family – MJ in NZ

Died Young

While going through a family box of photos & ephemera a few weekends ago, I discovered that my grandmother had a third brother. Noel James MAY, son of William James & Doreen Alice (née BEVIN) MAY died in 1947, aged two, of a strangulated bowel. If I hadn’t gone through that box with Mum & my Aunty, I’d never have known about little Noel.

We also discovered that Doreen had a sister who died young; Mavis Mary Bevin died in 1921 shortly before her 14th birthday. A funeral card was in the family box, but without it we’d never have thought to look for another sibling!

I’ve also been in touch with one of Mum’s cousins, John, whose father Brian had a twin sister who died young. I’ll make a separate post about poor little Norah another time, but to sum up – she died aged 11, in 1941, from tuberculosis.

This feels like an appropriate place to show the other side of Mavis’ funeral card:

Finding Whānau

Lockdown has deepened my ~~obsession with~~ interest in family history, so I’m planning to start blogging more often in order to share my research journey. This will include posts about how I’m researching & what I’ve found, as well as my own personal memories & life stories.

For starters, I’m going to share the publicly available basic details of my grandparents’ lines: A Family History. You can navigate to the pages about the various couples either by following the links embedded in the text, or by using the “Pages” menu to the right.

To me, family history is about making connections so I’d love to hear from you if we are/might be related. You can leave a comment here, or on my Instagram, or by emailing me: whanau@mooncrowned.com

Life, And Other Four Letter Words

Depression. Anxiety. Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension.

And then, because my spouse believes sharing is caring, a cold. Ugh. It has been nearly 10 days since I first felt the nasal drip start, and I am SO over it. All this coughing makes my headaches worse, which is fun.

In spite of all that, I feel like I’ve been pretty productive over the past couple of weeks. At the start of this month, I really wanted to withdraw, retreat from the world and be a hermit, have some ‘me time’ – all that jazz. Instead, the Universe decided I actually needed to be kept busy! So I’ve had doctors appointments, and therapy sessions, and group meetings, and outings and so on.

Last Friday was spent helping my dad pack up his stuff and move house… to my place. Yep, we’ve got a flatmate again.

Finally picked up last years financials from the accountant… at least I made it before this year’s are due, ha.

photo of a baby girl lying in crib We’ve celebrated three birthdays this month: my BIL’s partner turned 32, my MIL turned 56, and my newest niece made an early appearance on the 27th. She’s my brother’s second child, first daughter – and has added an Aries to their household of Capricon + Leo parents with Leo son. That is a lot of fire signs in one house… and some stubborn women. Good luck to ’em! Anyway, that many b-day gifts means I am BROKE and it sucks. Time to start hocking my junk on Trademe.

Hubby and I had planned to go see the whānau this weekend, but my cold has ruled that out. I don’t think I’m contagious, but it’s not worth the risk, as my new niece weighed in at 5lb 14oz at birth so will be delicate for a while, and no doubt the fam will be in and out visiting her and/or her mother. It does mean I’ll be here when BIL and his fam swing back through, so hopefully we’ll catch up and I can give the kids their easter eggs. We don’t celebrate easter for religious reasons, but any excuse to give chocolate to people is a good excuse in my opinion!

photo of black and white cat facing camera My furchildren are both well; Bucky is growing in leaps and bounds. Lilo chases him around the house, but we’re no longer worried that she’ll actually hurt him if she does manage to catch him. That’s unlikely, though; he’s fast! And liquid when he wants to be.

He’s still adorable, and we’re pretty sure we’ll be able to teach him to fetch. He loves carrying things in his mouth, and will often bring toys to whoever is around. However, he’s also become something of a mischievous little shit – trying to jump out windows, chewing his food mat, beating on Lilo, pinching things from hubby’s office and stashing them in odd places. So naughty, so cute. What can ya do? When he rubs against you and purrs, you’ll forgive him anything.

Well, Lilo might not. She’s not so easy to win over.