Welcome

Genealogy is the art of tracing your family's bloodline, and is one of the few times you actually start at the end of something and work your way back in time.

If you're just getting started, the first thing to do is start talking. Talk to your parents, your grandparents, aunts and uncles, anyone who has a link to your family, no matter how remote. The tiniest piece of information could be your biggest lead in finding a long lost relative. Once you've started down this track, you will need some tools to help you piece it all together. This is where the library comes in. What follows will help you piece together the branches of your family tree.

Books

Seriously folks, books are a wonderful source of information. Especially when you are just starting out. Most resources will be at the Central Library, although there will be a small amount of material at branches also. The majority of our genealogy books are shelved in one area (those that can be issued that is). They can be found on the 2nd floor of Central library and you need to look for the Dewey area starting at 929.1.

Here are some booklists to get you started, whether you're a beginner or a more seasoned researcher:

NZ Booklist:

• Tracing family history in New Zealand, by Anne Bromell.
  A good book for those just starting out. Originally published in 1988, it has been revised and updated every few years. Have a look on the shelves at 929.3 BRO or follow the catalogue link above to reserve it.
• Writing your family history : a New Zealand guide, by Joan Rosier-Jones.
  Another local guide helpful when preparing to go into print. Have a look on the shelves at 929.1 ROS or follow the catalogue link to reserve it.

General Booklist:

Whakapapa research

Two places to start for whakapapa research are:

• The library's booklists of iwi histories which we hold. Most items can be borrowed.
• See also: Whakapapa : an introduction to Māori family history research, by Brenda Joyce and Bruce Mathers. (2006)

Official Records Indexes

Births, deaths & marriages

These are held on the second floor of Central Library and are for "in-library" use only.

Each of the microfiche held is an index of names divided into years. Alongside each name you will find a number, this number relates to the registery record held at Levin House in Lower Hutt. Having this number (usually referred to as a 'folio number') makes things easier if you do wish to apply for a copy of the certificate.

Note: The Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Amendment Act 2008 came into force on 25 January 2009. This changes the process of applying for certificates for people other than yourself. For more information, visit Internal Affairs' page on the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Amendment Act.

Births (1840-1990):

Up until 1956 just the name of the child is given in the indexes. Between 1956 and 1960, the place of birth is listed. From 1960 the name of the mother and the place of birth is listed.

Deaths (1848-1990):

Until 1957, just the name is given in the index. Between 1957 and 1960, the place of death is listed. In 1960 the age of the deceased was added. 1961 saw the addition of the quarter in which the person died. In 1984 the age (at death) is replaced with the date of the person's birth.

Marriages (1840-1990):

Until 1957 each year had a list of grooms in alphabetical order and a list of brides in alphabetical order. From 1957, cross-referencing occurs. Looking up a groom will also give you the bride's name, and vice versa.

Tips & tricks:

When requesting a certificate, ask for a photocopy of the registry record. Although they are the same fee, you might get extra information that has been added or might not be needed on the full certificate.

New South Wales:

We also hold copies of the New South Wales Births, Deaths and Marriages microfiche from 1866-1890.

Cemetery Records

A very morbid, but useful way of finding long lost relatives.

These microfiche are divided into regions. Each region has an index of names with a reference number. This reference number relates to a transcript of the epitaph of each headstone in each cemetery within that region. Wide coverage, but not fully comprehensive. A transcript of the Bolton cemetery is available in print format in the Local History Cabinet; please ask at the desk for the Karori cemetery.

Why is this useful?

Headstone inscriptions not only give the name of the deceased, but will quite often give the name of a spouse, how many children the marriage produced, and if more than one person is buried in the same plot, they will be listed as well. Online records are very incomplete, relying on volunteer support, but try the Cemetery Transcription Library for NZ brought to you by Interment.net.

Wellington cemeteries:

• Whenua tapu cemetery (Includes plot maps)
• Karori, Makara and Bolton St Cemeteries

New Zealand electoral rolls

You've discovered a name, on the Marriage or Death microfiche, but aren't quite sure if the person is who you're looking for. The electoral rolls can give you those few extra clues needed.

Electoral rolls will give you the town/city the person was residing in, their occupation, and because they are in alphabetical order, a quick scan can give you the name(s) of anyone at the same address. Very useful if you also have a spouse or child's name.

1866-1943:

Up to 1943 these are on microfiche, so please ask at the enquiries desk on the 2nd floor of the Central Library.

1946 onwards:

The library also holds electoral rolls from 1946-current in paper form. These are shelved on the South side of the 2nd floor in the Central Library.

Newspapers

The library holds The Dominion and The Evening Post on reel to reel microfilm.

We hold:

• The Dominion, September 1907-2002; The Dominion Post, 2002 onwards
• The Evening Post, February 1865-2002

You can use these to look up Birth, Marriage and Death notices, but there is no detailed personal name index - so you will need to know the date.

Why is this useful?

As with cemetery records, newspaper notices will, more often than not, include the names of spouses, children and grandchildren. If a complete list of names is not given, a number will usually be mentioned.

E.g. Joe Bloggs - died 18 Sept 1925. Beloved husband of Jane Bloggs, father of 10 children and Grandfather of 23.

This will give you some idea of how many people you are looking for.

Newspaper Indexes:

• The Wellington New Zealand Genealogy Index
  This is an excellent local newspaper index. Essentially this is a BMD index of the Wellington newspaper notices for births, deaths, marriages, anniversaries, and in memoriam published daily since 1999, for the purposes of genealogy and family research. So this dovetails very nicely with the end of published official indexes.

Other Microfiche/CD-ROM indexes

The library has a wide range. Two recent examples are:

• Passenger lists, Victoria, Australia outwards to New Zealand, 1852 onwards, compiled by Gaynor Kirby
  This is available from the Central Library, 2nd Floor. Each part includes: alphabetical list of passengers; entry order list of passengers; ship information.
• A compilation of death notices from New Zealand newspapers 1957-1984 (The Enid Seton-Kellaway collection)
  This is available from the Central Library, 2nd Floor. The main bulk of the divorce information comes from later newspapers. The strength is that newspapers from across the country are indexed.

UK official records

1881 British census and national index England, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, and Royal Navy is available on CD-ROM at the Central Library, 2nd Floor. Please ask at the enquiries desk.

Note: The Library does not hold the St Catherine's Index. Please contact the National Library, in Molesworth Street if you need access to this.

Alexander Turnbull Library Indexes

Some of the indexes compiled by the Alexander Turnbull Library to their scrapbook collection are held at the Central Library, 2nd Floor, in microfiche.

New Zealand Post Office Directories

Commonly known as Wise's (Wise's New Zealand Post Office Directories). These were published between 1872 and 1961 and contain an alphabetical list of persons and business firms by name. Think of them as a combined Yellow Pages and Electoral Roll. They can be used to trace the movement and occupation of a person over an extended period of time.

Although an entire nuclear family may not be listed, you may find a sibling or other relative living in the same area.

Local Histories

Published to commerate the founding of a town or district, these can feature families of prominence in the area. Either the families played a role in the early settlement of the area: a member of the family held a position of power at some stage, eg. Mayor, Councillor, or Doctor; or the family ran a business of some importance in the area.

Local histories are usually written with the help of books, diaries, manuscripts, personal papers and letters, recollections of the locals and material found in archival repositories. Use the information found in the bibliographies, found at the end of any local history, as a springboard for further information.

Photographs

Start going through those old photos at home, find out who's who in those family get togethers such as 21st birthdays and weddings. After you've exhausted the photos at home, start sourcing them from elsewhere. Some public libraries have photographic collections. If your luck holds out, they may have had them card indexed.

Wellington City Libraries has a large collection of historical photographs. Unfortunately, they aren't currently indexed - but browsing through these photos can be an enjoyable way of filling in a wet afternoon in town.

Alexander Turnbull Library also holds a large collection of images from New Zealand's history. Online access is offered through their TAPUHI catalogue:

TAPUHI provides access to descriptions of the unpublished Manuscripts and Pictures Collections of New Zealand and Pacific material in the Alexander Turnbull Library. To use the original material you need to visit the National Library in Wellington, New Zealand.

Description taken from the National Library website.

The Timeframes online database, also from the National Library, allows you to search through and see some of the images indexed in TAPUHI.

Local Historical Societies

Do not overlook your local Historical Society as a source of information in your hunt for long lost family members. Repositories of a wealth of information (pictorial, written and oral), they can be found in most areas. You may be lucky enough to have a district wide society as well as a town society.

Contact information for Historical Socities can usually be found at the local library. You may be lucky enough to find the historical society even has a website. One such society is Horowhenua Historical Society in Levin. The site allows you to search an ever expanding collection of scanned images.

School and church history booklets

Use these in a similar way to Local Histories. They are usually published to commemorate a school reunion or jubilee. Full of information about the school, its teachers, principals, students of prominence. You may be lucky enough to find one that has included a complete list of all students who ever attended the school over the years. Below is an example taken from the Horowhenua College 50th Jubilee book:

This example gives the name and years between which each person attended the school. Looking at a "family name" it might be possible to assertain the names from particular generations. It might also be possible to work out birth dates, which is a link back to the registry birth index.