Family History Research in Auckland

This past weekend I was able to spend some time doing one of my favourite things - family history.

Not my own, in this instance, but for an in-law's family.  This is great as it gives me the opportunity to learn all about the resources available for research in New Zealand.
In this instance I was able to look through the Indexes to the Sacramental Registers for the Catholic parishes here in Auckland.  Not only did this turn out to be very useful for my in-law's research, but it was nice to visit with and use data that I helped to transcribe some ten or so years ago.  In my case I helped transcribe data from the Paeroa and district areas.

So in conjunction with the screeds of information that I gathered, I went for a wander through the internet looking for cemetery details.  I know it sounds morbid, but it can be a huge help sorting out one family from another when you don't have census details to make this possible.

Since my last foray into the online databases there have been some notable additions - Manuakau Memorial Gardens and Waikumete Cemetery have finally joined us in the 21st century. Hurrah !!  They must be about the biggest cemeteries in Auckland, so it is wonderful that their databases are now available.

And finally I revisited Papers Past and was impressed to see that their search software appears to be improving and that false returns from fuzzy old newspaper scans are decreasing.

After such a nice few hours of hobby indulgence I thought I would bring those links to you, just in case you feel the need to research your Kiwi families.

Online Cemetery Database Links

Auckland City Library's Online Digital Library - Family History
- you can search cemetery information, and other local government items too.

Manukau Memorial Gardens
- the genealogy database for Manukau Memorial Gardens

Waikumete Cemetery
- the genealogical database for Waikumete Cemetery

Wellington City Cemeteries
- this seems to have been updated since my last visit, as I have found people not showing up before.

New Plymouth District Council Cemetery Database
- another lovely database, with very helpful back-up from the council by email.

Hauraki District Council Cemetery Database
- Paeroa, Waihi and Hauraki Plains are covered here.

And, finally, another excellent source of cemetery and cemetery records links can be found at the Christchurch City Library site.

Then there is the wonderful online Papers Past site.  Great stuff for general historical research, but also rather nifty for finding those illustrious and not-so-illustrious ancestors.  This has rather made my other blog NZ Newspaper Articles somewhat defunct.  In the past year the National Library has added search software that makes transcription a little less of a requirement.  The software isn't quite 100%, so I would recommend that you scan through editions if you believe that family may have had cause to appear and to consider editions outside the immediate area of residence.  "Telegraphs from..." is a popular feature in most 19th century papers and will often name individuals from the complete opposite end of the country.  If an unexpected location pops up in your search results - do check it, it may have been newsworthy elsewhere.

There ends the family history entry for this month.  ;-)

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For those who may be interested but new to the idea of family history research, I am happy to help with information, guidance and if I have the time even a little bit of research.  As long as you don't expect miracles and instantaneous gratification, I'm sure I can dig up a little bit of information for you while I am pursuing my own family matters.  Consider this my little contribution to random acts of genealogical kindness.  :)

Personality

Along with my earlier post indicating that it's time for a shake up and a kick in the pants, I was inspired by seeing an INFJ group doing this year's NaBloPoMo to re-take the online Jung Typology Test over at Humanmetrics.  As it turns out I am one of their kind. If you would like to know what that means, you can see a full description of this type here at Typelogic or take a look at the definition at Wikipedia.

I was mightily impressed to see that amongst other INFJs there were some serious big-wigs:
- Robert Burns
- Mother Teresa
- Carl Jung
- Mohandas Gandhi
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Florence Nightingale
- Martin Luther King, Jr
- Michael Landon
- Billy Crystal
- Garry Trudeau
- Nelson Mandela

Wow, what a group.
However, before I get carried away with being amongst these folk I need to confess to being a crap poet, useless with those unfortunate enough to be sick around me, I can't draw and I am terrified of public speaking.
Gee.  Are you sure I belong here?  Should I redo the test?

Actually I did three different tests just to see if they would replicate the result. Two from three said INFJ and the third said ISFJ.  So I'll take it as accurate enough for my purpose - personal entertainment.

So for those who can't be bothered reading the whole profile thing, here are some highlights.

INFJs are:

• 1–3% of the population


• likely to prefer one-on-one relationships to large groups.


• conscientious and value-driven.


• the people that you can rarely fool any of the time.


• seekers of meaning in relationships, ideas, and events, with an eye toward better understanding themselves and others.


• likely to establish close relationships slowly.


• creative nurturers with a strong sense of personal integrity.


• intricately and deeply woven, mysterious, and highly complex, sometimes puzzling even to themselves.


• able to intuit others’ emotions and motivations.


• devoted and loving parents.


• likely to form strong bonds with their children.


• firm disciplinarians, particularly when it comes to moral or ethical concerns.

INFJs tend to enjoy:

• writing;


• art appreciation;


• cultural events;


• reading;


• socializing in small, intimate settings;


• playing or listening to music.

So for those of you who know me in the *real world*, does it sound even a teensy bit accurate?

Now it's your turn.  There are plenty of online sites that do these tests for free.  Let's see your results.  Consider this a mini-meme for your own blog, if that suits you best. (I know NaBloPoMo ideas can be a bit scarse on the ground as the month draws to a close.)

A quiet life

Yes, the blog has been very, very quiet for some time now.
A total of two entries for the whole of October and up until now only two for November.

It is almost as though I have gone on an anti-NaBloPoMo couple of months.
Although if I tell the honest truth this really is a continuation of my loss of mojo.
Since I can't currently take Bruce's advice and whisk myself away to a Tuscan villa, much as I'd love to, I guess I will just have to blog about the writer's block.

First a few home truths about Ms Oh Waily.

1. I am predominantly an introvert.
- That has nothing to do with how much I can talk, however.
2. I like routine.
- Not that I am averse to nice surprises involving food, travel or other luxuries.
3. I tend to be lazy and/or prefer being comfortable.
- Have you seen any mention of running recently?

Those three big personality traits tend to lead you down the path to being a stay-at-home, stay-at-home mother.  Unsurprisingly this is not conducive to new experiences and therefore new blogging topics.
Either I am completely tragic or just currently in a deeper-than-I'd-like-it-to-be rut.
Obviously I'd like to think it's just a rut.

Therefore, working on the premise that it is simply a rut that I need to lever myself up and out of, here are a few spanners about to be thrown into the introverted, routinised and lazy world of Ms Oh Waily...

• Ms Oh Waily plans to join a gym again (crèche willing).


• Miss Oh Waily may join a bilingual playgroup on Saturday mornings. The entire Oh Waily family may be about to begin learning Mandarin as a result.


• Ms Oh Waily may cave in and send Miss Oh Waily to daycare two days a week.

The last one of these is a bit in the air as I have mixed feelings about it.  On the one hand, it'll be great for the little Miss to get out and socialise regularly and in a new environment with other littlies.  On the other hand it's stacking up to being a wrench for Ms Oh Waily - not to mention the cost of it.  Right at this minute the scales are balanced evenly, so the decision remains to be made on this.

What does all this mean for you, the reader?

Hopefully more blog entries, although if I do rejoin the gym it may be a few weeks before the aching disappears enough that my fingers can do their keyboard gymnastics again.  And maybe the odd word or phrase of a *foreign* language might slip in to our conversation too.  We'll all just have to wait and see.

I'll keep you posted.

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A quick request to those multi-lingual readers out there - and I know there are a few of you - what recommendations do you have for encouraging bilingualism and what stories of success/failure do you have to share?   Did you learn your second or third language as a child or an adult?  Do you have first-hand pros and cons to learning earlier or later?

Miss Oh Waily Update

Miss O will be fifteen months old in five days time.
I have no idea where the last two years have gone.

Here in NZ we have a 15 month Plunket check-up and our appointment was for this morning, so I thought I would bring her stats to you.

Since her last weigh and measure in August with the Karitane nurse the little Miss has put on nearly 700 grams in weight and another 4 centimetres in height.  I wonder why she is now able to reach anything remotely near the edge of our kitchen table, then?
Madam is just a smidgen over 9.5kg and 77cm tall.  According to the growth chart in her Well Child book, that makes her half-way between the 25th and 50th percentile for weight, and just a dash under the 50th percentile for height.  This is tracking along nicely from her last weigh and measure.

The extra height is helping her in many ways.  The most recent explosion of activity centres around this extra reach.
Climbing.
Lots of it.  On anything and everything.
The ottoman.
The coffee table.
The woofer. (No, not the dogs - although given half the chance she might try.)
The plastic bins used to store craft supplies.

But we don't stop with getting on these.  We use them to scale greater heights.  These stepping stones assist in reaching the playing field known as the big beds, or the sofa, or the chair that Mum and Dad are sitting in or the iPod dock next to the television.  Until you have seen a baby climbing and scrambling I really don't think you truly understand the concept of fearlessness.

Along with this insane need to climb up and on, we are also exploring building with megablocks (large lego for those unfamiliar with these), indulging in mimicry (thanks for the monkey sounds, Nana!), and are exploring the potential for tantrums when things get a little frustrating.  Ah, the shape of things to come.

We are also able to use baby signs for food, dog and bird.  Everything else is currently pointed at (vaguely) and squeaked about loudly so we understand that it is important and we should pay attention.  Mum and Dad are becoming more clear and used more frequently to actually mean Ms and Mr Oh Waily as opposed to random sound of the moment.

We have gained more teeth and currently have seven visible, with one other obviously on the way.

Last month we decided that our lovely shapesorter was no longer a problem and seemingly instantaneously stopped using the trial and error method of finding the right hole in favour of putting the yellow circle in the yellow circle hole, etc.  This even extended to turning the sorter up the right way for the currently held shape without outside insistence or assistance.

According to our Plunket nurse the next year is going to be filled with change, especially in the language department.  I am looking forward to and dreading that all at once.  It will be wonderful to hear her exploring language, but both grandmothers have assured us that the Oh Waily parents were incesant talkers and questioners.  If genes will out, I have a suspicion it might be in the talking department.
On other verbal matters I was very interested to read about the order that children learn sounds recently, and may have a further look into that for interests sake.  In the meantime I am investigating the potential for the child of monolingual parents to have access to a bilingual environment.  This is proving to be harder than I thought.

And that pretty much sums things up for the moment.  No doubt I have missed things, but you get the general picture.  All happy and active in the Oh Waily household.  :)

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Later the same day...

An update.

While playing with the Miss early this afternoon I discovered two more teeth have been through for probably a week or two.  How did I miss them you ask?  They are the first two molars in her upper jaw, and although she smiles and laughs regularly, it is not always a flip-top head moment.  Just try looking into a toddler's mouth when they don't want you poking around in there!  Clamped and shut.

The Month of October in Books

October was a completely lacklustre month in many, many ways and my reading reflects that.

I did try to make my way through two Pulitzer winners, but just had to give up.
Belovedby Toni Morrison was hard work mentally, not because of the writing style but the subject matter.  And that mindset of finding *hard* subjects difficult to read meant that in the end I managed a total of two books started and finished. Neither of which feature in any of my Booklitzer 200 challenge lists.

Fiction:

Enemies of the Empire
This is the second Libertus mystery that I have read, the other being Murder in the Forum which I reviewed here a couple of years ago.

These are nice, easy books to read.  They give an insight into what Roman Britain may have looked like under Roman rule.  In this instance the story is about social unrest and the harassing of Roman troops in the area around Venta and Isca.  Libertus stumbles into events and generally gets caught up in the goings on, dragging Marcus Septimus with him.  A good light read for those who like historical and mystery fiction.



Angels
This is the third book featuring the Walsh family.  This time it is Maggie, the good daughter.  I have previously read and reviewed Rachel's Holiday here.

Maggie's life comes apart when she finds her husband is having an affair and she is fired from her job.  To escape this she runs away to her friend in Los Angeles and finds her way into a new life and a new perspective.  An easy read, but I don't feel it is in the same league as Rachel's Holiday.  Still, this family makes you laugh and think about how you approach your own problems all in the one story.

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As for November, it looks much more promising with three books read already.  No Pulitzers though - I'm not sure I'm quite out of the funk that is blocking me from gritty subject matter.  Have a great month of reading and I will see you back here in early December.