Registration Place Confusion

[plays54]

I am researching a possible family connection Magdalen or Magdaline Reed Smith circa 1870 to 1939 from Otago region. She may have been the daughter of a David Smith who died in Balclutha in 1914. Magdalen was married to a James Townley in 1897 and I have a record of a Magdalen Reed Townley who died in Dunedin in 1939. At the time of her fathers death in 1914 she was a widow. The only record I can find for the death of a James Townley prior to that is for 1907. However, I am confused by the Registration Place which is given as Popotunoa, Nelson, New Zealand.   As far as I can find out there is a Popotunoa just north west of Balclutha and this would make sense in that Magdalen's family emigrated from Scotland to Dunedin around 1862 and farmed in and around Balclutha and Waitepeka which is not too far from Popotunoa. Nelson on the other hand is on the northern (west) shore of South Island very far away from Dunedin and I am unable to find a Popotunoa in that area.
Can anyone help? Thanks.

[minniehaha]

Hello,

Here is her birth......

   
1870/37220   Smith   Magdalen Reed   Ann   David

Am I correct; it is the death registration place for husband James Townley that is causing the confusion?

You are correct in the placing of Popotunoa in Otago. What information do you have which mentions the Nelson region?

Minniehaha.

[Beg Clonrode...]

Hello...

Just some local flavour :-)

The Exploration of New Zealand
by W. G. McClymont

"The Maoris prepared a large moki, made paddles from the driftwood on the lake shore, and then at great speed they swept down the river to its junction with the Wanaka, carrying on through the gorge past Cromwell to approximately the site of the present town of Clyde. Here, at a place called Te Houka, they landed and went to Popotunoa and their respective homes."

Page 116
http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz//tm/scholarly/tei-McCExpl-t1-body-d11.html

Te Houka is slightly inland from Balclutha and can be found on Google Maps.

Regards
Beg

[minniehaha]

1906 death for James Townley.

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=ME19061231.2.27&srpos=2&e=--1900---1907--10--1----2james+townley--

Still in the right region.......

Minniehaha.

[minniehaha]

And the inquest..........

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CL19070104.2.17&srpos=1&e=-12-1906--01-1907--10--1----2james+townley--


"Aged 38, leaves a widow and three children. Wife daughter of David Smith".

Minniehaha.

[minniehaha]

His estate...........

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=OW19070227.2.175.1&srpos=10&e=-------10-BH%2cODT%2cOW%2cST-1----2james+townley--

There are a number of snippets about him in 'Papers Past'

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz

Minniehaha.

[Beg Clonrode...]

Ancestry has the 1907 TOWNLEY death registration in Nelson. I'd be willing to guess that this a transcription error.

Unless someone else can do it sooner, I'll check the fiche and district keys tomorrow-ish.

----

1907 Probate file for...

James TOWNLEY, late of Waiwera South in the provincial district of Otago

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK9V-2WYJ

1914 probate file for...

David SMITH of Balclutha

http://tinyurl.com/p4zl7o2

Regards
Beg

[plays54]

Minniehaha & Beg Clonrode

Much thanks for what you have posted and the links to the newspaper articles and documents.

Definitely the James Townley I was researching.

The David Smith referred to at the end of the Clutha article is the son of my Third Great Grandfather and brother of my 2nd Great Grandmother.

Yes, the confusion was over the place of death and its registration. The reference was given in a NZ Death Index for a James Townley Jan-Mar 1907 as Popotunoa, Nelson, New Zealand on an Ancestry search.

Again thanks for your assistance.