Hi,
I'm still trying to break through the brick wall outlined in my previous thread
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,503491I have recently made some significant progress, but still some unanswered questions.
The family is complicated because we now have definite confirmation that both father and son used surnames Newson and Lewis. Searching for these at BDM had been unsuccessful until I realised their surnames had to be entered as "Newson CKA Lewis".
(CKA stands for "Commonly Know As" and the fact that entering either "Lewis" or "Newson" or "Lewis CKA Newson" produced no results is a beef that can be aired elsewhere
)
So now I have found the births of the two boys in 1902 and 1907 using name as above, e.g. birth of William is shown at BDM as
1924/11661 Newson CKA Lewis William Lawrence Hunter Margarett Watt George CKA Alfred Lawrence
Apparently the births were not registered until 1924, just to add to the confusion
Now that we know the father also used the given name of "George", I believe his birth is the one shown at BDM as 1877/15474 Newson George Jane Alfred.
George was born in Auckland (which matches details from his death/obit as Alfred Lewis found by Lu in previous thread, and his military record supplied by spades)
Jane and Alfred Newson had 5 other children, 2M and 3F 1879 to 1886, all born in Napier.
There are references at PapersPast to Jane and Alfred Newson that show Alfred was a carpenter.
Electoral Rolls show an Alfred Lewis, carpenter, was in Napier 1880 to 1906, then Alfred Newson, carpenter, appears in Napier 1919.
BDM again confuse the issue with a death shown as
1920/3039 Newson CKA Lewis Alfred CKA Alfred 88YA
Cemetery records show this man's burial plot was purchased by Angelina Conelius [sic] and one of Jane and Alfred's daughters was Angelina, who married Paul Graham Cornelius, so I think we can safely say this is our man.
BDM show the death of a Jane Lewis
1887/48 Lewis Jane 30Y
PapersPast references to this show she died in Napier Hospital of phthisis, and show her age as 29. Cemetery records show this lady had issue 3M and 3F, which matches what we know of Alfred's wife, so looks like she died shortly after the death of her last child, Alfred in 1886. Incidentally, this will be the Alfred Lewis found by Beg at Waikumete d 1949 in other thread.
Cemetery records for Napier 1887 were apparently destroyed by fire in 1895, but the Council have access to some details from the Napier Courthouse death register. These show Jane Lewis d 1887 was born in Ireland, and lived in NZ for 13yrs, so arrived approx 1874 aged approx 17.
I cannot find any marriage in NZ 1870-1880 for the couple Alfred and Jane Lewis/Newson. I cannot see any arrival in passenger lists of the couple (although Jane unlikely to have been married at 17?) or an Alfred Newson/Lewis in single men.
So, can anyone suggest any way to trace the origins of Alfred and Jane Lewis/Newson, or better still offer an explanation why two generations have used two surnames
Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to avoid duplicating searches that had already been made.
John B
