One of my father’s great quests is to find the grave of his 2 x great grandfather, Thomas Gaffney. The family story is that Thomas’s son Michael travelled from New Zealand back to England to place a headstone on his father’s grave. While I was living in England, I was determined to find that headstone.
Category: Places (Page 1 of 6)
The Wellington War Memorials Project researched the lives of the 96 men on five community war memorials in Wellington, who were listed as killed during the First World War.

I’ve been delving back into my Kerry roots recently, on the hunt for my Callaghans who were leasing land in several townlands during the 19th century, most notably in Kilfelim and Ballymacdonnell in the parish of Killeentierna.

My 3 x great grandfather George Tunnecliffe (or Tunnecliff/Tunnicliff/Tunnicliffe) arrived in New Zealand aboard the Dinapore, landing in Auckland on 5th of August 1857. Three days later he married a fellow passenger, Elizabeth Barber, and they made their home in the province of Taranaki.
It’s been over a month since we arrived back from a family trip to the UK, where I managed to squeeze in a few genealogy-related activities.
![Burial site of Martin Burke, Sydenham Cemetery, Christchurch, NZ. [Block 22B, plot 63]](https://www.iwikiwi.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/BurkeMartin-gravesite-Sydenham-Chch-900x675.jpg)
While I was in Christchurch last June for the NZSG conference, I was determined to finally discover the resting place of my 2 x great grandfather, Martin Burke. (There’s a picture of Martin in an earlier blog post.) My first attempt with my aunt back in 2012 was not successful. From Christchurch City Council’s cemetery database…

This is a copy of a photograph that was shared with me by my third cousin, Margaret. The couple are our great great grandparents, Ann Philp and Martin Burke. But who is the girl with them? Ann and Martin had three children: Mary (born 1863), Anne (born 1865) and Thomas (born around 1866), so presumably…
Today is Census Day in New Zealand! It’s run every five years by Stats NZ, and counts the number of people and dwellings in the country on a particular day. The last census was held in 2013 and you can view the type of information gathered and the resulting reports from the Stats NZ website….
My first full year back in New Zealand and we still haven’t fully unpacked! I did manage to squeeze in some study, a bit of research, and a few genealogy events. A great newspaper article I found was about the visit my great great grandfather made back to England in 1907. In fact, there were…
My 3 x great grandparents George and Elizabeth Tunnicliff are buried in Grave 56 of St Mary’s Cathedral churchyard, New Plymouth (Taranaki, New Zealand). In 2014 John Pickering, graveyard manager of St Mary’s, spearheaded a project to repair all the old gravestones in the churchyard. Desecendants, where known, were contacted and asked to help fund…