New Bond & Taylor Info

Just a short blog today.

I have given the close by  date as the last day in November, so unless it is a serious error in  a report, then that is it.  A final spell check will be done probably around the end of January, before printing.

Now the Bonds.  I so need to get back into the story of the Bond family, it has been interesting to research.  The factual story has been a a stand still for a while due to concentrating on the Ridley story, due to the fact I have been able to find more information.

Today I got another reply for the Bond line.......YAY.   Glenese sounds lovely, and she has corrected and updated me on her line.  I am now looking forward to seeing some more photos and maybe some memories.  Glenese is in a similar area as myself, so we may be able to meet up.  that will be grand.  Another cousin, it is never ending, which is fantastic.  :-)

Well Glenese, your line is now updated.  I will send a new copy out mid Novemeber for you to everyone to double check.  Look forward to meeting you soon.

I have sent a Ridley Report out, updated today and sent it too all on the Ridley line.

Thanks Helen for Muriels email, I have sent two emails, hoping the last one can be opened.  I have asked her to let me know, I may have to send her a printed copy.

I finally rang Alison tonight, another lady who sounds lovely.  I look forward to hearing from Alison in the near future.  First  I have tosend her a copy of the Taylor family PDF.  hopefully not to much is wrong.  Thanks Marie, for this connection.

Thats about it for now.

The next steps

The Taylors are a complicated lot, though thanks to Marie, Bruce and Nicole I have the family reports, and it is looking grand.  I have another person to contact, thanks to Marie, will really have to do that tonight, I am hoping that this call will give a local angle and more on how the Taylor family grew.

Who were they Taylors?  Where did they come from? How big was the family?  Like both the Bond and Ridley families, the Taylors came over during the Vogel Immigration Scheme.  William Edward Taylor arrived on the "Rodney" in 1875, along with is parents George & Frances Taylor nee Maitland, and three siblings, Richard, Fanny Elizabeth and Mercy, sad to say Mercy died on the ship due to scarlettina or pneumonia.  It must of been a big shock to George and Frances to lose one of their own.  The family were orignally from Kent, though a different area from the Ridley family.

George and Frances had 5 more children in New Zealand.  I have followed most of the lines the best I can, thanks to those mentioned above, there will be photos and I hope to have some memory and newspaper stories too.  I dont really want to give to much away.

I have been surprised at how many of the Alfuth descendants are local to the Bay of Plenty region.  It is nice to be able to find cousins on the doorstep that we never knew about, my children and husband have had fun meeting some of these cousin.  We hope to meet many more of you at the reunion next year.

Oh I just remembered I found a picture of the Immigration Barracks in New Plymouth where I think some of our families may of stayed for up to three days, on their arrival in this district.  That is something that I won't be able to confirm, unless there is a list of those who passed through them, something I may look into.

I have also found a possible employer for William Ridley, however I may just use this gentlemans story as something that William was told or learnt about in his first two years, maybe a neighbour, after all this I doubt that I will be able to use a real person as an employer, so for now he shall remain unnamed.

How it all started

All this reseach of mine has been going on for nearly 10 yrs now, I have been researching every branch that is connected to my childrens line. 

This book I am compiling in around June this year.  I got a visit form my local cousin Helen, we had first met with her husband Don just over a year ago previous.  Anyway helen came around to visit and told me about a Family Reunion that involved the Alfuth (Alford) line and those that married into it in the original generation.  Rildley, Taylor and Bond. 

Helen had been talking to Noela (this was the first time I heard her name).  Apparently Noela and a few other cousins and siblings were orgainising this Reunion for 2012 and they wanted to do an information booklet for people about there ancestors and where they came from. 

Silly me.............lol.  Helen knew I had a lot of information already, I said no worries I will do a book.  Things just took off.  I was instantly interested in the Ridley line with this been one of my childrens main lines.  Helen said she would get back to me with news from Noela, via phone calls, apparently Noela doesn't like email.  With in the first week I had found another link to our William Ridley, his older sister Charlotte Norris Pollington nee Ridley came over to Napier, New Zealand a month before William and Eliza left England. 

Charlotte came over  with her husband John and their children, though they lost one son aged 2yrs on the voyage over.  I have all the shipping details and so far not much else.

I got an email from Helen "Can Noela visit on Monday"  yes that is fine, I don't go far on Mondays.  In the end I first met Noela on Wednesday.  Well what a livewire she is!!  She gave me alsorts of information, including a list of other siblings and cousins for me to email and get their family lines.  They included Brenda, Anne, Marlene, Frances.  There were others, though I can't remember the names off top of my head....sorry.

I emailed everyone on the list, saying who I was and asking for family information and research that they may all have, and would like to see in the reunion book.  This was for all lines now.  Some research and notes came through the post, other via email.  I will have to look through my emails to see whow as the first to respond.  I do know that Brenda was the first to snail mail me.  What a lot of information, photos, family bible, news clippings, certificates and all the names I could imagine for the Bond family line.  Lots of data to put in my tree, lots of reading to do and I still have to scan photos to use in the book.

I think it was Marlene who got back to me first via email.  What a lovely lady she is, funny, most certainly, lots of info..........fantastic.  We have had a good laugh so far, Skyping and emailing, I even got to meet Marlene about a month ago when she was up with way with one of her sons and family.  This grandson of her's is gorjus...............and really active.  The family were having time out from the Christchurch quakes, which are still very much ongoing.  Marlene and family thank you for letting me visit and a big happy birthday to the little one next month.

Now where was I.........lol. Got carried away then.  needless to say Marlene has done heaps of research for me, about Taranaki and gathering other research from family, gossiping about memories which I also hope to include in the book. 

Helen, the lady who started me on this journey, THANKS, it has been fun so far.  I still remember the day that everyone visited Noela, Francis and Ann, who jsut happened to bang into Helen and brought her along too, I think my poor husband was a bit shell shocked to meet so many new cousins at once.  Laughter filled the air, with family stories, my favortie one been about the Dressing Gown Lady (Marlene).  Very funny, I dont think all the nuttiness comes through my line anymore, I'm going to blame those Ridley, Bond and Taylor lines.

Helen has also done a heap of research for me as well as emailing other family to get information,  for me, Helen also found Nicole for me too.    Nicole is an impressive researcher today, her Family report was huge, I still need to ask her to contact the other researchers mentioned in the report.  Starting to think that this reunion is going to be huge.

I have to re write the Ridley story coz my historical research is......blah date wise, the other stories also have to be worked on, though I think they may stay a bit more factual. 

Well this is how it all sorted, the story is a bit messy.......however I dont care at this stage, if you do tough.  There are a lot of other people to thank for infomation yet, including Bruce and Marie, who's sister in law I still have to ring.  Wish she had an email instead.........lol.

Well see you horrible lot next blog, keep up the good work and thanks for everything.

Cousins

Well what a blast this research has been so far, I have never seen so many cousins at once or got involved with so many different branches of one family.  The cousins, well what can I say, they are amazing, all sending information and research that they have, bringing the family tree up to date. I have not seen things move this quickly before.  You ladies and gents are awesome, thank you very much for the research, and I hope that I do justice with the book for the reunion next year.

Helen, thank you for all your support, editing and corrections you have sent me and dropped off personally, you are fantastic.  Francis & Anne, thank you for updating of your family lines, meeting you that afternoon was wonderful, you are both great ladies.  Marlene the lovely dressing gown lady.......lol.  Your contact and actually meeting you was wonderful, you have certainly kept me on my toes, thank you for the background information on Taranaki and the memories from yourself and various family members.  Noela Vallis, well what can I say, you are a whirlwind, a very funny lady who is forever finding more information and telling stories, what a great book your life would make.

Thanks also go to Brenda, Marie, Jim, Bruce and Nicole for all the research you have all sent me, if it wasnt for all of you cousins then I wouldnt be able to do this book for you all and our future generations.  You have all been amazing with information, news cuttings, photos etc.  Now I just need the memories.  Marie, sorry I have not yet contacted your sister in law, though I will, that is a promise.

It was 8.15 and i had just gotten out of bed, no hearing aids in, however I eventually heard my phone ringing, of course I missed it yeat again.  Well i knew who it was and rang back.......Noela!!  Wonderfully bright and chirppy.  "May I come and see you soon, I have more information about the Neil line!"  Well yes I said, I always look forward to Noela's visit she is so funny.  Well we decided on that afternoon, my daughters were to make some cakes and Noela said she would judge them.  my girls went shopping to more ingredients, whilst they were gone......Noela rang back.  "I'm coming to take you all to lunch be ready at 11.45."  Late as usual, a big whirlwind arrives at my door with research in tow plus a chocolate cake for afternoon tea Noela arrived.  Out to lunch we went and research we did.  Noela gave me some more information for the Neil/Ridley line, still got to look through it yet, so i might go and hide out at the library tomorrow.  She got on her phone to Kevin, and later to Jean where she got some of the information from, Kevin you sound great.  Noela had discovered that she had information about Rose Ridley and she couldn't remember who had given it to her, thats why she rang Kevin.  Apparently the research was from Jean.

What a conversation that was, we started off with an Alan Ridley or was he a Huff?  At that stage we just didnt know.  So off to search the net.  I found an Alan Gerald Ridley born in 1929, according to his death registration, the dates sounded about right for a son of Rose Ridley who was born in 1903, so next it was the Electoral Rolls.  The information that Jean had given Noela said that he married a lady called June and that they had 5 daughters, though Jean only knew about Leslie, Lynn and Tania. 

I found Allen Gerald Ridley married to a Novenna June! Was this them, it was possible the Electoral Roll said they lived on the Hauraki Plains, and we already knew that they had lived in Thames, so not to far away.  We were stumpted for a short while then, we did not know any of the children's surnames, if they had married etc, what to do.  Well been me whilst Noela was on the phone  to Jean I searched the Thames Cemetery online, put in the surname and low and behold, both their names came up.  Allen Gerald Ridley died in 1993 and Novenna June in 2007, both buried together at Totora Memorial Park Cemetery.

I couldnt believe my luck, there was also a headstone inscription availabe to read, so clicking on the link I scrolled down to read it and couldnt contain my excitement.  Not only did it have the three names of the daughters we knew about it also had another three daughters and a boys name. I showed Noela, and then we found out via Jean that she had contact details for Lesley and I think it was Lynn, woooohooooooo what a find.  Jean confirmed that the boy was the girls half brother.  Noela got off the phone and would you believe it she rang Lesley.....OMG, that was amazing, she was tallking to Rose Ridley's granddaughter, not only that, she lives fairly close to me too. 

We started off with an assumption and instinct and ended up on the phone with a descendant hows that for about an hours work between us.  Me and my computer; Noela and her cell phone, it was amazing.  So now I will eventually be getting more information to put in this book.

What a day, it was brilliant, the whirlwind has gone now, (Bye Noela) and I have much reading to do this evening and tomorrow, I look forward to Kevin and Jean contacting me in the future, apparently there is more research to come from them.  The excitement is growing again. 

On the downside, I have to change my story about William Ridley due to historical research, some places didnt actually exist, I need to find him an employer and a discription of what his home would of been like. 

Anyway watch this space and enjoy the read, comments are welcome.