Road Trip No1 - 2018

Desiree and I set off one morning in Jan 2018 for a Cemetery Road Trip - a first for me...

First stop Mt Stuart Reserve, to check the information board on the area,

It obviously was set up quite a few years ago, as the photos had faded a bit,

and the Glenore Cemetery has become Very overgrown - ask Desiree how she knows!

map at Mt Stuart picnic reserve with various photos

and Black Peter is pictured here as discovering gold before Gabriel - new to me, as I haven't done any Gold miner research.

Glenore Manuka Historial locations - Mt Stuart Reserve

As we neared Lawrence, we passed "Bloy Road" heading off to the right. Whoa,- my 3rd Great Aunt married a William Bloy - could this road be named for that family?

We headed to the Lawrence Museum and Infomation Centre....a treasure trove of info...

Index of Tuapeka Mouth Cemetery Alexander McKenzie

Cemetery records and Indexes was the first stop -  to check WHERE the ancestors were buried.

I had heard that Alexander and his daughter Jane were at Tuapeka Mouth, so found them in the index.

Later in the day we headed over the hill to Tuapeka Mouth by the Clutha River -

Alexander McKenzie, died 1895 age 40
daughter Jane McKenzie aged 14, 1900

Now, I just thought, did he live at Rongahere, or was that the son Sandy (Alexander too) look in CV book, and certs for causes of death

Also at the museum there was shipping records

(Alexander McK had a sister Christina didn't he, recheck and research her in Scotland)

Ship 'Nelson' 1874 from Glasgow query Christina

Ship Christina McK  query sister of Alex

Gold miners Ticket numbers - only 4 Alexander McKenzie's

Mining Licenses for McKenzie - Lawrence Museum

Upstairs in the Musuem Desiree showed me the Actual sod Cottage that was on her Ancestor's farm!

Sod cottage inside Lawrence Museum

In the Gallery of photos, I spied a Bloy family photo - more research to do to see if the same family -

William Bloy family, Lawrence Museum

AND on the way down the stairs I saw this write up of a John Cormack,

there is a book written about these two, for $40 in the museum shop...

   (Alexander McKenzie's mother was a Cormack, could this be a relative,

and why Alex came to Otago??? wild conjecture I know - and who was the other Alex at McKenzie's at the Census circa 1871 - did they emigrate together)

John and Isabella Cormack Caithness

Francis and Henrietta Nicoll, from Caithness

After lunch we headed up to the Lawrence Cemetery on the hill -

I was looking for the Grave stone of my 3rd great grandmother, Mary Rosina Drapper (nee Ridley, born in Surrey England) as seen on Ancestry.

Mary Rosina Drapper died 1865
and her daughter Eva Rose Bloy died 1876

Old Cemetery Lawrence - all one cemetery - old section 

After Tuapeka, we headed to Balclutha, having coffee with Desiree's Mum and Dad,

then up to the Clutha County offices to get the Plot numbers in the Balclutha cemeteries -

which was a good move, as these cemeteries are a lot bigger.

At the Old Cemetery, handy to Norfolk Street, is the grave stone of Florence Mary, my 2nd great grandmother. She was born Drapper, in Australia- married Alexander McKenzie,

widowed at age 35, remarried William Henry Tilson. Had one more son.

Florence Mary TILSON and William Henry TILSON
at Balclutha Old Cemetery

 Then to the Balclutha Lawn Cemetery on the outskirts of North Balclutha -
where Desiree found her ancestors - and very near them I saw my Great Uncle and Aunt...

Wick and Betty, Balclutha Lawn Cemetery

A great day! questions answered - and a whole lot more questions....