The house in the above photo that is to the left of the centre is situated at 43 Albert Rd in Devonport. It was home to Juliana and me and our children for about 20 years. We loved our time living in the old villa in Devonport. Our children grew up here and went to the local Playcentre, Primary School and then to Takapuna Grammar. We made lots of great friends and we still meet with many of these friends each month when Juliana attends the Book Club that she has been a member

My intention when I started writing this blog was to focus on the two photos I had in front of me at the time. As I proceeded further into the blog and an exploration of some related information I became distracted by other aspects of the lives of some members of the Hardy family. As a result this is a longish read. However I hope it proves to be of interest. A copy of the photo above sat on our mantlepiece at home for as long as I can recall. I knew my mother was very fond o

When looking through Charles' first book of clippings I came across a copy of a letter he wrote to the New Zealand Herald dated 21 November 1892 headed "A Recent Visit To Wairoa, Lake Tarawera". I had first seen this letter some years ago and recalled it as a very interesting description of the devastation that resulted from the Tarawera Eruption of 1886. On looking through an earlier section of Charles' book I came across a clipping that was simply headed TUHOTO. Alongside t

Among Charles' clippings is the report in the New Zealand Herald of 9 June 1910 of the death of George Death. Charles' interest in George Death connects to his son-in-law Edward (Teddy) Arthur D'Ath married to his daughter Helena. Teddy was one of George Death's 10 sons. The origin of the surname Death Teddy altered his surname to D'Ath. He did this by Deed Poll on 18 March 1921. Following is an explanation of the origin of the name. The name Death is derived from the place

Occasionally a real treasure from the past arrives in front of me in the form of something that belonged to one of my ancestors. My sincere thanks is owed to Lorraine Spencer for recently passing to me the three books in which Charles Hardy kept his newspaper clippings over the period of 1880 until 1909. I consider it a great privilege to be able to touch some items that I know my great great grandfather put together and regularly looked at during his latter life. The books

When Lorraine Spencer sends me some family history documents I now know that there will be another great story awaiting me. In this case it is the story of William Spencer the brother of Thomas Spencer and an uncle of Edmund Spencer. William was the second son of Thomas and Katherine Spencer. He was born at Knossington on 16 May 1830 two years after his brother Thomas. As can be seen from the reference above he became a church minister. He also attained a Doctorate of Divinit

Kate and her son Eric Spencer Macky in 1881 The story of Kate Spencer unfolded for me during a quest to find out more about Edmund...

The above painting is of the village of Knossington. The white "hoop" shape that can be seen on the left is the well known whale bones...

Ada Susanna Hardy/Spencer This is the story of Ada who was the seventh born of the eight children of Charles and Alice Hardy and her...

Russell and Gwenda on their wedding day. My mother's sister Gwenda married Russell Collins on 17 March 1945. My mother and Gwenda had a...

The above image is a detailed drawing by Thomas Malton a well known student of architecture. In the early 1800s he made a series of...

Since writing my last blog there has been some more research conducted in an effort to answer a few questions about the connections...

A view of the Carshalton Ponds in the 1860s For some time now I have had the intention of looking into the Ancell family. Within Dulcie...

A terrific thing about writing this blog is that I never know what new family connections will pop up and what amazing things I will find...

The photograph above is of the very talented Ellen Maria Lingham- stage name Nelly Power. Ellen was the third born daughter of Arthur...

All Saints Cathedral, Wakefield, York Alice Hardy's maternal grandparents were George Augustus Lingham and his wife Mary Teale. In the...

This is a story about a very young man aged only 15 who, having had both his parents die, sets off from the Welsh border area to London....

My great grandfather Charles Lingham Hardy was given the Lingham family name. I expect this was at the request of his mother Alice. The...

The above photograph of Charles Hardy is believed to have been taken in San Francisco in 1855. At that time Charles was age 23. This blog...

Suzanne Goldberg In the time just prior to the recent passing of my much loved uncle David Hardy, he raised a question of me relating to...