Mabel Alice Rickard nee Blair

[bundygirlsmum]

I am trying to find my mothers family and Mabel keeps popping up as a possibility of being my  Great Grandmother.

Mum  Joy Margaret Rees b:1934 d:2011 married Peter Ivan Murrell 1956
Nana Irene Margaret Rees b:1919 d:1958 married Stanell William Gale Rees 1938 then Arthur Ralph Fenton 1956
GG Mabel Alice Rickard

Now, we know that Alice was married to William Rickard in 1902. They lived in Manakau quite happily so William thought. Mabel and William had 4 children, (no names) but in the early stages of the last babies life, Mabel left William out of the blue. William started divorce proceedings years later and was granted his divorce in 1919.

Mabel was thought to have been in Wellington in 1916.

Did Mabel re-marry and have another child?

What were the names of the other children?

Did William ever see them again?

If anyone can help with some information I would be most appreciative.

Cheers
Wendy

[minniehaha]

Do you know when William Rickard died?

He may have left a probated will. If so, his children may be mentioned.

www.archway.archives.govt.nz

You have probably seen the item re the divorce in the 'Taranaki Daily News' dated 23.8.1919......

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz


Minniehaha.

[Beg Clonrode...]

I am trying to find my mothers family

Hello...

Hope I'm not missing the obvious :-)

If you're trying to trace family one of the usual things to do is purchase printouts of births, deaths and marriages.

If you want to find out who was the mother of your grandmother Irene then the best thing you could do is check out the birth details on Irene's 1919 birth certificate. As the birth is "non-historical" (occured less than a hundred years ago) you can't order it via the publicly accessible part of the BDM NZ website but you still have three options.

1) Visit your local library, check out the 1919 Births fiche, find Irene, make a note of the folio number, phone BDM NZ on 0800 22 52 52, answer a few I.D questions, quote them the folio number, give them your credit card details, wait a week for the birth certificate to arrive.

2) If you live in Auckland, Manukau, Wellington or Christchurch - Visit your local library, check out the 1919 births fiche, find Irene, make a note of the folio number, visit your local Registrar's office, fill in a BDM 93B form, give them your credit card details, wait a week for the birth certificate to arrive.

3) Apply for a RealMe verified account and then order the 1919 birth certificate through BDM NZ Non-Historical Records

There is a fourth option, which is just wait a while and various Rootschatters will make fairly educated guesses about who is Irene's mother.

---

Speaking of which... one thing seems strange to me in that PapersPast says that Mabel left for Wellington with the youngest child never to be seen again.

Taranaki Daily News , 23 August 1919, Page 6
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0199k/

Presumably the youngest child was Rita Nell b.1911. Yet when Rita marries in 1933 she is "the youngest daughter of W.Rickard of Drury" so presumably contact was re-established somewhere along the way.

New Zealand Herald, 31 October 1933, Page 1
http://www.rootschat.com/links/0199l/

And as she was the "youngest daughter" and born in 1911 then she and your grandmother Irene born eight years later can't be sisters.

---

Out of interest, what do you know about Mabel. Age, parents, nationality? Have you seen her 1902 marriage certificate. Any info you can give will help in tracing her.

And have you checked the 1919 electoral roll to see if any female adults are living with William in Drury.

For what it's worth I reckon Mabel became Mabel Alice NIVEN d.1974

Regards
Beg

[bundygirlsmum]

Thanks for the info Beg. I didn't want to go purchasing records without something a bit solid to go on. If Mabel remarried it would have made her at least 90ish. William and Mabel married in 1902.

I will take your advice and follow some other leads.

Thanks again.

[bundygirlsmum]

Hi Minniehaha,

Thanks for the links. I am pretty sure William was born in New Zealand. I shall go hunting lol.
Thanks again
Wendy

[kiwihalfpint]

They lived in Manakau

Hi,

Just wondering if it is Manakau as in Manawatu/Wanganui and not Manukau as in South Auckland?


Cheers
KHP

[kiwihalfpint]

I can see two William Rickards for 1919 in the Manawatu/Wanganui area, one in Dunedin North, one in Palmerston North and one in Taranaki.


Cheers
KHP

[bundygirlsmum]

Hi KHP,

My Mother and her parents lived in Albert Street, Palmerston North for a donkeys age. I can see on Electoral roles that William and Mabel lived in the Otaki area. William remarried and died in 1971 in Auckland.

Still no sign of Mabel once she was last seen in Wellington about 1916.

This is probably a wild goose chance, but anything is worth a shot lol.

Cheers
Wendy

[kiwihalfpint]

Ok, you mentioned they lived in Manakau.

The only Rickard's that I can see living there is a Mabel Annie and Charles Rickard in the 1919 E/R for Otaki, Wellington.

Just throwing that in for elimination, but we look under every stone/brick, until we narrow it down.

Yes, I did see the Mabel Alice Rickard's on the E/R's but Manakau didn't come up, unless I had a spot on my glasses

Beg will put me right

It is going to be like a Lucky Dip here, putting our hand in the bag and pulling out information

Cheers
KHP