NZ Directories for late 1860s, early 1870s?

[Lenore]

Hello folks,

I've been trundling along slowly with my little research project on my ancestor George Griffith/s New Zealand Gold Rush adventure, and have managed to find some references to George having been in Hokitika. He is mentioned in an advertisement in the West Coast Times in March 1866, and the last ref is in the West Coast Times in December 1867.
http://
goldrushadventure.blogspot.com

Having also compiled all the references I could to George Griffith/s in the Melbourne Post Office directories, I can see what appears to be two periods of absence from Melbourne - the first being about 1866 to 1868 (which co-incides with the advertisements in the West Coast Times mentioned above), and a second period in about 1872-1873. I haven't managed to locate George anywhere at all in that period, New Zealand or Australia.
I suppose it is feasible that he returned to England for a brief time in the 1870s - it is a mystery where he got to!

Does anyone have access to any NZ directories for these periods which they wouldn't mind looking up for me, please?

In my blog posts I have established that the recorded occupations for George have included Professor of Music, violinist, pianoforte tuner and repairer, and a music hall musician. That's the sort of thing I would expect him to be doing if he appears in any NZ directories.

Best wishes,

Lenore

[Chris Doran]

Ancestry has New Zealand directories from 1866 to 1955:

http://search.
ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1845

but currently they are only the raw images which you have to browse manually, which will be tedious. However, volunteers have recently finished keying them under Ancestry's World Archives Project and if you wait a month or so they will become searchable.

[Lenore]

Hi Chris,

I would be prepared to browse - but my Ancestry sub (Aust & UK) is not giving me access to NZ material. I might be able to do it at my local library, perhaps. The have a World sub I think.

Thanks for letting me know.

Best wishes,

Lenore

[Chris Doran]

Well, it's probably not giving away too many Ancestry secrets to tell you that he's not under Hokitika in either 1866/7 or 1872/3 directories, and they don't have any intermediate ones, so I apologise for getting your hopes up. When the results of the keying go online, the names/places index will be available free to everyone, in case he was living somewhere else, but you still won't be able to see the images (which include professions) without a sub. Or you could do a bit of WAP keying and get free access once you've done 900 records. This wouldn't normally be particularly onerous, but just at present many the projects involve pretty illegible handwriting, so it's a bit tough-going.

[Chris Doran]

P.S. Do you know about the NZ newspapers site at http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast ? This has some hits on George Griffiths, including the West Coast Times clipping mentioned in your blog, and in Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3100, 24 June 1867, Page 4, a GG sailing to NSW on The Susan.

[Lenore]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for checking out the NZ Directories. You didn't really dash my hopes, I always expect to not find anything, because that's usually what happens, but nevertheless I plod on, and every now and then a little thing pops up, like the advertisements from Hokitika.

I'm more dubious about the George Griffiths on the Susan heading off for Newcastle. It could be him, but the name is fairly common - you've probably already seen lots of references to a George Griffiths who came out with an English cricket team, and I'm pretty sure that's not him. On the other hand I can place George the piano and violin player in Hokitika in March 1866 and from October to December 1867 through advertisements, and while he could have fitted in a trip to Newcastle, I'm not sure why he would go there and return to Hokitika. He had a family somewhere, not entirely sure where, but either in Melbourne or Hokitika with him.

It struck me last night that one way I could establish that the family was with him in Hokitika is whether the children were enrolled in school. Whether school records existed or have survived is a conundrum, but you never know your luck.

Thank you for looking for me, it's always better to have two heads.
Best wishes,

Lenore

[CanCan]

Hi Lenore

Nice Blog, very good lay out and a very interesting read.

CanCan

[Lenore]

Thanks, CanCan - we aim to please! I'm enjoying it, and I've made some progress, so that has got to be good.

Best wishes,

Lenore