Solving family history mysteries
For better or worse, you never know what you might find when you start digging into the past. Uncovering family secrets might seem scary, but the rewards far outweigh the risks.
Enjoy these stories that illustrate the good that can be done when our research resources and expertise are deployed to uncover family stories and bring people back together.
Tracking down family in a foreign land
Determined to find information about her New Zealand birth father, in 2017, a woman flew from her home in Japan to Auckland and asked the team at Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero Central City Library for help.
Her father served in J Force – the New Zealand force that took part in the occupation of Japan at the end of WWII.
With only a few names and photographs to work from, Seonaid (Senior Family History Librarian), Miyuki (Senior Library Assistant) and other staff, with assistance from Auckland War Memorial Museum, managed to find out who her birth father was.
Many tears of sadness were shed when it was found that the woman’s father had passed away, and tears of joy when the team were able to unite her with her half-siblings.
Seonaid says, “This was a hugely emotional time for everyone involved. We were so grateful and lucky to have Miyuki, who is fluent in Japanese and could speak to the customer in her language”.
The search even prompted Miyuki to join the Research Central team – she still works there today!
The history of an ancient family
In 2012, a mysterious old family tree was found on Waiheke Island.
The team at Waiheke Library handed the delicate document to Seonaid, Senior Librarian Family History at Research Central.
Dusty, crusty and fragile, the scroll was carefully opened, no easy task considering its vulnerable condition. It took three weeks.
The family tree traces the ancestry of the Jennings family back 500 years to Tudor England. After David Jennings and his wife Maria were banished from England in 1849, the young family emigrated to New Zealand, settling in Nelson and having 11 children.
Intrigued, Seonaid endeavoured to track down the Jennings descendant who left it behind.
It was time to put the word out.
Stories about the find popped up in newspapers and radio stations around Aotearoa.
Emails, texts and phone calls began to flood in.
Many Jennings descendants got in touch, offering a wealth of information about the family’s history, family reunions and updates to the tree.
Finally, contact was made with Margot Keiller, wife of the late Dick Keiller, who originally made the document in 1969 – mystery solved!
Margot generously donated the document to Auckland Council Libraries, and it is now part of our Heritage Collections.
Read more in this Heritage et AL blog.
Start your family history journey
Interested in finding out more about your family history or tracking down missing family members? Our friendly and knowledgeable librarians are here to help you on your way.
You can also access a number of resources with your library card and in our libraries:
- Check out our Family history research guide for beginners
- MyHeritage – Library edition – Full access is available while signed in from home or at a library
- Ancestry Library Edition – Full access is available free at any of our libraries
- Find My Past provides limited access to information without being signed in. Full access is available free at any of our libraries
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