I thought I had better add my piece to all the information that has been given on Myrtle Eva Quelch / Myrtle May McKeon. As Myrtle was my father's half-sister, I can maybe correct a couple of items. Myrtle did not meet Harriet for the first time around 1927 - she had always visited Harriet, her husband Frederick and my father - my father could remember her coming to visit at their house from when he was a small child, and often commented on how much Myrtle looked like Harriet. Harriet died when he was 8 years old, so obviously Myrtle did know that Harriet was her birth mother.
Her marriage registration to Harold Filmer in 1958 shows Myrtle's father as Arthur Joseph McKeon and her mother as Cecilia McKeon, with maiden surname of mother as Quelch. Arthur McKeon's death notice from the NZ Herald shows that he died at 8 Patterson Street at the residence of his sister, Mrs Egan. His Death Certificate shows he died at 8 Patterson Street from 119 Franklin Road (where several McKeons were living at the time). His Death Certificate shows relationship status at time of deat as Not Recorded, place of marriage, name of spouse/partner as NR. It is possible that Arthur McKeon was her birth father, but my father could also remember visiting a motor building (panelbeater) shop in/around Pitt Street Auckland with his mother (Harriet) where they were always welcomed as if they were part of the family, and he had always felt that possibly one of the sons there was Myrtle's father. He thought the family's name there was McGhee or similar, and I believe there was a motor building shop in that area at that time. Myrtle and Harold Filmer married in May 1958, after Myrtle's first husband William John Lynch had died, although Myrtle had left him some years before. The marriage certificate shows both Myrtle and Harold living in Arthur Street Ponsonby at the time of their marriage.
Although we can't find anything on Cecilia/Cecelia Quelch, she must have been related in some way, as there were not that many Quelches in Auckland, and all I believe were related at that time. It may have been a family (nick)name, as Harriet was known to all her family, including in handed-down family stories) as Sissy. None of my father's cousins that we kept in touch with knew about Myrtle, and didn't know of Cecilia either, so she is probably a dead end. If anyone can find anything it would be great to know, and thanks for all the research you have all done.
