Overview and site map

Introduction
This blog is an attempt to preserve some of the narratives of my direct ancestors. They’re a fairly homogeneous bunch: all came from southern England (save one born in Wales) and migrated to New Zealand between 1842 and 1926. Half these ancestors came from Devon/Cornwall (the southwest corner of England), one eighth from Surrey, one sixteenth from Wales, and the rest from Gloucestershire (Bristol), Dorset, Hampshire, Kent and Sussex. That covers most of the southern counties.

At some point, I may include my wife’s family. As often happens, it’s just a matter of tracking down the information from family historians – those in the family that end up acting as repositories of information. In her case, the Dworjanyns are Ukrainian catholics, while her mother’s side – Devenish – are Irish who apparently originate in Devon.

My mothers parents, Gwendolen Rowling and Murray Hicks, each had research done on their behalf to trace their ancestors. Nearly all their forebears came from Devon and Cornwall. One source upon which I’m heavily reliant is a large photocopied tree of my grandmother’s Rawlings/Rowling ancestors. Unfortunately, despite having inherited their documentation, source information is mostly lacking. On the other hand, where I’ve found connections with other trees published on the net, the information generally tallies.

The family of my father’s father (Frederick Simmonds) are strongly rooted in Surrey, just south of London. The family of my father’s mother (Hinemoa Shayle George) came from opposite sides of the Bristol Channel (ie Monmouth and Clifton, now a suburb of Bristol). Their narratives are the most colourful (and incomplete), not the least because of the difficulty verifying the stories Hinemoa would tell. So far most of them seem to have proven correct, but that is no guarantee. One of the biggest pitfalls of a genealogist is the stories told and connections made by people with a vested interest in raising the profile of their family.

Beyond a certain point in the past, the only records remaining will be those for significant families. And I suspect that in general, people will find common ancestors if they (can) trace back far enough. So, any trees traced back beyond say 1600, are likely to be linked up to prominent families. In our case, connection is made from the Rowlings to the Courtenays (see Sir Hugh Courtenay of Boconnoc b1421), Earls of Devon (although even that is fraught, as will be detailed in a later entry). As with most people, the trail for the vast bulk of my ancestors peters out because they are farming or working class people. Of course, sometimes the trail is deliberately obscured. John Southwell, for example, curiously left his birth details off several official records. Was this because, as Hinemoa said, he was the illegitimate son of titled family, or was that story created sometime to cover his illegitimacy?


Migrations
Sometimes the following represents family migrations; in other cases, individuals migrated then married in New Zealand.

Simmonds migrated from Surrey 1926
Cole migrated from Devon approx 1889
Hicks migrated from Devon between 1854 and 1885
(Shayle) George migrated from Wales/Bristol/Wiltshire 1850
Rowling migrated from Cornwall 1842
Lodder migrated 1842
Batten migrated from Hampshire between 1836 and 1856
Cheetham migrated from Kent between 1830 and 1851
Jupp migrated from Sussex between 1828 and 1856
Hughes migrated from Kent between 1821 and 1851


Structure
In the following list, italics indicate the person was born somewhere other than New Zealand – all England, bar Shayle George (Wales).

Generation 2
Simmonds m Hicks

Generation 3
Frederick William Simmonds b1901 m Hinemoa (Shayle) George b1893
Murray Hicks b1913 m Gwendolen Rowling b1910

Generation 4
William J Simmonds b1870 m Amy Rose Robins b1872
Charles Southwell Shayle George b1849 m Mary Ann Hughes b1852
Harold George Hicks b1885 m Hilda Cole b1885
Valentine Rowling b1876 m Ada E Coombe b1877

Generation 5
Christopher Simmonds b1838 m Harriet Peacock b1839
Alfred Robins b1840 m Christian Emma Rose b1840
Thomas Shayle George b1816 m Frances Southwell b1828
Stephen Edward Hughes b1821 m Mercy Cheetham b1830
Richard Thomas Hicks b1854 m Mary A Jupp b1858
John Squire Cole b1852 m Mary J Cole b1860
Edward Rowling b1843 m Lucy Lodder b1848
(Frederick) John Coombe b1853 m Elizabeth Drown b1842

Generation 6 (selected)
Thomas Rowling b1817 m Elizabeth Pascoe b1817
John Southwell b1784 m Martha Farmer b1789