kathleen Mary Geary's Page

I seem to have run out of space below..

William and Edith had 7 children and Herbert and Mabel had 6 children.

Herbert’s 3^rd son was Philip Alan who was Tony’s father.

This is just an introduction.  There is much more to tell you and the supporting data to be copied for you.

My email address is chmbns@gmail.com.  It may be easier to communicate by email.

Christine

Looks like I didn't succeed in the last message I sent.  I suggested that email might be an easier way to communicate.  My email address is chmbns@gmail.com.  My husband, Tony, is going to help me sort out the certificates etc that we have.  I cannot lift anything heavy at the moment - have to have a rod in my upper arm due to cancer and am just starting on radiotherapy and then bone and chemo therapy so don't be worried if you don't hear from me for a while .  I will definitely keep in touch. We definitely do not want to lose touch.  Tony's  sister will be very excited when we tell her. She fell down her stairs and broke her arm which hasn't healed and is also having a rod in!

Briefly for now - James and his wife Elizabeth Miller with their two sons William Frederick Milner and Herbert Hugh emigrated to NZ on the "Waitangi" at Lyttleton in 1879 after a very uneventful trip.  I will copy the newspaper account for you.  I have copies of all their birth certificates, their marriage certificates and their death certificates which I will also send to you. They settled in Christchurch where James and Elizabeth lived until he retired from the Addington railway workshops and they moved to Tokomaru in the North Island (not to be confused with Tokomaru Bay – an entirely different place) where the boys had settled as there were Miller relatives living  there. 

 Phil said it was because Tom Miller would supposedly keep an eye on them that James sent them to Tokomaru where they had a government grant of 40 acres of bush to clear and farm. 

There was an adopted son also who married a catholic and contact was lost (the truth he was cut off as the Herbert and Frederick had become fairly rigid brethren ).  I have researched him – he was a grocer and does not appear to have had any children.

 Tony is descended from Herbert Hugh who was apparently known as HH.  He said he never heard his grandfather called anything else.

 When I started researching Tony’s  family I sat down with his parents Olive (née Borrie) and Phil (Philip Alan) and they told me what they knew of their families which was not a lot and the dates were out. I have learned much more since.

 James is said to have worn out a pair of shoes looking for work.  Phil thought he was a cabinetmaker in England but the records I have indicate he was a wagon maker.  Tony’s sister Hilary has a table that was made by James and was always in Phil and Olive’s dining room.  To continue Phil’s story - James got a job building railway carriages and eventually became in charge of the workshop in Christchurch.  He made templates off the plans and built the Prince of Wales carriage.  He was asked to move to Wellington but declined.  He retired to Hastings because his sons were there.  [in fact, he initially went to Tokomaru and the families moved to Hastings, later.  CMB]  He died about 1920-22 when Phil was 8 or 10 years old. [1926. CMB].   James was chopping willow for a neighbour and something caused him to be thrown out of the tree.  Fred found him.  His back was injured and he said "Don't try and patch me up.  I want to go home."  He died during the night.  He was pretty elderly - into seventies. [He was 77. CMB].

 Herbert Hugh married Mabel Jane Davison on 2 Mar 1905 at Tokomaru.  (I don’t know what names they were known by but will contact some Burns relatives to see if I can find out).  William married Mabel’s sister Edith Mary Davison.  Edith and Mary were born in Brisbane to a welsh mother and a Norfolk father.  The family returned to UK and  a son was born in Wales.  They then emigrated to NZ where several more children were born.  The Davison’s were builders.

 William and Edith had 7 children and Herbert an