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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: HollyMM on Sunday 25 January 09 02:27 GMT (UK)

Title: Elusive last name Agnes Menase
Post by: HollyMM on Sunday 25 January 09 02:27 GMT (UK)
I have one line I'm having trouble with, namely one of my great-great grandmothers': Agnes Menase. I have tried Google by putting in 'Agnes Menase' but nothing of use ever comes up. :( Searching 'Menase' alone, I get, of all things, 'The Phantom Menace'! So, does anyone have any idea how to dig deeper into finding this elusive name? I also am unsure of quite where she was born, but she was apparently born in India. However, is 'Menase' known in any way as an Indian surname (keep in mind this is her maiden name)?
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: trish1120 on Sunday 25 January 09 03:08 GMT (UK)

Hi HollyMM,
Welcome to Rootschat :)

What time frame are we looking at?. I see you are in N.Z. did she die there?
We need more info to start searching please.

Trish
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: HollyMM on Sunday 25 January 09 03:48 GMT (UK)

Hi HollyMM,
Welcome to Rootschat :)

What time frame are we looking at?. I see you are in N.Z. did she die there?
We need more info to start searching please.

Trish

The time frame we are looking at is around 1862 to 1940 (when she died). In my notes, it does not say where she was born (though it does say her parents were Thomas and Mary-Anne (name may be misspelt) and said parents were half-French and half-Indian.

And, yes, she did die in New Zealand. I quote from a website:

Quote

DAVIES.
Herald, 20th June 1940.
On June 19th at the residence of her daughter, Mrs Pascoe, 8 O'Rorke Street, Onehunga, Agnes, widow of the late Charles Arthur Davies and mother of Ruby, Agnes, Margaret, Ethel, Lucy, Jim, Walter, Bill, Dick, Lou, Tom and Charlie, in her 78th year. Requiem Mass will be celebrated at the Church of the Assumption, Onehunga, today Friday at 9 am, the funeral then leaving for the Mangere Cemetery at 3pm.

By the way, Onehunga is in Auckland, NZ. :)

(From http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~funeralnotices/D1.html

I know her father's name must've been Menase, however (so, Thomas Menase).

She moved to NZ with her husband, Charles Arthur Davies, in around 1889. (Her son, Llewellyn, was born in Heathcote Valley (Christchurch/Canterbury in NZ) in 1890).
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: trish1120 on Sunday 25 January 09 04:38 GMT (UK)
 Hi,

There are resources for Indian BMD that I have seen on this website.

Where did they emigrate from to N.Z. in 1889? If it was England will be easier to trace.

I grew up in Hamilton ;D

Trish
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: HollyMM on Sunday 25 January 09 06:04 GMT (UK)
Hi,

There are resources for Indian BMD that I have seen on this website.

Where did they emigrate from to N.Z. in 1889? If it was England will be easier to trace.

I grew up in Hamilton ;D

Trish

Thanks, Trish, I'll look for that Indian BMD with the search thing. :) They emigrated from Bangalore, after Agnes gave birth to at least two sons (James (nickname Jim)) and Walter (my great-grandad).

ETA: Also, I keep trying to find what the origin of the surname 'Menase' was, but Google is being useless--keeps saying 'Menace'. Do you think the name was spelt wrong?
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: HollyMM on Saturday 11 April 09 08:17 BST (UK)
Is there any other way to find out what the origin of the last name, Menase was from? Any way that the Archives in Wellington can help? (Obviously, a question for the NZers here. ;))
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: PrueM on Saturday 11 April 09 09:42 BST (UK)
Hi Holly  :)

I've just done a Google search using these parameters:   surname "menase"  (type it in as I've written it here, obvioulsy without the bold  ;)  ).

You'll get quite a few hits, including several that seem to indicate that the surname is a Sephardic Jewish one.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Prue
Title: Schenkel
Post by: DJD1950 on Friday 02 October 09 23:47 BST (UK)
Hi Holly, I too am researching the Schenkel family from Lyttelton. Be glad to swap info.

Regards
Denys
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: regross on Monday 05 October 09 07:04 BST (UK)
Hi,

I tried looking and MENAS as a surname is still in use today, mainly in USA and Canada. [Indian is the generic term often used for the indigenous people sof North AMerica]

see:
Quote
Name: Agnes Menas [Agnes Krenas]. Birth: abt 1886 - location. Arrival: year. Residence: 1910 - city, Passaic, New Jersey ...

The name seems to have a french connection as well:

Quote
Bibliothèque - MENAS - Les Collections GeneaNet
 - [ Translate this page ]
rémission accordée à " Thomas Menas ", de la ville d'" Arles en Provence ", qui en ... ...dans un duel où ledit Thomas Menas intervenait comme pacificateur. ...
collections.geneanet.org/livres/index_privilege.php?rech=MENAS -

IGI has it in use in several countries many variations of spellin  Menass, Mennis, Menis, Miness, Maness etc. MENAS seems to be used in spanish speaking countries.

family search has MENASE 2 births on the IGI,  3 individuals on USA 1880 census all children 4 on the social security death index.

regards

Robyn
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: Lydart on Monday 05 October 09 14:42 BST (UK)
There's a board especially for 'foreign' queries ...

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,421.0.html

... if you post your query again on there, calling it something like 'India ... Menase surname' ... you might attract the attention of someone who knows ??

Just a thought !

Good luck !
Title: Re: Elusive last name
Post by: Marie B. on Friday 01 July 16 03:02 BST (UK)
If you google MENASHE  ISRAELI, you will find that the name is from an Indian Israeli tribe ( possibly the tribe of Menasseh.   )

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bnei_Menashe

familysearch.org has record of Mennesse,  Meneses  from Wellington, New Zealand.  There are various other similar spellings. Just put in the surname "Menase" and "New Zealand " in familysearch.org and you will see them.
Hope this helps!:)