The Woman in the Photo – The Evidence

 

I had scanned this photo from a pile my mother gave me years and years ago. I had no idea who it was or even what side of the family the people might be related to and to be honest at the time I was only barely getting started with my family history interests and didn’t think of things like scanning the backs of photographs .

Then recently I got in contact with a cousin who was also doing family research on  our McClellan branch of the family  and I sent her scans of photos I couldn’t identify, and it turned out she also had some of the same photos which helped narrow down the branch of the family each photo came from. One of the ones we both had copies of was this one.

It  was still a bit of a mystery for a while until she sent me a scan of the back of her copy of the photograph.

 

Firstly the writing on the back is a huge help as we knew what family lived in Campbell Street through Electoral Roll LIsts.

Elizabeth ( Betsy)  McClellan lived in Campbell Street from 1914 until she died in 1924.

Also living at the same address were her daughter Lizzie Gjording, and her husband Peter and their two children Eric and John.

A little research on Electric Studios revealed they worked out of 80 Manners Street in 1914 

 

Through to 1921

 

Elizabeth McClellan would have been  in her late 70s early 80s during this period .

The child could either have been Eric or John  Gjording, depending on the year the photo was taken. Eric being born in 1911 and John in 1914.   I suspect as there is only one child in the photograph that perhaps it is Eric, dating the photo to the earlier period that Electric Studios was operating out of 80 Manners Street.

Searching for our Roots The McClellan Family History

 

It appears I am not the first member of the family to have a desire to trace my roots and find lost family members. Through my research I have discovered that my Great Grandfather William McClellan also had the same interest. My first evidence of this was a chance find- in the British Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper in 1910 he had placed an advertisement in the Lost Relatives column looking for the brothers of his father. ( In doing so I hope he is very pleased that all these years later he provided me with a wonderful clue in my search for his fathers roots!) .
Then in the World War 1 records file of one of his nephews I found a letter written by the red cross some 34 years after the end of the Great War, requesting information on the whereabouts of that nephew on behalf of relatives in New Zealand. These relatives are highly likely to be My G Grandfather and his niece ( the sister of the lost man) who had got together in their later years.
it appears that the genealogy gene is very strong in our family. Williams son Keith apparently did a huge amount of research and wrote a 400 page account of the family tree, but sadly this seems to have been lost. So now its my turn, along with my 2nd cousin we together are chipping away at the many brick walls so we can write our own account of what is turning out to be a hugely interesting family tale.

 

The Lennies/McClellans

 

In the last few weeks Ive learned a lot more about my Orkney ancestors since my earlier posts

One of my biggest finds/and frustrations  is in regards to my 2x G Grandmothers older sons.

 

Recap:

 

Betsy( Elizabeth) Brodie married John Lennie in Stronsay Orkney and they and their family of 3 children ( David, John and Catherine) immigrated here and settled in Pleasant Point in 1870 .

Betsy and John had a further 2 more children, Lizzie, and  Louisa ( who seems to have been registered as Letitia at birth)

 

Some time around March  1876 John Lennie died ( we know he was buried then but cant find any record of the death ever being registered)

Their second son John Lennie died in 1883.

The eldest son David Married Lucretia Peake in 1887  and they lived in Pleasant Point. He was a pound Keeper and ranger there in 1897, and had trained as a Blacksmith

David and Lucretia didnt have much happiness in regard to child rearing. They lost a baby ( David) in 1889, then lost a baby ( Samuel in 1898  and a son Eric aged 7 in 1901 .  They had  a daughter and  2 sons who survived to adulthood, Lucretia Jeanette , William Henry, and  Francis David, and   At some time between 1897 and 1900 David and Lucretia moved to Wellington and Lucretia was once again pregnant . 

 

Unfortunately the baby, Margaret, was stillborn and Lucretia died soon after the birth due to complications of childbirth.

 

What I knew next was that David remarries in Australia, and I found both Francis and William both on Australian Electoral Rolls but all 3 had taken the surname McClellan ( that of Betsy’s second husband and my Great Great Grandfather)

 

Fast forward to this month and my cousin Rachel has found an old photo album belonging to my Great Grandfather and there are many photographs in there we need to identify so I took the scans to one of my mothers older cousins to get some opinions

 

 

 

She immediately said the top right photo was Dave ( having never met him she must have been told this at some point )

She gave me a copy of the bottom left photo which says Yours Truly  W H McClellan

Very quick research proved that indeed David McClellan did serve in the Australian 5th squadron 2nd Mounted Regiment as a Shoe Smith ( he lied about his age – taking at least 5 years off his age I assume to get in)

William Henry McClellan was indeed in the British Merchant Navy and Royal Navy – his medal card I found at British Archives this morning

It seems to me that the man on the top right – supposedly David – is the same man who is seen sitting in the top left photo . ( That would make the boy my G Grandfather who was 12 years his junior)

I think the younger man in the bottom right photo is extremely similar looking to William Henry in his Naval uniform beside him – dont you??

If its not William then it probably is his brother Francis . ( Francis also served in WW1 for Australia)

The older man though I dont know- he is still a mystery.

 

What do you think? – Am I grasping at straws here – ?

 

On a side note… What happened to the daughter Lucretia Jeanette – well Ive talked about her in a previous post  – .

Whether she kept in touch throughout her life with her Uncle ( My G Grandfather) or whether they found each other later in life I don’t know but I do know that in their twilight years, after the death of their respective spouses, they became great companions . I suspect she knew very little of her brothers family in Australia as I have found a Red Cross letter attached to Francis’ war file, dated 1952  enquiring for his whereabouts , as family in NZ hadnt heard from him since before the First World War.

Mother and Daughter–Mary Jane Middlebrook and Ellen Winifred Middlebrook

 

 

These two gorgeous photos are of Mary Jane Middlebrook ( nee Rea) and her daughter Ellen Winifred Middlebrook.( My Great Great, and Great Grandmothers)

Mary Jane Rea married Samuel Middlebrook at “Riversdale” in Katikati on 23rd May 1882

They had 6 children of whom Ellen was the third, being born in 1887.

I loved how similar the poses were in these photos and how alike Mother and Daughter look, though is it just my imagination or does Mary Jane look  a little like she has more of a “wild” personality than her more proper looking daughter. I personally think the Irish rose certainly shines through in Mary Jane’s photo, with the choker and the slightly ruffled hair and the eyes gazing into space as if imagining all the better things she could be doing rather than posing for a photograph.

I am however most grateful she did pose as this, so far is the only photo of Mary Jane that we know of.

A Photo Tree

 

Here is an example of a  custom made personalised photo tree that we are going to be selling  at Memories in Time

 

Over the next few weeks we will be starting to add some products that might be of interest to Genealogists so keep checking back regularly

 

This photo tree can be customised to fit up to 12  photos but looks best with between 7 and 10.

Cost $30+p&p for 8x8 inch print ( or digital copy if preferred) . Framing in dark walnut box frame can be provided at additional cost if required.

An Easter Wedding

 

The photo below is one of a number that my cousin scanned from the photo album of our Great Grandfather William McClellan.

Many of the photos are unidentified but this one was easy to pick. We knew that her Grandfather Keith was the best man in this wedding, and my Grandmother Bettie is a flower girl along with her sister Mollie. It was an easy deduction from there that this was the wedding of their eldest brother Mervyn ( William John  Mervyn )McClellan to Elsie Lillian Hammond ( known as Lil)

A search of paperspast bought up a wonderful description of the wedding which I used for my journalling for the layout below

An Evening wedding took place on Easter Monday at Trinity Methodist Church, Wellington South, when Elsie Lillian, daughter of Mr and Mrs H Hammond, Island Bay, was married to Mervyn, eldest son of Mr and Mrs W McClellan, Wellington South. The Bride wore a dainty frock of white French georgette, with radium lace and silver beads; a long tulle veil formed the train, and was work with a coronet of silver lace and orange blossom ( lent to her by her cousin, Mrs Giblin).
The wedding bouquet was of white cactus dahlias, roses and begonias. The bridesmaids were Misses Reita Hammond ( chief) and Elsie Croskery, wearing pretty frocks of flame and cyclamen georgette, trimmed with crystal beads, and coronets to tone with their frocks. They also carried beautiful bouquets to tone with their frocks.
‘Two smaller maids, Mollie and Bettie McClellan, were in frocks of eau-de-nil georgette and silver lace, with coronets to match and they carried pale pink Victorian posies.
Mr K. McClellan was best man and Mr L. Clark was groomsman.
A reception was afterwards held at the Newtown Library Hall, where the guests were received by Mrs Hammond( mother of the bride) wearing a frock of black French crepe de chine, trimmed with radium lace and hat to match, and carried a bouquet of red roses. Mrs McClellan ( mother of the bridegroom) was in grey embossed marocain and georgette and a hat to match, her bouquet being of lavender flowers. The bridegrooms present to the bride was a white fox fur, and each of the bridesmaids gold armlets
Evening Post April 19 1926

PLEASANT POINT

I had this photo sitting in my pile of unidentified photographs for years. Periodically I would try and identify where the photo was taken to try and discover what the significance of it was to my family. For years I was unsuccessful, then on a totally unrelated google search I spied a photograph of Pleasant Point Railway station which I noticed had a large shed in front of the station. A Google Street view trip to Pleasant point showed me that the church in the photo still stands though significantly altered from how it looks in this photo, but the placement of the small spires and the raised edge of the back wall were a confirmation that I had discovered the correct location. Pleasant Point was the town settled by my 2x Great Grandparents Betsy Brodie and William McClellan.