Between 1969 and 1987, my children and I frequently
visited both 38 and 36 Burke street, South Christchurch, New Zealand. Henrietta
Mary Hadfield was my husband’s maternal grandmother. She had bought the house
at 38 Burke Street around 1965. My children and I would visit her there from
1969, although the first Electoral Roll recording her at this address was in
1978. [1]
Her daughter Gloriana lived in the cottage next door at number 36.[2]
Boundaries
have changed slightly for 43 Burke Street as properties have been subdivided
for townhouses. Diagram from google maps.
Almost directly opposite from 36, at 43, stood a large
walnut tree … the house long gone before we ever visited the street, but the
tree remaining as a sentinel guarding what had once been … and little patches
of four-leaf clovers provided many hours entertainment for my children
fossicking around in the empty section to find them.
A search of the 1928 New Zealand Electoral Rolls unexpectedly
located my maternal grandmother, Beatrice Bird, living with her parents, George
and Sarah, at number 43 Burke Street.[3]
My mother was born whilst her parents resided there in 1935.[4]
On the same Electoral Roll, my maternal grandfather’s
mother, Aileen Marian O’Malley, and his sister, Mary Bennett, resided at number
36 Burke Street.[5] Although
my grandfather was not listed at living at the same address, it is reasonable
to assume this is how my maternal grandparents met and consequently married.
Unknowingly at the time of our visits to these
properties, we had entered a time-space glitch spanning 50 years, connecting my
children’s paternal and maternal ancestors across four and five generations
respectively.
Reflective
Statement.
This
piece of writing tells how time and space were already connecting ancestors and
descendants well before my genealogical journey started. Also coincidently, Aileen
was a widow in 1928, as was Henrietta in 1978… separated by time, but place and
experience shared by both women.
[1]
Ancestry.com. New Zealand,
Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981. 1978, Tasman; Nelson; West Coast; Canterbury;
Otago; Southland. Southern Māori.
Hadfield, Henrietta Mary.
[2]
Ibid., Hills, Gloriana Hilda.
[3] Ancestry.com.
New Zealand, Electoral Rolls,
1853-1981. 1928, Canterbury, Christchurch South. Bird, Beatrice,
George and Sarah.
[4]
Ancestry.com. New Zealand, Electoral Rolls, 1853-1981. 1935,
Canterbury, Christchurch South O’Malley,
Thomas Augustine and Beatrice.
[5] Ibid., O’Malley, Aileen Marian and
Bennett, Mary.
