Hello Everyone Thanks to the extreme kindness and generosity of many kind souls, I have found my g-grandfather George Ballard's first wife, Maria Nurse's, death, here in New Zealand in 1889. She is buried at Pukekohe Cemetery, which is only 10km from where I live, and I will be making a visit there soon to take some photos etc. I really cannot thank you all enough for going out of your way, using your time and resources to help me. I have also had contact with descendents of her Weetman family, found another half-brother for my grandmother, which made the things she told me right (11 in her family - 7 of her father's, 2 of her mother's, and then 2 children of both of them!). I am still working out where Luke Ballard fits in with the family - I have ordered a copy of the marriage entry to see if I can work out which family he fits into, and will try to trace back from there. I have learned from other kind souls that Luke had 10 offspring, so the Ballards have left quite a legacy behind! One point that came to light with the results, is that I "overlooked the obvious" in my initial research of ships arrivals. I had seen Mr and Mrs Ballard and "Child (7)" as arriving here. I read this as a child aged 7, and couldn't relate it to my lot. (Remember I was still seeing the family as 6 children anyway). On going back to the records (thanks, Maurice!) of course I saw it differently - 7 children! I've since mentioned this to another kind fellow searcher, and she read it the same as me! So, if you're looking at records like this - think laterally!! Once again, my most grateful thanks to everyone who has contributed and helped me so generously! Regards Karen Hitchcock Auckland, NZ

We had a similar situation some years ago about thinking laterally. When sorting through my mother in laws possessions, we found a letter from New Zealand - several pages long (which we didn't read) and a note in a different hand "192 photos" written across the top. It meant nothing to us so just put it to one side. It was on one of our later visits that we found a small hessian/army bag (in another room!) containing ... 192 photos. It's obvious now we discover that the NZ side of the family had been sending food parcels to my father in law's family during WWII. These photos, with the letter, were sent once hostilities ceased and the 192 photos are of the family members plus shots of the surrounding area to show the UK family what it was like in NZ. Gold dust as most are labelled <big grin>. I whole heartedly agree with Karen - try thinking laterally if your first thoughts make no sense. Heather Q A & K Hitchcock wrote: > > One point that came to light with the results, is that I "overlooked > the obvious" in my initial research of ships arrivals. I had seen Mr > and Mrs Ballard and "Child (7)" as arriving here. I read this as a > child aged 7, and couldn't relate it to my lot. (Remember I was still > seeing the family as 6 children anyway). On going back to the records > (thanks, Maurice!) of course I saw it differently - 7 children! I've > since mentioned this to another kind fellow searcher, and she read it > the same as me! So, if you're looking at records like this - think > laterally!! > > Karen Hitchcock > Auckland, NZ