RANDOM MEANDERINGS

Colonel De Renzie James BRETT M.L.C 1809 - 1889 Her Majestys 108th Foot Regiment His age on his headstone is wrong. Should read 80 years. LINWOOD CEMETERY, CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND I took the photos of Colonel BRETT's grave because i felt it had a story to tell and it most surely does! I find it sad that such prominent people of the past have passed in to history and the origins of their legacies are not taught or talked about in our schools. We take for granted we have the city or country we do today but too often don't stop to think [nor educate others] about those brave, entrepreneurial people who have walked and worked our soils [and other countries as well] to become the productive places they are. De Renzie James BRETT is one of those men. He was one of 25 children. This probably gave him his tenacious abilities and proclivity to fight for his rights! His military service from the age of 16 reads like a novel! It's a must read...see his obituary below. He arrived in...

I have recently discovered the demise of my G G Grandparents Anthony [aka John] and Mary KENNEDY nee MCCOOK. Mary MCCOOK was born in Armoy, Co. Antrim, Ireland in 1849, to William and Lilly MCCOOK [nee MCLEAN] and was the eldest of 6 children. Anthony John KENNEDY's trade was listed as a carpenter. He was born in Co. Antrim, Ireland and was the son of William KENNEDY, a blacksmith. They married 20 November 1873 at the Balleymoney Registry office, Balleymoney, Co. Antrim, Ireland. Mary was 6 months pregnant and gave birth to their son Thomas Veruna Rowe KENNEDY on 20 February 1874 [he married Helen SELBIE] and within days the three of them were on board 'Varuna' via Glasgow heading to New Zealand. They settled in Christchurch and went on to have another 10 children William , Mary, Margaret Moore, John, Anthony, James, Arthur, Hugh, John William [my g grandfather] and Lena Theresa. Mary and Anthony had been an enigma to me for decades. From previous ...