RANDOM MEANDERINGS

How fascinating I find trawling the pages of paperspast Yesterday was no exception when I became totally sidetracked from the research I was doing on  one of the hundreds of graves I've photographed and picked up on a rather sad story. This news article drew me in. The thought of these 2 wee boys alone in the world and feeling unwanted, so I thought I'd do a 'quick' search and see what I could find on them...well I should know by now that I get totally absorbed and it is NEVER a quick research *grin*.  The following  took up my whole afternoon and night but such a fascinating journey and of course more questions are posed rather than gaining all the answers. Firstly, let's start with John and George's dilemma... Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7018, 21 March 1888, Page 6 NEGLECTED CHILDREN. –John Vivian Cogar [sic] and George Vivian Paul Cogar, [sic] aged eight and five respectively, were charged with being neglected children.  Inspector Pender sai...

A couple of years back I took this photo of a grave at Purewa Cemetery in Auckland and thought what interesting people to one day research. Grave* of William Wight SMITH memorialising also his brothers Sergeant Major Sidney SMITH, Charles O'Hara SMITH and their father Captain John SMITH Tonight I came across the photo again as I was editing on Flickr. So I decided to do a bit of a trawl on the net and thought i would add here what i've found. William Wight SMITH The only person buried in this grave is William Wight SMITH . William was a Commission agent of Wellington. Searches of him on National Library's 'Paperspast' site show him as the plaintiff in a claim for commission on the sale of land in 1907. He died intestate. Sergeant Major Sidney SMITH Williams brother Sergeant Major Sidney SMITH, is memorialised on the headstone. He was a telegraph linesman prior to enlisting and serving in the Boer War. He was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal (Cape Colony a...