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Research in Other Countries => New Zealand => New Zealand Completed Requests => Topic started by: suzs on Wednesday 27 January 10 22:38 GMT (UK)
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Is there anyway a NZ birth registration can be searched if only the birth date is known? The name may have been changed later for a number of reasons - none of which are known, adoption/illegitimate etc. His name that he was always known as is not in the registrations at all and I am assured that in 1918 he would/should have been registered.
Getting desperate here!
Suz
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His name that he was always known as is not in the registrations at all and I am assured that in 1918 he would/should have been registered.
Hi Suz
When you say "not in the registrations" does that mean that you have looked at the microfiche version of the NZ birth index ?
[If he had a birthyear of 1918, then he wouldn't show up on the online birth index which only lists births up to today's date/month ... 1910.]
Lu
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Hi Lu
Yes I have checked them on numerous occasions but he is not there under the name he has always known. But he never new his parents and never had a birth registration that was obvious, just grew up thinking he was illegitimate.
Thanks
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Hi Suz
Mmm ... okay. :)
"Never knew his parents" ?
* Do you have info from his marriage or death printouts ?
* If so, are "parents / supposed parents" names given ?
If you'd rather not to put his particulars on this thread, you could send me a PM with the details. ;)
~ Lu
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Hi again
It is my Dad and he only discovered he had no birth registration of any kind until he was 60! he grew up in an orphanage and then placed on a farm as help so never knew where or who he belonged to - wasn't allowed to ask in those days. This has been a 15 year search all to no avail, but I am sure he must have been registered and later had been given a change of name, possibly when he was put in the orphanage. He somehow managed to stay unknown until he appeared in his first school records. I thought somehow the registrations may be in date of birth order in the records at BDM but obviously not. So this is a bit of a wild goose chase.
Thanks
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Hi suzs,
I have PMed you my experience it may help,
Cheers Janette
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I suppose you have tried the orphanage to see if they have records somewhere?
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Have you tried locating records from the Women's Christian Temperance Union (under whose governance Willard Home operated)?
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Been there done that, probably know more about the orphanage than they did! but no records anywhere. Seems they had a fire at some stage and possibly records went with it. WCTU kept minimal files on their inmates. It has always amazed me how a little guy from birth to 5 could be non-existent in any records whatsoever considering he had no parents - not around him anyway. So you see it's a bit of a needle in a haystack.
Sue
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You have approached the Dept of Family Affairs or whatever it is called there?
Everyone has a right to an identity, sure they will trawl the adoption records for you.
Annie
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Thanks Aniph, yes I have tried all the departments and there is no records of him with them. I assume what happened was he was registered with his original name - whatever that was - and for some reason he was put into the orphanage and given a different name. Seems this was quite common in those days for reasons that were not disscussed, which always led him to believe he was illegitimate. But I am assured he would have been originally registered at BDM but of course with no obvious name there is no way to search. This is why I wondered if all births on his DOB (10 June 1918) could be searched and something may 'gel'. No doubt with all the new regulations regarding privacy this will be even more impossible.
Sue
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Hi suzs,
I found mine in the Auckland public library on microfiche,
Cheers Janette
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This is why I wondered if all births on his DOB (10 June 1918) could be searched and something may 'gel'.
Sue
Have you put the question of a search by date or month (in birth year) to NZ BDM ?
* Do you know "place of birth" ?
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Thanks Lucy, yes I did some time ago but it seems it does not come under their search criteria, which I guess answered my question, but I am sure there must be someway around it. I guess there could be hundreds of baby boys born on this day but I was happy to pay any amount for someone there to do an extensive search, but no joy. No he has no idea of place of birth. he knew nothing other than growing up in the orphanage, parentless and then befriended later by a family.
regards Suz
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Hi Suz
Yes, I too got a similarly vague response from BDM though my search had been for a couple of decades earlier and was of an era when parents could easily "get away with" not registering a birth. ::)
* Was the orphanage in a major town or city ?
* You have his earliest school record - aged 5 - is that correct ?
(And guardian's name given, is presumably that of the orphanage's caretaker ?)
Edit: Forget these questions. Obviously some info has been exchanged via the PM system here - re: Willard Home ? ::)
I would not wish to offer you false hope, but there are other things you could try - depending on whether you are prepared to say ... trawl the birth microfiche for 1918 .
I'll leave it at that. ;)
~ Lu
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Thanks Lucy, yes I did some time ago but it seems it does not come under their search criteria, which I guess answered my question, but I am sure there must be someway around it.
It might be worth asking BDM again. DIA had a major upgrade in their data matching capabilities recently. It is highly likely that they now have (or will have) the capability to search by birthdate.
I guess there could be hundreds of baby boys born on this day but I was happy to pay any amount for someone there to do an extensive search, but no joy.
Probably fewer than on hundred.
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One source seems to imply that Willard Home was not an orphanage until 1920. From 1917-1920 it was used as accommodation for the families of WW1 Awapuni military personnel, at the original Fitzherbert Street premises. As a long shot you might try other orphanages in PN existing at the same time.
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del: dbl post
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Yes your right, it was only opened in 1920 and only urgent cases of children/babies were taken in and out of 50 applications only 12 were accepted, dad would have been one of them but there were no other orphanges in Palm Nth at the time, only Wellington and there appears to be no trace of him in them that I can find. But he could have been under another name in one of them and had it changed when he went to Willard for whatever reason. The ironic thing was that the first matron was a Ms Gray, same as dad's name but I have been unable to trace who she was and what happened to her - maybe she had an illigitimate child?
I have even applied for some birth registrations in the same name as dad's in later years, same boy up for adoption x 3 times, but neither the Court/Judge or BDM could agree on what section of the Act I should apply under so I had to give that away - it was a joke. I think some skeletons are just not meant to be found.
Sue
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Yes your right, it was only opened in 1920 and only urgent cases of children/babies were taken in and out of 50 applications only 12 were accepted, dad would have been one of them but there were no other orphanges in Palm Nth at the time, only Wellington and there appears to be no trace of him in them that I can find.
Have you tried the Wanganui Orphanage, which was closer?
Simon
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Hi Simon,
I was not aware that there was one in Wanganui. I have just goggled it but no reference to any names etc, do you know the name of it or any info regarding it. I suppose I could email the library there.
Thanks
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It was the Wanganui Orphanage and Childrens Home, in Campbell St. It started around 1880s.
Simon
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Hi again
Could someone tell me, in regards to birth registrations/adoptions, I have three registrations one in 1922, 1923 and 1932, all regarding the same child. i.e. in 1922 fiche - 2453/1923 & 2268/32; in 1923 fiche -2453/23. Could 2453, 2268 and 2453 again, be also found in the fiche with another name as this was three failed adoptions but were still registered? I am unable to obtain any of them as I don't know the original name of the child but thought it may correspondend with another name. Am I making sense?
Suz
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Hi Suz
Yes, you're making sense .... kind of. :)
I just need to read back thru thread to familiarise myself ... will get back to you shortly.
~ Lu
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.... his DOB (10 June 1918)
Hmmm ... I don't quite understand why this 1922 birth registration is of interest to you .... when you've said 1918 was his year of birth ?
Any amendment to a birth record, will have been recorded in the child's actual year of birth (with a cross-reference to the year the amendment took place).
~ Lu
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I have three registrations one in 1922, 1923 and 1932, all regarding the same child. i.e. in 1922 fiche - 2453/1923 & 2268/32; in 1923 fiche -2453/23. Could 2453, 2268 and 2453 again, be also found in the fiche with another name as this was three failed adoptions but were still registered?
Hi again
I'm afraid the folio reference number you've given above, (highlighted) doesn't quite "stack up" ?
Seems 1923 'fiche reference should read as "2453/22" ???
How can you be certain these were failed adoptions ?
~ Lu
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Thanks Lu
All confusing I know. When I found there was no birth registration for him in 1918 I was advised to look a couple of years later for late reg. When I found these three I applied for them and was told they all belonged to the same child and were failed adoptions, hence my trying through the courts to look at them. It could be conincidence that when, where and the Quarter they are registered match with dad at the time. So I have been advised recently that often the new fiche number can also be in the registrations for the same child but in his original birth name?
I know the theory is that they are supposed to be cross-referenced to the original year but why would the reg in 1922 fiche have 32 after it yet nothing in the 1932 fiche. Yes sorry the highligted one - 1923 - should not have 23 after it, it is just 2453.
I think I am chasing rainbows!.
Sue