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New Zealand Completed Requests / Re: John (Benjamin) GORDON Otaki
« on: Friday 30 August 24 04:51 BST (UK) »
Hello everyone, I first came across this thread about 2 years ago now while in search for my 3rd great grand parents John Gordon & Rina Te Akau (known only as Lena to us at the time) through my 2nd great grandparents Thomas Gordon & Annie Elizabeth Lee. I hope reviving this thread doesn’t bother anyone.
The past 2 years have been quite a journey and it is still continuing but I feel I have collected enough information to contribute in part.
To start, here is my connection without living relatives named.
John Gordon - Rina Te Akau
Thomas Gordon - Annie Elizabeth Lee
Victor Thomas Gordon - Laura G Johnston
Laura Ruth Gordon (Fay) - Clyde Larnach Foster
I want to try and address a couple of things that have been mentioned here, the record of Benjamin Gordon working in Ōtaki is one of John’s sons, I think this was clarified earlier, Thomas, George and Benjamin were John and Rina’s sons. Another is referring to Te Kipihana as brother to Rina Te Akau, I have seen the court record where this is mentioned, but a couple of key things are missing here, they are related but not brother and sister as they share common grandparents or great grandparents (sitting in an airport I can’t quite remember my paperwork for heart), not parents. Key thing to remember is the court documentation of testimony they were speaking te reo Māori and it was being translated, there is a lot of Māori words describing specific relationships based off the gender the speaker and person of subject is which changes the relationship, while the word used does mean brother, it also means cousin which is a term used often for any relation of the same age. I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of the whakapapa showing this.
Now obviously I followed the information of Thomas having his funeral in Ōtaki and George being in the urupā there so I have been working towards meeting with Ngati Raukawa in Ōtaki as I am relatively confident Thomas is in that same urupā, will see how that goes.
I have just come from the Turnbull archives in Wellington where I looked at the microfiche from the Rangiatea church in Ōtaki, not looking for anything specific, I found a record of Rina Gordon, burried Nov 24th 1891 aged 50. This matches with court records my aunty found listing death for Rina as Nov 20th 1891. I am thinking this gives a high probability of being in the Rangiatea church cemetery or the urupā up the road with George.
John however is a lot harder to pin down, I am hoping my meeting with Ngati Raukawa may provide more info on Rina and also lead to John.
I have collected quite a bit of info over the past couple of years, this is just a rough brief outline while at the airport waiting.
The past 2 years have been quite a journey and it is still continuing but I feel I have collected enough information to contribute in part.
To start, here is my connection without living relatives named.
John Gordon - Rina Te Akau
Thomas Gordon - Annie Elizabeth Lee
Victor Thomas Gordon - Laura G Johnston
Laura Ruth Gordon (Fay) - Clyde Larnach Foster
I want to try and address a couple of things that have been mentioned here, the record of Benjamin Gordon working in Ōtaki is one of John’s sons, I think this was clarified earlier, Thomas, George and Benjamin were John and Rina’s sons. Another is referring to Te Kipihana as brother to Rina Te Akau, I have seen the court record where this is mentioned, but a couple of key things are missing here, they are related but not brother and sister as they share common grandparents or great grandparents (sitting in an airport I can’t quite remember my paperwork for heart), not parents. Key thing to remember is the court documentation of testimony they were speaking te reo Māori and it was being translated, there is a lot of Māori words describing specific relationships based off the gender the speaker and person of subject is which changes the relationship, while the word used does mean brother, it also means cousin which is a term used often for any relation of the same age. I was fortunate enough to be given a copy of the whakapapa showing this.
Now obviously I followed the information of Thomas having his funeral in Ōtaki and George being in the urupā there so I have been working towards meeting with Ngati Raukawa in Ōtaki as I am relatively confident Thomas is in that same urupā, will see how that goes.
I have just come from the Turnbull archives in Wellington where I looked at the microfiche from the Rangiatea church in Ōtaki, not looking for anything specific, I found a record of Rina Gordon, burried Nov 24th 1891 aged 50. This matches with court records my aunty found listing death for Rina as Nov 20th 1891. I am thinking this gives a high probability of being in the Rangiatea church cemetery or the urupā up the road with George.
John however is a lot harder to pin down, I am hoping my meeting with Ngati Raukawa may provide more info on Rina and also lead to John.
I have collected quite a bit of info over the past couple of years, this is just a rough brief outline while at the airport waiting.