The next steps

The Taylors are a complicated lot, though thanks to Marie, Bruce and Nicole I have the family reports, and it is looking grand.  I have another person to contact, thanks to Marie, will really have to do that tonight, I am hoping that this call will give a local angle and more on how the Taylor family grew.

Who were they Taylors?  Where did they come from? How big was the family?  Like both the Bond and Ridley families, the Taylors came over during the Vogel Immigration Scheme.  William Edward Taylor arrived on the "Rodney" in 1875, along with is parents George & Frances Taylor nee Maitland, and three siblings, Richard, Fanny Elizabeth and Mercy, sad to say Mercy died on the ship due to scarlettina or pneumonia.  It must of been a big shock to George and Frances to lose one of their own.  The family were orignally from Kent, though a different area from the Ridley family.

George and Frances had 5 more children in New Zealand.  I have followed most of the lines the best I can, thanks to those mentioned above, there will be photos and I hope to have some memory and newspaper stories too.  I dont really want to give to much away.

I have been surprised at how many of the Alfuth descendants are local to the Bay of Plenty region.  It is nice to be able to find cousins on the doorstep that we never knew about, my children and husband have had fun meeting some of these cousin.  We hope to meet many more of you at the reunion next year.

Oh I just remembered I found a picture of the Immigration Barracks in New Plymouth where I think some of our families may of stayed for up to three days, on their arrival in this district.  That is something that I won't be able to confirm, unless there is a list of those who passed through them, something I may look into.

I have also found a possible employer for William Ridley, however I may just use this gentlemans story as something that William was told or learnt about in his first two years, maybe a neighbour, after all this I doubt that I will be able to use a real person as an employer, so for now he shall remain unnamed.