Accident at the Commerical Hotel Wellington *COMPLETED*

[Lin Up a Tree]

Hello Rootschatters! Do hope you're all well.


Wondering if anyone could kindly find the 1906 address of John William HELLIWELL (Wellington)...?

I am trying to see if I can place him & his family at a Commercial Hotel.

The reason is, I just found out from funeral records that his death was "a result of an accident at the Commerical Hotel".

Until now, I only knew he died 1 Mar 1910 from "a long and painful illness" (death notice), officially "Mitral Regurgitation; Heart Failure" (death certificate).

From Papers Past, I can see that there was a big fire in late 1906 concerning a Commerical Hotel in the right kind of area.

Now I am wondering whether he and his family lived there & whether his death originated perhaps from smoke inhalation several years before.

The year before in 1905 he was a carpenter/builder, living at 38 Constable Street Wellington with his wife & children.  The family moved around this area of Wellington a great deal though, never seeming to settle at any one address for long.

The next address I have is for 1910 at the time of his death: 8 Russell Terrace, Wellington.  So I don't know where he lived between c. 1906-1909.

I can see there is a NZ Wise Directory for 1906, but alas only on microfiche which I don't have access to.

If anyone can help, or has any ideas on how to figure out John's "accident at the Commerical Hotel", I would be so appreciative.


  Lin

[Thamesite2017]

Electoral roll is another option
Bye
Althea

[spades]

Hi Lin,

From Papers Past it seems to have occured in October 1906.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=FS19061023.2.11

I googled so try Papers Past yourself for more information.

Reagrds, riley

[Janette]

Hi Lin
I see John William Helliwell had a brother Wesley

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0a43/

Cheers Janette

[Lin Up a Tree]

You lovely things! Thank you all for making an effort to help me.

Althea:  Great idea - do you know how whether there is electoral roll info online somewhere for 1906? Or to buy? I recently splurged on all the wonderful NZSG CDs (1881, 1893, 1896 & 1911) but those are the only CDs I've been able to find.

Riley:  Bingo!  That's exactly one of the fire stories I found @ Papers Past (what an excellent resource!). Unfortunately none of the articles I found mentioned any injuries (though smoke inhalation might have gone unreported) & didn't mention John Helliwell.

After thinking about it just now, I'm not even sure whether I'm on the right track...a niggling doubt about the wording of an "accident" at the Commercial Hotel bugs me I guess... and makes me wonder if they would have mentioned "fire" rather than "accident" if it was fire related.  I suppose being a builder/carpenter it could have also been a work-related injury.  This really is mind boggling 

I did ask the funeral home if there were any other clues at all, but unfortunately this is all I've got to go on

Janette: He did indeed!    All the initials in that notice are John's children

[Thamesite2017]

Althea:  Great idea - do you know how whether there is electoral roll info online somewhere for 1906? Or to buy? I recently splurged on all the wonderful NZSG CDs (1881, 1893, 1896 & 1911) but those are the only CDs I've been able to find.

It would be 1908, whats nearest big library..many would have the microfiche
Bye
Althea

[Lin Up a Tree]

That's great info, thank you Althea!    Although... by 1908, even if they had lived at the Commerical Hotel, they wouldn't be living at it anymore I guess as it was destroyed by the fire http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=TC19061023.2.9.
Still good to be able to make a general note about the electoral rolls though, thanks again 

[Mackiwi]

When I enquired at my local library about pre 1911 Electoral rolls, I was told they were ordered to destroy them.
Who gave those instructions they couldn't say. Hopefully there are some libraries who still have them.

Mackiwi

[Thamesite2017]

Thats terrible Mackiwi

Searching at online catalogues sees many do have full sets
and there is always the NSZG library at Panmure
Bye
Althea