Family History

Family History

Warkworth branch of NZ Society of Genealogists

Over coming issues, members of the Warkworth branch of NZ Society of Genealogists will share some family histories that have been retrieved from research, conversations and handed down from generation to generation. We begin this series with Bryan Jackson’s account of the ‘death penny’.

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2010

Warkworth’s stories buried deep - December
Genealogists are always interested in cemeteries. Sometimes a headstone is the only physical evidence that an ancestor lived.

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Mullet Point settlers - November
Such was the isolation of Mahurangi East in the 1850s, the Goldsworthy boys would row to Auckland when they wished to go there.

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A problem – half solved - October
When interior alterations were made to storage areas in the Warkworth Methodist Church earlier this year, a plastic bag containing some clothing and an old bible was discovered. Whilst the clothing was of no use, the bible was found to have many names inscribed within its covers.

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Rifling history’s secrets - September
There has been much discussion about the future of newspapers as we have known them. Many people now read them online and as technology such as the iPad become more common this is likely to increase.  However, it is the newspapers of the past which are of interest to genealogists and historians.

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Her end was peace - July
Many years ago I was intrigued on seeing the name Damaris Brickwood Williams and the words ‘Her End Was Peace’ on a small headstone in the Te Kapa cemetery. Not knowing anything about her, I decided to research Damaris’s family history beginning with the date of her death etched on the tombstone.

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Supreme sacrifice paid in pennies - June
Little did my grandmother Mabel realise that when her husband, William Francis Jackson, embarked with the 3rd Brigade NZ Field Artillery 11th Battery for Europe on 16 February 1917 that the only things that she would receive as a result were heartache and a ‘death penny’.

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