New Zealand Calverts

[Sfance]

Hi Mr.Bloggins. You've made good progress! Laura Lavinia was an ancestor of mine. She was the daughter of Nathan Atkinson who amongst other things, wrote hyms for the Salvation Army. He emigrated to NZ with his family on 9/26/84 on the SS Ruahepu and died at Wellington on 10/19/99. As I remember the story, the Aldersleys met the Calverts on the boat. Laura married Arthur on 8/5/86 at Durham St. Methodist, Christchurch. The Wellington Photo Studio you mentioned in your original post probably belonged to David James Aldersley, Laura's brother, who became quite a famous photographer in NZ. His postcards can sometimes be found selling on Ebay. Nathan Atkinson's family were very close and they had family reunions until quite recently, maybe still do. A Kathleen Kelly was the main mover and shaker as far as I can tell. She died a few years ago, but she deposited various family documents in the Wellington library, including a long poem that NA wrote about their voyage to NZ, that you may be able to find if you dig about (I did). Nathan Atkinson had a bunch of children, the 2nd eldest of whom, Jane Anne never married but kept house for Arthur and Laura until she died in 1924.
Regards,
Stephen Aldersley (Rochester, New York)

[mrbloggins]

Thank you so much for your quick Response - This information will definitely give me another direction in which to search.  I'm attaching a link to my family tree on rootsweb, maybe it can help you with some of your research:

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=atkinson1

One question that came up while reading your response; why do Laura and her siblings have a different last name than their father?  Was Laura and David's mother previously married?

On another note, this genealogy research really took an interesting turn.  Just yesterday I managed to link in the family of Camilla Shand, the current Duchess of Cornwall.  With her marriage to Prince Charles I can now include the Royal Family in my genealogy tree.

Stephen Atkinson (Steve)
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

[Sfance]

Hi Steve, congrats on suddenly becoming royalty! After I wrote yesterday I was afraid that my reference to Nathan Atkinson would be confusing. Atkinson was his middle name, his full name being Nathan Atkinson Aldersley. Of course, I didn't know that you would be an Atkinson, too! One of the best things people can do for genealogists in subsequent generations is leave a nice big paper trail and Nathan did that more than most. Nathan Atkinson did marry twice, his first wife being Sarah Green (d. 10/8/64), and his second Faith Taylor. The family was staunchly Methodist, though how that happened I haven't yet discovered since earlier & later Aldersleys tend to be CofE. Nathan was a Methodist minister by age 17. He married Faith Taylor on 9/20/66 at a Wesleyan Methodist chapel in Tadcaster. Faith died on 12/11/00, so a little less than a year after Nathan. Laura Lavinia was the couple's first child. Where Nathan got the middle name Atkinson I have not been able to discover for sure. Previous to his generation there is only one other Atkinson in the family, one Alice Atkinson from Colne, Lancashire who married a William Aldersley in 1796. William was from a different branch, but my sense is that the family was quite tight and it is conceivable that Nathan's father who was the same generation as William knew William and his wife. In any case, Nathan's eldest son Alpheus named his own son Philip Atkinson. I haven't followed Philip's history and don't know whether he ended up in NZ. His father did and all his siblings were born there (Rangiora), but Philip was born in Croydon in 1882. If you come across him in your researches, please let me know. Nathan's son, David James, the photographer, also followed the "Atkinson" tradition: his second son was Eric Atkinson Aldersley who probably lived most of his life in NZ. Eric never married. Eric's brother, William Arthur played cricket for NZ. I think he was a bowler. He lived to age 93 and died at Diamond, NZ in 1981. I believe there is currently a Bruce Aldersley, David James' great grandson, still going strong in NZ (or Australia) carrying on Nathan's tradition by being in the Salvation Army, but I haven't been in touch with him, my interests lying more in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the meantime, thank you for your tree - I will study it later today.

Stephen