I am deeply obsessed, at the moment, in writing articles about various ancestors and/or episodes in their life. I’m trying to keep them to a length of one to two thousand words. I have spent much time “filling the gaps” or “killing them off” in my Family Tree Maker computer programme. During this process I discovered that most of what I know about my ancestors is in my head and not recorded anywhere. So I’m trying to “clear my brain filing system”. We all are very familiar with our ancestors. We all have unrecorded knowledge of them, their achievements and, in my case, antics. When I have written something, I send it off to my siblings, friends, the Old Fogeys, and any other person I want to annoy. Generally they respond and ask questions which then leads to another article. But the key is that I’m passing my research on, one bit at a time. An example of this is my article below in which I try to explain why and how my Puhoi ancestry arrived here. It is not a full life story but an episode.

Obviously this subject has been well researched and I think I have a copy of every book published about Puhoi. But few of my target audience will read them. By putting the subject into a limited word number I’m trying to make it readable.

I recommend that you “clear your brain”. I can even publish your article.

Anyway, back to reality. Once again, we have an interesting newsletter. The articles are varied. The jokes are funny although they are not the main reason for reading the newsletter.

I hope this month’s issue occupies some of your time and you find something valuable.

Peter Nash

Do you want to receive this newsletter every month?

This newsletter is free. There are not many free newsletters of this length in New Zealand. I am biased but it should be an interesting read.

To subscribe is easy too. Go on - don't misspell it as I have, twice already. https://www.famnet.org.nz/

The front page is lovely, but click on [Newsletters]. A page opens showing you a list of all the past newsletters, you can click the link to read one that you’re interested in.

Like the front page, the newsletters page has a place where you can log on or register. It’s in the top right-hand corner. Put your email here and click [Continue]. If you aren’t already on our mailing list, there will be a message “Email not in database” and a button [New User] appears. Click this and follow the dialog to register. It’s free and easy. You should receive a copy every month until you unsubscribe.

Robert has assured me that he will not send begging letters to your email - apparently, he has enough money at the moment. You will not have to put in your credit card number. You will not be charged a subscription.

Tell other genealogists so they can enjoy the newsletters too.

Regards

Peter Nash

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Contributors

From the Developer

Family Histories

I was interested to read Peter’s editorial above, and The Nash Rambler below. They perfectly illustrate my belief about family history: it is these stories that bring your genealogy to life, your actual family tree – the list of your family and everybody that you are related to is only a framework, stupendously boring to everybody (including you) until you start using it as an index. If you have your family tree saved in any of the hundred or so personal family tree systems, like FamilyTreeMaker, Legacy, etc., you can export your family tree as a GEDCOM file which you can upload into FamNet. If you don’t have such a personal system you can create the family tree directly in FamNet using its on-line editing features to create the tree one record at a time. At least one of our users has done this. However you create your family tree, you can add pictures and stories. A story like Peter and Margarette Glatz would be uploaded to FamNet and attached to one of its subjects (probably Peter Glatz), then linked to the other people mentioned in the story.

By doing this your boring family tree becomes interesting because it is now an index to the “gold”, the stories and pictures that make it interesting. For an example, have a look at my FamNet record of Hannah Old, my grandmother. You can find this by logging on to FamNet and searching for Hannah Old, or you can click this link: https://www.famnet.org.nz/gdb_pages/gdb2.aspx?Linkid=7b50e9c5-6376-497e-b198-3e385f92c768. Note the Scrapbook section of the display. Mostly these links are to pictures, but the last link is to Reminiscences of Mrs Hannah Barnes. When a scrapbook item is uploaded, the dialog makes it easy to also link this to other records: you’ll find the pictures are also linked to the other people in them. Click the link to my father and you’ll see more scrapbook items, including 4 documents.

I hope you are all doing this with your own family records. Remember the golden rule: keep a copy of it in at least two places, because you always need at least one backup. I have relatives who have lost their family tree because they can’t find either their personal database, or the software needed to open it. FamNet is an ideal backup because it not only provides you with a backup copy, it is a copy that you can share with your family who can help you with more information including pictures and documents.

And remember that it isn’t just old documents that are interesting. To my family, the single most interesting thing in all of FamNet is My Story, which you’ll find linked to the record of me. You should all write your equivalent of this. Nobody else can tell this story like you, but if you don’t, your descendants won’t know who you are.

Robert Barnes

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The Nash Rambler

Peter and Margarette Glatz

Peter Glatz was born 9 February 1812 in Popowa, then in Austria, now in The Czech Republic. His parents were Peter and possibly Margarette.

Margarette Turnwald was born 13 June 1818 in Popowa and was the daughter of Anton Turnwald and his wife Anna nee Gruber. An important connection to remember is that Margarette’s sister married into the Krippner family when they arrived in New Zealand.

Captain Martin Krippner was naturalised a British citizen on 10 April 1860 and initially settled at Orewa, where he was postmaster from August 1861 until October 1863. Krippner was not a successful farmer himself but he was very keen about New Zealand's prospects and was on good terms with Governor of New Zealand Sir George Grey. Krippner soon thought up a project to help landless peasants back home in Bohemia and obtained permission from the Auckland provincial government to arrange a Bohemian colony at Puhoi. He then wrote to his brothers, still in Bohemia, promising 40 acres (160,000 m²) of free land for each adult immigrant with a further 20 acres (81,000 m²) for each child over five years of age.

Popowa was formerly one of the 43 properties of the Chotieschaw estate which lies on the edge of the Pilsen coal basin, not far from Prague. The people there originally came from Bavaria and , in modern terms, they were of German stock. Many of the Puhoi settlers had been miners and others were farming labourers.

The Glatz family, together with a lot of Margarette’s Turnwald family, were among the 83 men and women who travelled to New Zealand on the “War Spirit”, landing in Auckland on 28 June 1863. They then moved to Puhoi which became their home. Every family had to pay their fares but, on arrival, each adult was to receive land. Puhoi was a strongly Catholic community.

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The New Zealander 29 June 1863

Daily Southern Cross 29 June 1863

When they arrived, Puhoi was a clearing in the bush with two whares and nothing else – not the land of milk and honey that they expected. The local Māori built shelters for them. The settlers worked, clearing, felling and cutting the timber into shingles for roofing, into fence posts, railway sleepers and wharf piles for sale in Auckland. Captain Krippner wrote glowingly in 1864 to home in Bohemia

This is a wonderful country, overflowing with milk and honey. A beautiful, in fact, a magnificent climate! Very little rain, yet sufficient in all seasons to allow the farmers to raise their crops. The flowers can be seen in bloom the whole year round….In fine, New Zealand is another El Dorado”

The reality is that if the local Māori had not been friendly and provided them with kumara, peaches and vegetables they would have starved. But Krippner’s letters convinced another group to come out.

Before they travelled Peter and Margarette had three daughters:

Cecilia born about 1848 in Popowa

Dorothea, known as Dora, born 28 February 1853 in Popowa

Anna born 5 June 1858 in Popowa

Peter was formally naturalised in April 1879.

In 1866 Peter was given title to 140 acres of land being allotment 16 (121 acres) and the southwestern portion of allotment 18 (19) acres) in the Parish of Puhoi. In 1878, for example, they had 33 sheep. It was not a dairy farm.

On 4 January 1877 Peter gave ownership of their land to his wife. The document says

That in consideration of the natural love and affection which the said Peter Glatz had and beareth for and towards the said Margaret Glatz the said Peter Glatz doth hereby convey and assure unto the said Margaret Glatz, her heirs …

This may have come about by the fact that Peter Glatz was legally declared an alcoholic and this was a measure to avoid losing the land.

Peter died on 20 November 1883 in Puhoi of old age and was buried in the Puhoi cemetery.

Margaret died on 15 December 1895 in Puhoi and is buried in the same cemetery.

Peter Nash

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Chinese Corner

A New Zealand Chinese Historian’s Journey by Phoebe H Li

An interest in history nurtured in my teens led me to choose it as my major at university in Northeast China. This was in the 1990s, when China was undergoing tremendous changes jostled by its state-defined ideology of socialism and by a thirst to embrace a market economy. A confused young Chinese woman wanting to see the outside world, I first went to Australia for further study and afterwards migrated to New Zealand in 2001.

Life was not easy for a marginalised Asian immigrant in the New Zealand labour market of the early 2000s, so I decided to undertake a PhD project at the University of Auckland that would make a socio-political study of Chinese immigrants in New Zealand. My doctoral thesis was published in 2013 by Brill (based in the Netherlands) under the title A Virtual Chinatown. Regrettably, it did not open up a research career for me in this country, but it did lead me to Tsinghua University in Beijing.

At Tsinghua my major research project focused on reformers Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao’s exile and overseas Chinese involvement in China’s political change prior to the 1911 Revolution. The research deepened my appreciation of what it meant to be an overseas Chinese. From 2013 to 2019 I toured many parts of China, which opened my eyes even further. After fifteen years of living overseas, I discovered a new self, urging me to tell and retell stories of the Chinese in New Zealand, which used to circulate within a limited audience.

That resulted in my collaboration with John B Turner to curate a photographic exhibition on New Zealand Chinese history, first hosted by the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China in Beijing in 2016, and then by the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Waitangi Treaty Grounds Museum, and the New Zealand Portrait Gallery in Wellington between 2017 and 2020. One consequence of the exhibition is that I was commissioned by the Chinese Poll Tax Heritage Trust to work on a book project concerning early Chinese merchants in New Zealand. Writing Golden Enterprise enabled me to talk to many descendants of those early merchants and other old-timers. I feel privileged to share their family history and precious memories, which have deeply been embedded in the history of New Zealand from the 1860s to the 1970s. From reflecting on my own life to writing about others’, I have completed an extraordinary and rewarding journey. PHANZINE April 2024

Current research is on Fungus. The focus of this book would be on the significance of dried fungus export to China, in the context of the developing New Zealand economy in the late 19^th Century.

In the 1870s the New Zealand Government borrowed large sums to develop the railway network. This involved the cutting down of large areas of trees. The fungus grew under the decayed wood.

Phoebe has been talking to archivists, librarians and museum staff. She is appealing to anyone who may have information in memoirs, diaries, and any early publications, such as school anniversary publications. If you have any information, please email her Phoebe.h.li@gmail.com

Helen Wong

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More Famous New Zealanders You Have Probably Never Heard Of

HALLENSTEIN Bendix (1835-1905)

Bendix Hallenstein was born in Brunswick, Germany (now Braunschweig, Lower Saxony) in 1835 to Reuben Hallenstein and Helena née MICAHELIS. He was the youngest of three sons.

After finishing school, Bendix moved to Manchester where he spent five years working in a shipping office. Here he learnt business methods as well as English.

On the 03 February1858, Bendix, aged 22, arrived in Victoria on board the Shooting Star. He had followed his older brothers, Isaac (1830-1911) and Michaelis (1832-1904).

Isaac and Herman BUTTNER operated a store selling drapery, grocery, boots, shoes and hardware etc at Daylesford, 114km northwest of Melbourne, during the gold rush period. However, Isaac’s true love was leather and with the profits made in Daylesford, he opened a tannery with his uncle Mortiz Michaelis in Melbourne in 1866. Michaelis, Hallenstein & Co [1] grew into a large company and manufactured leather goods, venetian and other blinds (including Luxaflex), canvas products as well as toys, saddlery, travel goods, grindery equipment and hardware. The business was later reformed as Michaelis Bayley Ltd and is still operating in Australia.

Michaelis Hallenstein also worked for Michaelis, Hallenstein & Co, before moving to England in 1874. Upon his death it was noted that two of his sons were living in New Zealand.[2]

Bendix also worked at the store in Daylesford, and it was here that he met Mary MOUNTAIN, a young English girl who was housekeeping for the brothers. All three of them were said to have wanted to marry Mary, but she chose Bendix. They went back to England in marry in Alford, Lincolnshire in 1861. The couple came on to New Zealand in 1863, with two of their eventual four daughters. Though Mary was Anglican, the daughters were brought up in the Jewish faith.

Gold had been found at Gabriel’s Gully in 1861 and many prospectors from Australia came on to Central Otago. Bendix opened a store in Invercargill, then in 1866 in conjunction with James William ROBERTSON opened the first flour mill in the Queenstown district at Kawarau Falls (by the current bridge). It was known as the Brunswick Flourmill.[3] In 1871 he purchased land at Speargrass Flat, between Dalefield and Arrowtown, and had a large house in the Elizabethan style, and noted as ‘part villa, part castle’, built.[4] Known as Thurlby [5] the ruins of the homestead are today used as a wedding venue.

Originally trading as I Hallenstein & Co the store sold groceries, liquor, draperies and iron goods, were wool agents, and soon expanded to Cromwell, Arrowtown and Lawrence.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 129, 23 July 1864, Page 4

In 1869 Bendix was elected as the second mayor of Queenstown. During his time, he planted many European trees, had bridges built over the Kawarau and Shotover Rivers, and had a courthouse (still standing), and jail built. He represented The Lakes in the Otago Provincial Council from 1872 to 1875 and was a member of the House of Representatives from 1872 to 1873.

By 1873, Bendix was having trouble sourcing men’s clothing for the stores so opened the New Zealand Clothing Factory in Dunedin. After moving to Dunedin in 1875, Bendix opened a store in the Octagon. By the turn of the century there were 34 Hallenstein shops in New Zealand.

In 1884 he established the Drapery and General Importing Company of New Zealand. Known as the D.I.C., it was New Zealand’s first department store. It eventually grew to 16 stores before it was taken over, mostly by Arthur Barnett. The last D.I.C closed in 1991.

Besides being a Justice of the Peace, Bendix was the German Consul at Dunedin. He was also a member of Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Kempthorne, Prosser and Co drug company, the National Insurance Company and Westport Coal Company.

Bendix Hallenstein died on the 06 January 1905 at the house he had built on the corner of London Street and Victoria Street (Haddon Place) above the Dunedin CBD. He is buried in the Jewish portion of Southern Cemetery. Mary died on the 21 February 1907 in Hove, Brighton, Sussex. The businesses were passed on to his daughter’s families who later established fellowships at the University of Otago, funded purchases and donated rare books to the Hocken and University of Otago libraries, donated fine art to the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and objects, including an amazing collection of Pacific artefacts, to the Otago Museum.

In 1985, Hallenstein’s and Glasson’s merged to become Hallenstein Glasson Holdings Limited. Today there are 46 HB’s across New Zealand and Australia, including 12 in Auckland.

In 2010, Bendix Hallenstein was inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame. There was a branch of Hallenstein’s in Beach Street, Queenstown, about equidistant from Hallenstein Street, named for Bendix, and Rees Street where the original Hallenstein shop was. It has now moved out to the Central Shopping Centre at Frankton.

[1] https://nettheim.com/Netheim-NettheimFamilyHistory/Michaelis-Hallenstein-from-copy-of-NN-searchable.pdf

[2] The Argus (Melbourne) 26 Oct 1904

[3] Robertson was born in Brunswick, Canada.

[4] In 2025, the median property in Speargrass Flat is valued at $4.4million, and at Dalefield at $6.8million.

[5] 31 Speargrass Flat Road

Christine Clement

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Ken Morris

Personal & Family History Writing – Questions to Ask

In some recent Famnet Newsletter contributions the articles were in part drawn from a book I produced for the family “a Boy from Tauranga” .

This article is to share the list of questions I answered to produce the 174 page book, which is the forerunner to a more comprehensive volume (WIP)

For some questions like “Did you have a car at high school?” – were short, No. Not everybody had cars in the 1950’s and very few students, but some did and I had some stories to add. Answers to some questions were more extensive as the memories came back.

Another source of good questions to get the memory working were included in Jean Rosier-Jones book “Writing your Family History” A New Zealand Guide. Published 1997 & 2005 ISBN 86941 675 9. A review of this book was included in a FAMNET newsletter in 2022. The ~ 130 questions were in the following groupings

I found that the individual questions brought back unrelated memories to the question being asked and it was important to make a note of the “extra memories” and follow up later so as not cause too much disruption to question being pursued.

Not all questions being asked may be thought to have relevance but some time should be sent to mull over & reflect on the question before dismissing as not relevant. The list is too big to be included directly in the newsletter, so click here. Credit for source of the list to Jean Rosier-Jones is acknowledged

Ken Morris

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Robina Trenbath

Scottish Marriages

1855 – January 1: Statutory Registers of Marriages began from this date, when compulsory civil registration was introduced in Scotland.

In that first year of civil registration, additional information was recorded:

*Birthplace and when and where registered

*Number of former marriages of each spouse

*Number of children by those marriages.

As a result, entries (1855) cover two pages and are a bonus to researchers.

Prior to 1855: local Church of Scotland ministers kept a record of baptisms, marriages and burials for each parish. The oldest records date back to 1553.

Regular Marriages: “those performed by the clergy after the publication of banns”.

1848 – August/ Irregular Marriages: “The law of Scotland adopted the principle that consent alone made marriage. The law of Scotland did not require the presence of a priest, nor the intervention of any religious ceremony. The law of Scotland considered marriage to be a civil contract, but it did not provide any particular mode by which that contract was to be proved” – Hansard, discussion on the bill, Registration of Births and Marriages (Scotland) Bill.

N.B. Irregular marriage had the same legal consequences of a regular marriage.

“Yaldi” - These guys were so enlightened. No wonder the English (until 1856) were eloping to Gretna Green (Dumfriesshire, Scotland) to get married by a blacksmith or tollkeeper.
Yaldi – Scottish for YES! An anvil with white text on it

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There were 3 forms of Irregular Marriage:

1. A verbal agreement to be man and wife, given privately or informally. Usually in the presence of a witness (but not a requirement).

2. A promise of future marriage without exchange of consent, followed by carnal intercourse.

3. Marriage by cohabitation with habit and repute. i.e. a couple behaving as husband and wife. Known as a common law marriage.

Irregular marriages remained valid until 1939 because the Scots held to the simple doctrine that any two unmarried people of lawful age (until 1929 = 12 for a girl & 14 for a boy) that wished to get married, if they were physically capable and not within the prohibited degrees of kinship, should be able to marry.

N.B. Irregular marriage allowed couples to marry outside of the control of their parents.

Tying the knot: a Celtic ritual symbolizing the binding of two lives.

“There’s my thumb, I’ll ne’re beguile thee”.
The pressure of moistened thumbs, as the solemn confirmation of agreement. 2 A person and person in a dress

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A document with writing on it

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1829 – Regular Marriage: Proc. Robt. Russel & Janet Wilson @ Whitburn, Scotland on 2 January – 2/6d.

This is an Old Parish Record (O.P.R.) Proclaiming the marriage of our 2 x Gt. Grandfather to his first wife. Now, the surname Russel/ Russell is the 47^th most common surname in Scotland.^3.Utilising the portal, Scotland’s People, I set about verifying that this 02/01/1829 marriage could be directly attributed to our paternal line. How?

1. Three children were born to Robert & Janet Russell: Ann 1830, Alexander 1831 & Marion 1836.

N.B. Robert Russell’s first wife died after the birth of their third child abt. 1836.

Scottish naming patterns:⁴

First daughter named after the mother’s mother = Ann DAVIDSON/ WILSON (1789-1861)

First son named after the father’s father = Alexander RUSSEL (1781- abt. 1855)

Second daughter named after the father’s mother = Marion LAIDLAW (1781 – 1857).

One might say: “So what, that doesn’t prove anything”. And of course you’d be right on the money with that one. But here’s the trick. Most Scottish death records (after 1855) record the names of the deceased’s parents.

A document with writing on it

AI-generated content may be incorrect. ^5.

2. Ann Wilson married Alexander Kirkwood on 17 Nov. 1848. She died on 12 Mar. 1883. Her father was Robert Russell, Cotton Weaver (deceased). Her mother was Ann Russell – M.S. Maiden Surname = Wilson (deceased). Her mother’s given name was actually Janet not Ann but as the informant was her husband, he may have assumed that (never having met her) his mother-in-law’s name was Ann. So…more proof needed.

3. Well, it comes with the marriage of Robert Russell’s younger brother John (1811-1878) to Ann Wilson (the younger sister/ 1813- 1894, of Janet Wilson). They named their first four children Alexander (1831), Marion (1833), Ann (1834) & Janet (1837). And…

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4. John Russell (son) was present at the death of his mother (Marion Russell) in 1857.

N.B. In the absence of DNA it would be reasonable to apply Occam’s Razor (i.e. the simplest explanation is usually the best). ⁶ That there is a consistency in familial names back to the original (1829) marriage partners Robert Russell & Janet Wilson.

Source documents – Original v Derivative:

“Records as an umbrella category comprises two types of sources: originals and derivatives. Original sources are first-generation sources; there is nothing written, visual or oral that precedes them. They include documents like birth, marriage and death certificates, church registers, court and land dealings, wills and so on. They also include gravestone inscriptions, photographs, paintings and the like.

Derivative sources are exactly what the phrase suggests; they derive from an original or derivative source by means of transcription, translation, extraction or compilation”. ^7.

1866 – Marriage of Robert Russell (2) & Agnes Marshall: our Gt. Grandparents.

N.B. Robert was the 1^st born of Robert Russell & his second wife Isabel Marshall (1844).

Over 10 years ago the document (below) was generated on a popular subscription site. It came from Scotland in the luggage of Robert and Agnes Russell when they emigrated to New Zealand on the Cartsburn in 1874. Having passed down successive generations, it has not traveled well.

It is not an original source document – it is a derivative document.

It’s an Extract of Marriage. It is not a first-generation source, something else preceded it. N.B. Information on the document has been obscured due to a sellotape mend.

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1866 Marriage of Robert Russell to Agnes Marshall: Below, is an image from the National Records of Scotland/ Statutory Registers of Marriages 622/ 4 277.

“Source Document: The statutory register is the original document where the information was first recorded, making it the source document for genealogical research.

Marriage certificates are copies of the information contained in the statutory register and are often issued for official purposes”.

N.B. A marriage certificate will cost you Au$30 and you’ll wait 15+ days. A digitized image (below) is obtainable immediately through Scotland’s People. Cost = Au$6.

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Anomalies between the two documents:

1a. Source document (original) was registered on 16 July, 1866.

1b. Derivative document (extract) was copied on 17 July, 1866.

2a. Original: Marriage in the District of Carlton, Burgh of Glasgow.

2b. Derivative: Extracted from the Register book of Marriages for the District of CATON.

3a. Original: Married on the thirteenth day of July…

3b. Derivative: Married on the twenty (crossed out and overwritten)…thirteenth.

4a. Original: Signed, Agnes Marshal – “Her X Cross’.

4b. Derivative: Signed Agnes Marshall.

5a. Original: Colum 6. If a regular marriage, signature of officiating Minister and Witnesses. If irregular, Date of Conviction, Decree of Declarator, or Sherrif’s Warrant. Signed, Gilbert Stewart F.C. Minister. Signed: Elizabeth Hamilton, Witness. Signed: William Graham*, Witness.

5b. Derivative: above items were obscured.

N.B. *He was a relative. The Graham surname also occurs as a middle name in one of Robert Russell’s (2) children.

6a. Original: clean copy

6b. Derivative: handwritten note of Robert Russell’s birth year/ 1845.

N.B. Where it’s possible, treat yourself to obtaining original source documents and put to bed the myths and mistakes which occur in anything less.

At this time I am writing my 8^th family history book Our Scottish Weavers, so it is highly likely that you may read more about these people.

References:

1. Leah Leneman, Promises, Promises: Marriage Litigation in Scotland 1698-1830, 2003. scotlandspeople.gov.uk

2. randomscottishhistory.com/ marriage customs

3. thoughtco.com/Russell.

4. A Handy Guide to Traditional Scottish Naming Patterns/ Blog: 2020 findmypast.com.au

5. 1883 KIRKWOOD Ann (Statutory Deaths 622/ 01 0080). In The District of Maryhill. Co. Lanark. Scotland. On Scotland’s People.

6. Occam’s Razor. www.britannica.com

7. Help! Historical & Genealogical Truth. P. 27. Carol Baxter (2015). www.carolbaxter.com/National Library of Australia ISBN 978-0-9807046-2-4

8. Source document: www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ Statutory register of marriages.

Robina Trenbath

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Rowan Gibbs

George W. Bell, 1838-1907

I am writing this on the morning of Budget Day 2025 and feel it is safe to predict that this year no funding will be allocated to any New Zealand government department for the publication of a science fiction novel. That last happened in 1904 when Seddon’s ruling Liberal Party voted in favour of a £125 grant to subsidise a very odd book, Mr. Oseba’s Last Discovery. In answer to a question by William Massey in the Supply debate, Hon. Sir Joseph Ward told the House that the book “had been published with the object of being circulated outside the colony, principally in America, with the object of attracting tourists to our shores and so benefitting trade generally. The criticism of some of the American journals had been very favourable. It would have cost the Government some thousands of pounds if they had availed themselves of the ordinary advertising in that country ... He knew there was some difference of opinion about the literary style of the work”.

Opposition members argued that the book “was not literature, but a book merely in laudation of the Premier. It was written by an American, and if they wanted to advertise the colony they had the Tourist Department, and also plenty of writers of our own quite capable of doing this class of work” ... “‘Mr. Oseba’s Last Discovery’ amounted to a deification of the Premier throughout” ... “the Premier should resent being made so extremely ridiculous. ... they ought not to make a laughing-stock of New Zealand, and especially ... they ought not to pay to have this done....”. A proposed amendment to cancel the subsidy was lost 18 to 27.[1]

So, what of the book? You may be unaware that the centre of the Earth is hollow, and home of an advanced utopian civilisation which through eugenics has reached perfection. The centre is accessible through openings at the poles, known as ‘Symmes’ Holes’, after Captain John Cleves Symmes Jr., a 19th century American proponent of the Hollow Earth theory. The polar holes were his idea, but the theory goes back at least to Athanasius Kircher and Edmond Halley in the 17th century, and spawned a host of entertaining pseudo-scientific and fictional writings.[2] Here Mr Oseba is an inhabitant of this inner world sent out to the surface in search of a good society, and, after many disappointments, he finally finds New Zealand, Seddon’s socialist wonderland, the ideal state. The book is dedicated “To the People of New Zealand, the most advanced community among men” and includes illustrations of New Zealand scenic views — and of Seddon, Ward, and the N.Z. Cabinet.[3]

The Government shipped 1,000 copies of the book to the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair and a large number were sent to newspapers in America and Canada, many of whom reviewed the book in detail, only a few dismissing it as nonsense. N.Z. papers took the book seriously, even admiring its “sparkling style”, but local sales were small and in 1910 the original price of 3/6 was reduced to 1/-. When I started in a second-hand bookshop in the early 1970s we always had a dozen or so copies gathering dust on the shelves, all under $10, though we enjoyed seeing it offered at up to US$200 in catalogues (or rather catalogs) from specialist science fiction dealers overseas. Today it is still common, usually priced around $40, though I see one interesting copy on sale for more, as it was John Logan Campbell’s and is inscribed “a truly wonderful & unique book, a marvellous creation of a fertile poetic brain”. Curiously a French translation was published in 1984.

The author, George Washington [actually William] Bell, was himself a larger-than-life character. He claimed to have been born on October 22nd 1838 in Richmond, Virginia, and came across as “a Southern gentleman”, but census records give his birthplace as Ohio. He married his first wife, Hannah, in 1856. In 1860 he was a schoolteacher in Illinois, where in 1861 he enlisted in the 54th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, known as ‘Yates’ Sharpshooters’, reaching the rank of Lieutenant by 1864. In 1870 he was farming in Illinois, though he later refers to himself as a lawyer. Hannah died in 1879 and by the early 1880s George had a new wife, Mary, née Covington, and was editing a newspaper in Iowa, before moving to the boom town of South Bend, Washington, where he speculated in real estate and engaged in business promotions, described as one of the town’s “leading capitalists”. But in 1893 his bubble burst and he failed to appear for a court case in which he was being sued. He later claimed he “lost a quarter of a million dollars”. In Iowa he had supported Grover Cleveland’s campaign for president in the 1892 election and was now rewarded with a diplomatic appointment as U.S. Consul in Sydney. Known as “Colonel Bell”, he was a flamboyant and popular figure, “a silver-tongued orator”, supporting free trade and the virtues of the “Anglo Saxon race”, but also, it has been said, “an enigmatic character” with a suggestion of “shrewdness, even slyness, lying beneath the outer layer of geniality” and “a suspicion that Colonel Bell had a touch of the ... confidence man.” He tirelessly promoted American interests and went out of his way to assist individual Americans needing help. His position was renewed once, but terminated when the Democrats lost the 1900 election. He chose to remain in Australia, a return to America complicated by his marriage in Sydney in 1898 to his twenty-year-old live-in nurse, Mary O’Sullivan, while his American wife, Mary, who had not accompanied him to Sydney, was still living. The Australian Mary got his Civil War pension. He tried some business ventures with little success, and made a modest living through his lectures and writings, including a lecture tour to New Zealand in 1902-3 — “his style is eloquent and graceful, his imagination vivid, and his language prudent while forceful, and his voice rich and melodious”, said a press release; while here he wrote the book. Bell died in Sydney on July 7th 1907, age 69.

[1] NZ Parliamentary Debates vol.131 pp.143-4 (14 Oct.1904)

Mr Oseba was alluded to in Parliament on other occasions — Massey said of the Budget: “The paragraph about our ‘being the paradise and buttress of the great British Empire’ is worthy of Mr. Oseba” (NZPD v.128 p.645); “Language of that extravagant order [in the Budget] reminds one of the fashionable, if sycophantic, author ‘Oseba,’ who has recently so liberally [!] recorded the virtues of his patron at the colony’s expense...” (v.129 p.26); also v.128 p.67, p.169; v.129 p.798; v.130 p.110.

[2] Two interesting examples, of many, are Mizora by Mary Lane (1880), arguably the first feminist utopia, and Etidorpha by John Lloyd (1895) offering “occult enlightenment into the higher forms of love” (the title being Aphrodite backwards).

[3] Seddon’s photo is captioned “...For over eleven years the sturdy Leader of the most progressive democracy of all the ages”. In a personal explanation to the House Seddon stated that he “was not aware of the high encomiums of the author in reference to himself until a long time after the book was published”.

Book online

https://archive.org/details/mrosebaslastdisc00belliala

For biographical information on Bell thanks are due to ‘Civil War Veterans in Australia’ (updated at Find-a-Grave) and to Robin McLachlan’s article ‘A Foreign Agent Unmasked...’.

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Bell in the frontis to his novel

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Bell in Civil War uniform

Bulletin cartoon of Bell as Uncle Sam praising Australia (as L.B.M., Little Boy from Manly) at the time of the Federation debates

Rowan Gibbs

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An Invitation to Contribute:

I have a number of people that contribute occasional articles. These appear irregularly if and when the authors send them to me. I use them to bulk up each month's newsletter. The more we have the more "rests "I can give my much-appreciated regular columnists.

This is a way that a person can get some of their writing published. Of course, we are all writing up our research results, aren't we? I have always said that every genealogist is an expert in some small piece of history, resources or research methods.

We circulate this newsletter to about 7,000 subscribers worldwide but is read by many more as it is passed on to other readers and LDS research centres. Every month I get feedback on my poor attempts at writing and I have now made many "new friends", albeit digital ones, I have even had some very helpful assistance in my research.

Why don't you contribute an article?

My basic requirements:

1) The column must be in English

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4) The subject should be genealogical or historical in nature

Do not be afraid about your "perceived" bad English. The article will be edited, in a friendly manner, by me and then Robert. Then all columnists and a few valuable proof-readers get to read the newsletter before it is emailed out. You’ll be paid $0 for your article, which is on the same scale that Robert and I pay ourselves for editing and publishing the newsletter.

From our Libraries and Museums

We are offering a forum to our libraries and museums to publicise their events, and to contribute articles to this newsletter that may be of interest to our readers. Auckland Libraries makes good use of this free service, let’s see if other libraries and museums take up this offer.

For readers of this newsletter: please bring this to the attention of your local libraries etc, and encourage them to participate.

Auckland Council Libraries

Nga mihi | Kind regards

SEONAID

Seonaid (Shona) Harvey RLIANZA | Family History Librarian

Central Auckland Research Centre, Central City Library

Heritage and Research

Auckland Libraries - Nga Whare Matauranga o Tamaki Makarau

Ph 09 890 2411| Extn (46) 2411 | Fax 09 307 7741

Auckland Libraries, Level 2, Central City Library, 44 - 46 Lorne Street, Auckland

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Hokianga Museum and Archives Centre.

Hokianga Museum is home to objects and records from Hokianga, including written and photographic histories from many of the families who have lived here, history of the local communities, schools and the natural geography of the area.

There are also displays featuring Mangungu Treaty signing, 1893 Suffrage featuring Hokianga women who voted that year, The Dog Tax Rebellion, the 1918 Influenza pandemic, the timber and dairying industries, the 28^th Maori Battalion A Company and accounts of shipwrecks, including the SS Ventnor. The Museum also houses Russell Clark’s original statue of Opo the Dolphin.

14 Waianga Place, Omapere, Hokianga

Open Monday, Wednesday & Saturday 10.00 -2.00pm.

09 4058498

From the Editor

This is a museum and Research Centre I am closely associated with. I have donated photographs, books, articles and historical items to this organisation. They do a brilliant job and, if you are in the area, well worth a visit. It is staffed by many volunteers and if you are brimming with spare cash they are a worthy organisation for a donation.

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Group News

News and Views

From the Editor: Because of space restrictions and copyright issues I cannot put the complete articles in this newsletter so here are some URLs that are worth looking at . Just click the heading.

USA pharmaceutical company to buy 23andMe

How to find Irish Volunteers records

How to find Merchant Navy records

In conclusion

Book Reviews

Help wanted

Letters to the Editor

Agricultural Shows

Hi Peter,

I love your style of writing.

Are you testing us though - AMP shows? Should that be A&P shows.

Besides Calf-Club days at school, Kaitaia A&P show was another highlight of my year.

Bay of Islands P(astoral)& I(ndustrial) is the oldest - 1842 start.

Whangarei A&P Show would have been held at Kensington Park in your day.

I'm sure you could share your memories of crazy incidents at shows around Northland.

Cheers,

Jen

From the Editor and idiot writer

Mea Culpa etc. Thanks for the correction. My only excuse for that example of idiocy is my dementia. The Old Fogeys laughed their old heads off when I reported your letter.

Nothing crazy happened at shows around Northland !!!! I was always under tight restraint by my mother who knew of my love of silly pranks etc.

Anne Bromell

It has just hit me - that was such a perfect word for your ramblings, well done.

Next time you mention Anne Bromell, how about giving her book titles and telling folk how important they still are for learning the basics of what is available. I still show every newbie with NZ research and suggest they borrow or buy a copy, as they never date – just the places we can find all this stuff is different.

BTW, I hope you don’t tar every Anne with the same brush and think all of us are a ‘curse’ – I am sure you are still grateful that you got to meet me, for example <g>

Hope to catch you one day at a meeting …

Anne

From the Editor:

Anne, I don’t consider you a curse – maybe a little pest.

Advertising with FamNet

Every now and then we get requests to put an advertisement in the newsletter. I have therefore created a new section which will appear from time to time. Advertisements will be included only at the Editor's discretion and will be of a genealogical nature.

If your organisation is not a group subscriber then there may be a charge for advertising events and services, which must be paid for before publication. Charges start at $NZ25 for a basic flier, and increase for more elaborate presentations.

A Bit of Light Relief

The CEO of Euro Exim Bank Ltd, Mr. Kaushik Punjani, recently made world
economists think when he profoundly said:
′′A cyclist is a disaster for the country's economy: he doesn't buy cars
and doesn't borrow money to buy them. He doesn't pay for insurance. He
doesn't buy fuel. He doesn't pay for maintenance and repairs. He doesn't use
paid parking. He doesn't cause major accidents. He doesn't require
multi-lane highways. He doesn't become obese."
"Healthy people are neither necessary nor useful to the economy. They don't
buy medicine. They don't go to hospitals or doctors. They add nothing to the
country's GDP."
"On the contrary, each new McDonald's outlet creates at least 30 jobs, in
fact it employs 10 cardiologists, 10 dentists, 10 expert dieticians and
nutritionists, in addition, of course, to the people who work in the outlet
itself.”
PS: Walking is even worse. People who walk don't even buy a bike!

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