine Rowland, and he then remained with South Beach as his residence for the rest of his life.

NZ Cemetery Info- Summarised by Family Line

Sometime ago I started summarising NZ cemetery information for each family line. Then I stopped, and only recently discovered that I had finished all the paternal family lines, but hadn't finished any maternal ones!

So I have been quite busy in the last fortnight with summarising two of my NZ maternal lines. I finished my grandparent's family- Lalor-Payn, then got into the Payn-Scettrini maternal line. (Next I have the Scettrini-Heneberry and Lalor-Rowland lines to do.)

There are four different pieces I have done for each family. Firstly, I make a summary table of the particular family line, starting with the grandparents or great-grandparents at the top, then followed by the various children and their spouses. Next I do a table for each person/couple that has names, position of the grave in which cemetery, and a small photo of the headstone if there is one. My third part of the process involves a larger photo of each headstone, together with a transcription. There's a final section where I have put cemetery maps where they are available, and have highlighted where the family grave is.

Here are some 'excerpts' from the Payn-Scettrini tables.

It was a chance to find out the 'gaps' in my knowledge, and in some cases it was a little surprising to find some 'errors'. In FindAGrave for instance, I had managed to assign a great-aunt into the wrong cemetery- but that is fixed now.

Now I need to share the info with cousins, and especially the 'extended' cousins. And next time I am in the South Island, and more especially on the West Coast, I will have the info I need to go and visit of these family graves. I was at Karoro Cemetery in January, and was aware that my knowledge about where certain great-auntys' graves were wasn't good enough to find their last resting places.

Kumara Sketch Map

In January 2023 I spent time on the West Coast, and in particular, exploring around Kumara, Larrikins and Goldsborough where my Payn, Scettrini, and some of my Lalor ancestors lived.

I am a great mixer-upper of left and right, and whenever I had visited Kumara, I always found myself confused about directions. Cycling along parts of the West Coast Cycle Trail though, helped me put everything into the right place in my mind. Hopefully this sketch map will help me recall the lay of the land for any future trip.

 On the Cycle Trail, I emerged into Kumara from the Greymouth end, and found myself within a short distance from where my Lalor grandparents, and my Uncle Jack, lived. It reminded me that my Uncle Jack had told me once that the old Tramway had passed nearby- and I know that at least part of the cycle route traverses it.

Uncle Jack told me there used to be two Payn-Scettrini houses up at the top of Boundary Rd, and I knew that my Scettrini 2x-great-grandfather lived up there: family photos show him there as an old man. Now there is one house up the top there, fully renovated. Next door it is hard to tell if any of the old house is left, as there is a lot of bush on the section.

 I took the liberty of wandering through part of this second section though, and found myself coming out onto the Larrikins part of the cycle trail! That was a lightbulb moment of how things fitted together in the landscape. 

Next day when I cycled the Larrikins part of the route, from the old Theatre Royal Hotel up to the road leading to Callaghans and Goldsborough, I recognised when I was passing the back of the two Scettrini sections.

According to family stories, Scettrini sisters Johanna (Payn) and Nellie (Baretta) used to live up on Boundary Rd next door to each other. There is an architect’s sign outside the renovated house.  One of my cousins, a Baretta descendant, grew up in Kumara and has told me that Ellen Baretta née Scettrini lived in the house that is still standing.

Somehow I had also been confused as I knew that “Payn’s Track” near where Frank Payn was goldmining was on the other side of the main road, and I had thought that was Larrikins too. A more careful re-reading of some of the material the West Coast Historical Museum prepared for our Payn-Scettrini family reunion in the early 90s showed me he was in fact mining later in a different place from Larrikins. I had walked Payn’s Track on a previous West Coast visit- I must re-walk it next time I am in Kumara.

Next I took the road that led me to Goldsborough and Stafford. I am grateful to various people on the West Coast South Island history FB group, who helped me with information before my trip south. It helped me clarify where Larrikins was, and also where Big Dam was, near Goldsborough, the first place where the Scettrini family lived before they moved to Kumara.

I had hoped I might perhaps walk or even drive up a road I could see on a map for Big Dam Hill. But when I arrived I discovered there was current mining activity up there, and access wasn’t possible. At least I now have a clear idea of where it was in relation to the main Goldsborough settlement. It shouldn’t be surprising that Giuseppe Scettrini, from a mountain village in Ticino, should choose to live in such a wild and hilly place.

 

Fr John Riordan- PP at Ross

John Riordan, my great-uncle, was born 14 January 1883 at Kirwee, in Canterbury, New Zealand. He was the first child born to Patrick Riordan, from Co Limerick, Ireland; and Mary Burke, who was born in Perth, Scotland.  He was to become the elder brother of five siblings:  Martin (1884) - my grandfather, Patrick Joseph (1886), James (1887), Bridget (1889) and Annie (1891).
He faced early sorrow in his life with the death of his mother Mary, aged just 29 years, on 26 March 1892, of consumption. John was aged only 9 at the time. (From Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8173, 16 May 1891, Page 3)

By 1906, John Riordan (aged 23) was a student at Holy Cross College in Mosgiel, where he is recorded as receiving a prize for Junior Latin. John appears in a photo taken at the seminary in Mosgiel in 1906, at the left hand end of the third row. This photo was reproduced on the NZ Tablet front cover, April 30th, 1975.

 

In 1911, John Riordan had to face the deaths of two more close family members. 

 His youngest sister, Annie Riordan, was educated as a boarder at Sacred Heart in Christchurch, where her musical talent was evident. At the young age of 15, she had entered the convent there, where her name in religion was Sr Majella. Just a few years later she succumbed to the Consumption she had 'inherited' from her mother as a baby. I was told by Sr Martina Burke RNDM, a cousin, that Annie’s brother John came up from the Seminary when she was in her last illness, and was called in the early hours when her end was near. She said that he ran over to the convent without even doing up his shoelaces. It is significant that Dean O’Donnell from Ashburton was one of the clergy present in the sanctuary at Annie's funeral. He was a first cousin to John’s father, Patrick Riordan, and there are various indications that he had a lot to do with the Riordan family over the years at Charing Cross. As well as knowing him as a cousin, John would have been very well aware of how he conducted his priestly ministry.

Less than two weeks after the death of his sister, John was further faced with the death of his father, Patrick. In his will, Patrick made specific, careful provision for John’s studies towards the priesthood. John was given the sum of £500 for his own use absolutely. Trustees were directed to make provision of “a sufficient sum for the completion of the education for the priesthood of my son John, which sum shall be in addition to the sum of £500 he had already been bequeathed.”

On 13 December 1914 John Riordan was ordained to the priesthood at the Cathedral in Christchurch during a Pontifical High Mass. Fr O’Donnell of Ashburton was one of the priests assisting in the sanctuary. In the evening, Father Riordan assisted in Vespers and solemn Benediction. Fr Riordan celebrated his first Mass in the Convent Chapel of the Sisters of the Missions, the convent where his youngest sister Annie had taken her vows and died in 1911. (NZ Tablet, 17 December 1914).

 On Sunday 20 December 1914, John celebrated Mass at his ‘native parish’ of Darfield, and gave his blessing to the congregation. He also preached ‘an instructive sermon’ to the large congregation for evening devotions. (Darfield, NZ Tablet, 14 January 1915)

There are numerous references to Rev Fr John Riordan as priest on the Papers Past website. 

In January 1916 he was transferred from his first parish of Ahaura to Ross, which is where he served until he died in 1925. There were times recorded when he was part of various clerical affairs, such as the visit by Bishop Brodie in May 1916. Several priests, including Fr Riordan, had gone to Otira to greet the Bishop, and on arrival at the railway station a large gathering was present to welcome him. In January 1920, Fr Riordan went with a group of priests to Christchurch for a retreat.

 

He is listed as the celebrant for numerous weddings, at varied places on the West Coast, including Ross, Hokitika, Greymouth, Reefton, Kumara, Kanieri, and Okarito. This particular wedding was that of Mr Patrick Nolan, ‘a well known settler of Okuru’, to Miss Johanna Eggeling also of Okuru. In this instance the bride carried a ‘beautiful prayer book, the gift of Rev Father Riordan.’ (Grey River Argus, 5 September 1918, Page 3.)
Okuru is in fact particularly far south even by West Coast standards, being south of Haast. The account below from 1922, of a ‘periodical visit to the wild southern districts beyond Ross’, makes it clear it was a ‘rough journey’, though Father Riordan enjoyed ‘kindly hospitality of the people’ along the way. (NZ Tablet, 14 September 1922, Page 31)

It is also often recorded when Fr Riordan conducted funerals. In an account of the funeral of Mr Michael Moye, we read that, “Father Riordan, who was untiring in his attention to the deceased all through his illness, officiated at the funeral.”
John’s brother James Riordan died in France on 11th October 1916, of wounds received in action. The Plaque and Scroll sent to families who lost a soldier in the War was sent to Rev J Riordan, Ross, West Coast. Then on 29 August, 1921, his brother Martin (my grandfather) died in New Plymouth Hospital, aged 36 years, leaving his widow Margaret, with six young children. Soon after this, we read that Fr John Riordan had ‘holiday leave’ in the North Island, and that Father Gallagher was doing duty at Ross in his absence. Fr John had returned to Ross by early November.

 

Unexpectedly, in mid-April 1925, and to the great sadness of the people of the parish of Ross, Fr John Riordan suffered a ‘paralytic seizure’, never regaining consciousness, and he died a few days later on 18 April 1925. The Bishop, and John’s sister Bridget from Christchurch, were both present when he died. (Press, Volume XI, Issue 18361, 20 April 1925, Page 10)
Much was written about Fr John Riordan when he died, but perhaps one of the most moving pieces about him came from his first parish of Ahaura. This article describes him as a ‘devoted and earnest priest’. It says he was ‘full of missionary zeal’ when he left ‘to take charge of the far-flung parish of Ross, where his priestly ministrations endeared him not only to his own devoted people but to many outside the fold.’ It continues- ‘His simplicity of character, his genial disposition, and kindness of manner won for him the admiration of all with whom he came in contact during his sacred ministry.’ It finishes by saying that- ‘“Father John” of Ross is dead, but his memory will linger long in many a heart.’ (Ahaura Notes, NZ Tablet, Volume LII, Issue 16, 6 May 1925.)

 

 

An account of his funeral in the Hokitika Guardian (The Guardian, Hokitika, 22 April 1925, page 3) gives a great level of detail about the day. The account starts by saying: “The wave of sorrow and regret that passed over the West Coast when the news went forth of the death of Rev. Father Riordan on Saturday afternoon, was exemplified yesterday when the largest gathering of people that had ever assembled in Ross township, gathered for the purpose of paying a last tribute of respect to the memory of the deceased priest, whose funeral took place to Ross cemetery.” People came from all over the Coast for his funeral, from Okuru in the south to Reefton in the north. Two bishops and twenty-two priest were present, and ‘the celebrant of the Mass was the Very Rev Dean O’Donnell (Ashburton) a relative of the deceased priest.’ The ‘beautiful Gregorian music of the Mass, including the soul-stirring “Dies Irae” was chanted by a choir of priests.’ Bishop Liston blessed the Catafalque. In the procession to the cemetery the altar boys and priests preceded the bishops, followed by the Catholic School children and Sisters of Mercy. Next were the children from Ross State School. The coffin was carried in relays by men parishioners, and it was followed by a large gathering and many cars.
A year later, anniversary celebrations held in memory of the late Father Riordan. First there was a requiem Mass before many assembled at the “New Ross” cemetery to unveil a memorial to him.

The memorial was a 'tribute of love from his parishioners and friends'. The memorial is in an impressive position on this hilltop cemetery, with a view looking out to the ocean beyond.
In the beautifully kept historic church in Ross, there was a sign explaining that the Stations of the Cross were in memory of Rev Fr John Riordan.

(Rev Fr) John RIORDAN

 b 14 January 1883 in Kirwee, Canterbury, NZ
d 18 April 1925, in Ross, West Coast, NZ
while Parish Priest 

 

Requiescat In Pace 

 

(Please contact me via a comment if you are interested in learning more about Fr John Riordan: I do have more references.) 

Ooops something went wrong with the formatting in the published post. I don't want to try and fix it in case I delete it!!

 

James Lalor- South Beach

LALOR, James - some key facts

James LALOR was born in Co Kilkenny, Ireland, c1837-1838, to John and Mary Lalor.

He was in Bendigo when the Eureka Stockade riots took place in Ballarat (in 1854) and was described as a ‘distant relation’ of Peter Lalor who was prominent in the rebellion.  According to his obituary, he was a butcher in Melbourne, and was a manager in Mr Pettie’s large butchery shop for several years.

In his obituary it also says that he sailed in the ship ‘Lightning’ and followed the early gold rushes at Addison’s Flat on the West Coast, but never met with much success there. (Gold was discovered at Addison’s Flat in May, 1867.)

By 1871 he was living in the Greymouth district, and on 14th September 1871, he married Catherine ROWLAND in the Roman Catholic Chapel, Greymouth. He was described as a bachelor and a miner, with a stated ‘length of residence’ of 2½ years. A marriage notice appeared in the Grey River Argus.

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.

James mined for gold at South Beach. On the Westland electoral roll of 1911, James Lalor, of Paroa, is listed as a miner, and in 1914 on the Westland supplementary roll he is listed as “6182 Lalor James, senr. South Beach, miner.”

In April 1883 James is listed as one of four men applying for a lease of 8 acres of land at South Beach, for a period of 15 years, to be worked by ground sluicing. The company formed was to be called “The Rising Sun Gold-mining Company”. One of the other company members was Robert Delaney, who had been named as a witness at James Lalor’s wedding 12 years earlier.

James Lalor was clearly accustomed to public speaking, and many references can be found to him in ‘Papers Past’, performing varied public roles. A second, more detailed account of his life has many of these references attached.

James Lalor was confident when taking a public stand for the rights of miners. In 1886 when a public meeting was held about leasing of South Beach lands, James Lalor was one of those involved in the discussions, and he proposed a motion “That a petition be presented to the Waste Lands Board, and a copy forwarded to the Honorable the Minister of Mines, showing that by the sale or leasing of any land within the Paroa district that the miners would suffer severely, inasmuch as their very costly dams and water-races would become valueless, which should be viewed as a calamity to be averted.”

In his later years James also became a 'Parliamentary Messenger'. An article in 1901 in New Zealand Free Lance described him in favourable terms, noting that among the messengers in the recent session of the House of Representatives ‘there was one at least who bore a historic name and is a blood relation to two men who have achieved celebrity'. The writer told us that James Lalor was a modest man: 'Yet, Mr James Lalor, who came up from Greymouth to wear the livery of Parliament and who has just got back to the Coast this week to resume his avocation as a gold miner could boast of his family connections if he were not far too modest a man to say anything about himself at all.'  The writer then said that James Lalor was a ‘full cousin’ of the celebrated Irish orator, Richard Lalor Sheil.

In 1992, my aunty, Edith Lemon (nee Lalor), showed me where the old residence of James and Catherine Lalor stood at South Beach. It was rather derelict, but had clearly been a rather grand villa in its time. I am told that it is no longer standing.

James Lalor died at South Beach on 3 October 1916, of malignant disease of the throat. In the Argus he was described as ‘well and favourably known throughout the West Coast’  and a ‘true and devoted father’. On October 5th, Catherine Lalor invited friends to attend the funeral for her late husband James, leaving from her residence at South Beach for the Greymouth Cemetery.

He is buried in Karoro Cemetery in Greymouth, together with his wife Catherine, and two grandchildren who died as infants.

Compiled by Margaret Riordan, great- granddaughter of James Lalor snr, 
27 March 2020

I have various documents and references to the facts listed above, but my footnotes didn't come through on the cut and paste to the blog. Here they are, included as pictures. 

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.

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.

Payn Headstone- how things can change

Sometime early in my genealogical discoveries, I found out that the grave of my great-grandparents Frank Payn and Johanna Scettrini, was in Hokitika Cemetery, and I went there and found it.
It was a very simple headstone.

I might yet find I have another photo stashed away- though at the time I took fewer as they all had to be developed and paid for!- but it seems that I may have totally 'ignored' the fact that their son John F Payn, who died in France in WW1, had a plaque underneath his parents. This is visible in this online photo on the Westland Cemeteries site.

At the time I visited the cemetery it took me sometime to find the grave, so I drew myself a little 'map' for future visits. This might help some other visitors, but on a return visit my wayward use of left and right still had me muddled for a while even with my 'map'!

In the last couple of years Maurice Payn of Nelson, Frank and Johanna's grandson, and my mother's first cousin, has taken it upon himself to do something about renovating some of our original pioneer headstones. He arranged to have Frank and Johanna's grave redone to include more information about them, and here is what the headstone now looks like.

(And yes, the Arthur Thomas Payn in the next grave, is another grandson.)

Thanks are due to Maurice Payn for his efforts in taking care that these pioneer graves will still be able to tell their story to future Payn-Scettrini generations.

Next up- I must write some sort of summary of Frank Payn's life. 'Papers Past' has lots of bits about him...