The Story of The Ferguson Family...The New Zealand Chapter

The Story of The Ferguson Family 
The New Zealand Chapter

What I know about the Ferguson Clan through My Mother Florence Annie (Nora)

My Mother was one of 5 Children born to Edith Annie Ferguson (nee Launchberury) and John William Ferguson

James Emmanuel, Florence Annie (Nora), Albert Sydney, Gladys Elizabeth and John Bernard

Grandad John died 26th April 1912 in the Cyfarthfa Arms. Brecon Rd Merthyr he was only 33 Family folklore through My Mother, said, that he died, while breaking up a fight between 2 men at said Pub leaving Grandma to bring up 5 young children

She had to eventually go out to work which was unusual in those days but, there wasn’t much choice, no welfare.

Mum as the eldest girl. Was pulled out of school to help with the younger ones

I believe that a couple of years later she was seconded to an Auntie Mary, don’t know whose relative she was, to help her with her children

I think luckily Nora met and  married Henry George (Harry) Hawkins, which got her away for caring for other peoples children

They continued to live in South Wales, Pontpridd Glamorgan, 

Where Nora gave birth to a daughter Betty Angela born 5th September 1921

Meanwhile Glad met and married John Llewellyn (Jack) Thomas, they just  had one son also named John Llewellyn (AKA as Jack

Harry’s sister Mary (AKA) Polly had moved to NZ with her Husband Charles Mallia

who came from Malta

They met while in England during WW1. 

They married in Cardiff on 12 August 1917 and she returned to New Zealand with him, after Charles was discharged in 1918 

They had 4 sons and a daughter, Angela who was much the same age as My Sister Betty

Angela and Betty were great friends as they grew up

Angela married Stan Best and had 2 sons Kevin and Raymond.
Sadly, Raymond had a heart condition and died as a young teenager,

It was heartbreaking for the family
Angela and  Stan adopted a baby girl. They called her Angela. 

Photo taken at Jack and Olive's wedding

Rear From Left Kevin Best, Glad, Auntie Polly, Angela Best, Jack Hawkins
Front: Nora holding Gillian...Olive holding Raymond Best

Back to the story... The Mallias settled into New Zealand Life

Then they  sponsored Nora and Harry to come to New Zealand in the early 20's 

New countries like NZ and Canada were looking for immigrants

I believe you could come out to NZ for £10 in those days

Meanwhile older brother  James Ferguson emigrated to Canada, where he started his Dynasty

Gladys and Jack Thomas emigrated to New Zealand as did Bernard

Grandma Edith joined the New Zealand Family, tragically she was killed, in a car accident  before I was born, so I never knew her

Below: Glad and Nora at Nora's wedding

Bert remained in Wales and  married  Edith
They had four children, 

Shirley who married John 
Below with their daughters Karline and Julie

Joyce, seen here with husband Viv

Stuart seen below with Pam and his boys Jamie and Alex

and Pam, who married Edgar Roberts,
Seen below with Nora and Glad

Pam and Edgar had 2 children, Darran and Dale
in the 80's they decided to move to New Zealand
When they arrived, Auntie Glad's house was vacant, as she had become ill from a clot that had developed in her leg

After quite a while in hospital,  she wasn't able to live on her own
She then had to go into care

Below "Mrs Binness Twinses"

Her house became vacant so Pam, Edgar and the boys moved in and later bought the house from the family
Auntie Glad didn't recover and sadly she died.

So the family settled in to NZ life, both boys went to school here and started jobs
Everyone was happy, but unfortuately young Dale died in a terrible work accident,
He was only 21 such devastating heartbreak for the family

Anyway Life does go on 

Darran grew up and was lucky in love
He married Shaun Caple and they currently live in Auckland

Pam and Edgar decided to move out of Wellington . 
Up the Kapiti Coast and now live in Paraparaumu

So back to the past...Once settled in New Zealand Nora and Harry were blessed with another child 

John Henry Chapman Hawkins…Known as Jack born April 4th 1924

When Jack was about 3 he unfortunately was exposed to and ended up with Osteomyelitis

He spent a lot of his life in hospital, the only treatment for Osteo in those days was to operate and scrape the bones. He ended up with one leg shorter than the other 

But his disability never threw him, He played cricket and golf, loved it
Below, Harry Hawkins with Jack, Betty and Nora

Meanwhile Glad and her husband Jack Thomas had a son in October 1923, their only child,

(also John Llewellyn, also  known as Jack)

In those days it seems they really weren’t very imaginative with names.

All these Jacks and Johns !!!

The Two Jacks also became best friends, right up to the time my brother died 

As an aside when I was born, apparently I would have been called John as well

Luckily I was a girl ha ha

Mind you I think Gillian and Jillian are female versions of John!!!

Nora and Harry moved out from Wellington City to Petone, The bottom of the Hutt Valley

The Hutt Valley is surrounded by Hills 

Glad and Jack, moved to 24 Singers Rd, Koro Koro a suburb of Petone, up in the Western Hills

Beautiful views of the Wellington Harbour

Meanwhile as mentioned Nora and Glad sponsored Their Mother Edith to come out to New Zealand

She moved in to Richmond Street with Harry and Nora

Meanwhile, Harry befriended a young Welshman Tom Samuel, whilst they were working together at Odlins, a Timber company situated in Petone

He invited Tom to board with them in their Richmond Street House

Also boarding in the house was Bernard Ferguson (John Bernard) brother to the Ferguson Girls, Nora and Glad
Bernard had also emigrated to NZ and joined up with the NZ Forces for WW2

as did Tom 

While Tom was away at war, Nora’s husband, Harry Hawkins died

Tom was wounded in Crete, and sent home where he spent a Year in Rehab in Rotorua, while they fixed his leg

He returned to Richmond Street, 

Betty and Jack were both still at home. 

According to Tom my Dad, he felt it wasn’t right, living with in the house, as a single man with the widow, so they got married

Hopefully it was a bit more romantic than that 
Below: Tom and Nora at their wedding 1944

After the war, Bernard returned and took up residence in Richmond Street

So, when I was born in 1945, living in the Richmond Street House

were Tom and Nora, my parents, My brother Jack, Sister Betty and Uncle Bernard
Below: here are the Ferguson Cousins

Glad and Jack remained in their house in Koro Koro

So the younger Members of the families married and had their own children

Young Jack Thomas married Anna Clelland in 1948 

Below Anna and Jack's wedding
On the left Young Jack Hawkins was best man

They had 4 Children
Janice, Malcolm, Kate and Peter

Jan married Jim Marurai

They had 4 children Jason, Eion, Rima, Tokoa & Anna

Below : Jan and Kate with Jason

Below: Katie Noble, my daughter  and Jason. Jan's son

Peter Thomas and friend Paddy

Anna with Hannah and Kate

Malcolm married Deborah Jolly

Malcolm and Deb

Below: Their Daughter Megan and her fiancé Brad

Megan and Brad Graduating

Son Scott with his Partner Rachel at his honours Graduation in Christchurch 

Kathleen (Kate) married Richard Rae

Their Children: Jamie, Simon & Hannah

Peter married Annette Lowry

Children: Mariana, Glen & Zachary

Unfortunately Jan died quite young and we also lost Peter July 2017

Jack Hawkins my brother, married Olive Noeline Davidson in 1948 had 2 children 

Dianne and Noeline

Dianne was born January 1949, in the 60's she went to University, where, in her first year she met, then married Paul

in 1968 


They produced 2 girls Ainsley and Corin
Below Grandma, Ainsley, Jack and Dianne 

Dianne felt she needed to extend her education and went on to get her Doctorate, which was in Psychology 

Her thesis was on the Happiness or otherwise of the Elderly  Quite a Challenge fo a young Mother

Below: Newly Graduated Dianne with Ainsley

Below: Ainsley (centre) with Noeline and Dianne

Ainsley married four times...In her second marriage she had 3 Children Sasha, 17, and twins Sebastian and Spencer 14

She followed in her Mother's footsteps and she also gained her PhD in (Genetics and Molecular Biology

She is currently married to Reginald from France and they have a son Raphael 5 years old

and Corin is married to Tom, 

Corin also completed her Masters Degree in Psychology
Corin unfortunately contacted Steven-Johnson Syndrome an extremely rare reaction to
to properly prescribed medications and is now legally blind 

Unfortunately Dianne and Paul's marriage was very rocky and they divorced.

Sadly Dianne became ill and died in March 2014
Below: Three Generations
Betty Bauer, Grandma Nora, Dianne Hawkins and Olive Hawkins

    

Meanwhile back to the 50's

Jack and Olive were blessed with Daughter number 2... Noeline, born in January 1951  

She met Ian Reisch  in 1971 on Mount Ruapehu in the Ski Hut 

and they married  December 8th 1973,

Both sets of parents were worried

The cry was,…She’s so young…he’s divorced, he has 2 kids, 

Pipi and Angela… 

Noeline’s Protestant, Ian’s Catholic 

Well they proved them wrong, still together, still strong

Raised those girls

Angela married Neil Olsen, They have 2 boys, Ryan and Nathan

Ryan married this year

Pipi is not married, she is very involved with her career
Below Angela, Noeline and Pipi

My sister Betty married Gordon Bauer in 1951 

Below: Taken in Wanganui. The family all congregated, to celebrate Gordon and Betty Wedding 1951

Below Betty, Jack, Nora, Tom and in front Gillian

Betty and  Jack

and they had 2 children Annette born 16th December 1951and Elizabeth born 20th July 1960

Annette married  Mark Close in August 1992 they haven’t had any children of their own 

Elizabeth married Stuart in 1995, they have never procreated and live a Wonderful Gypsy Lifestyle travelling all over New Zealand and Australia 

Sadly both Jack and Betty died before my Mum Nora

Jack at the age of 50 and Betty was just 63

It was hard for My Mum, you are supposed to outlive your kids

Now my turn

I was born in 1945, and became an Auntie with the birth of Dianne…Daughter of my brother Jack in 1949

It was really weird being an Auntie at that age and I was bewildered and really didn’t like 

the idea…as Aunties were old people, not little girls

Turns out, at the time I was really mad keen on the Royal Family and when I found, that Princess Margaret was an Auntie…everything changed and I was thrilled 

Life after the War became very easy. Particularly in this part of the world

People had had to ration food, particularly, Dairy products and meat

We were the farm for Britain and exported all these products

My parents sent gifts of Butter to our UK relatives for Christmas 

Of course most people had gardens so Vegetables and some fruit were in plentiful supply

and then we started importing exotic fruit, bananas, pineapples, oranges even  

The best oranges came from Australia, there is now a flourishing citrus industry here and I think we now export, in other country’s off season

My father had a wonderful garden and all the women, at the time, were excellent at preserving for the winter plus he shared produce with neighbours, of course this was common at that time

Jams, pickles, salted beans (not so keen on them), lots of salad vege… then there were the winter crops, cabbage, cauliflower, Swedes etc

Strawberries, raspberries etc were plentiful

Potatoes, lovely new ones, in time for Christmas dinner then the crop went into a big bin cover with a sack to keep the light out and they lasted us right through the winter

The siblings, who migrated to New Zealand, Glad, Nora and Bernard were all very close and they spent a lot of time together
Bernard lived with us

In 1965 I got married to Dale

Below: The Cousins, looking very Grown up 

Just after we got married my Mum Nora had a heart attack, luckily she survived but it changed her life.

Another blow to the family...not long  after that
Bernard had a massive brain haemorrhage and died

It was a big year 
But of course as we know life does go on

Family photo Rear Tom Samuel, Anna Thomas, Dianne Hawkins next to Jack her father
Front: Olive Hawkins, Nora Samuel and Glad Thomas

In 1969 Jack Thomas Senior died after a long battle with Cancer

Uncle Jack had really spoiled Glad and she was at quite a loss when he died
Below At Front Glad and Jack Thomas, Fun day at the beach 
The man at the rear Tom Samuel

Mum and Auntie Glad were like twins  

Mrs Binsess Twinses, the funny old name that we used to call them

They had friends who owned a bookshop and the two of them worked in there

They loved it 

Petone, a small town was like a village and they knew almost everyone

It kept them busy and useful for their friends that owned the shop.

So trustworthy
Even when the shop changed hands they kept the sisters on
They didn't work full time just filled in and it kept them both very busy

A year after we got married Dale and I had enough money to embark on our adventure.

Move to the UK for a year

It was a wonderful experience and yes it did snow for us

We settled back in Wellington and before too long we procreated

First Daniel, 1970 and then Katie 1973

Loved our life in Wellington

But life changes and it was evident that Dale had to be in Auckland permanently for work

He was spending at least 3 days a week in Auckland

So in 1977, Dale, I and the kids Daniel and Katie moved from Wellington to Auckland

I was a bit unhappy as we had just renovated our house in Churton Park

Below: Daniel and Katie Taken just before we left the house

The thought of leaving my Parents and friends, was not appealing...it wasn't so hard when we left to go abroad but we knew we were coming home, this was a permanent move 

But its amazing how you adapt

We flew up to Auckland about 3 times to look at houses and before too long 

We found "our" house,

I knew it was Our House as when we walked in the front door

It just said to me "Hello Gillian, I am yours"

I didn't even take in the fact that we had this amazing section

3/4 of an acre Beautiful

So lucky

So we went home, sold our house and moved

Family Shot Shortly after moving 

Before too long Dale decided we should extend the house. It was fabulous 

We loved it 

And we even added a pool

Meanwhile luckily we were able to get back down to Wellington to see Family and friends

We flew down as often as we could and it was on one of my visits with the kids, in 1980, that My Dad took ill

He ended up in hospital

The kids and I went home, just thinking that he would be OK

3 days later, I was back down to Wellington

My Father Tom didn’t make it.

Dad was 48 when I was born and one of his concerns was, would he live long enough to see me grow up

Well he certainly did and he lived to see his Grandchildren too

Luckily for Mum, she did have Auntie Glad and they spent a lot of time together 

Unfortunately after a year alone, my Mother had a stroke

She wasn’t able to live alone so she moved in with sister Betty and her husband Gordon

In 1981 we brought her up to Auckland to have a holiday with us, she ended up living with us 

It  was sad as the sisters were separated.

Then Auntie Glad died, Very sad for My Mother

She had lost 2 husbands, 2 children and all of her siblings

But we loved having Mum with us and there she stayed  until she dropped dead in May 1986

A big shock for us but what a way to go

Dale got itchy again and next on the list was a boat

The next few weekends were spent looking at yachts
Eventually he found the one he fell in love worth.
Bought it, renamed it and the next 20 years we spent with the love of his life (after me and the kids ha ha) Cajun Moon

So the years moved on, it became evident that owing a large property with a lot of maintenance was taking it's toll

So it was time to leave the house, once agin I was really upset, I loved it there BUT

Daniel our eldest had gone flatting, Katie was still at home

So we went house hunting and found a town house not far from our office, perfect

We bought off plans

Of course it took months longer than originally planned

We were gypsies for a few months

Finally it was ready 

It suited us in this new abode 

The kitchen had this wonderful space perfect for entertaining

No more grounds to look after... just a tiled courtyard with some pots for colour

A Lock up and leave place, which became useful as Dale was desperate to own a boat.

We both worked in our small advertising agency, and the kids joined us when they left school

By this time we were making music programmes for TVNZ New Zealand's major TV company and both kids worked on those

In early 90’s Dale and I had a holiday at Club Med Copper Mountain

There we saw for ourselves (projected onto a huge screen in the entertainment area at the Club) 
MTV…It had just launched

Dale was most impressed and along with Daniel our son, put together a proposal to put together a Music Channel for New Zealand

So Max TV was born.

We Launched it in October 1993, this was taken late at night after the party Daniel 2nd from left: Dale on the right 

We were only able to beam out to Auckland which was a shame, but it was great fun

Meanwhile Sky TV were moving away from just showing Sport.

They were about to launch a new Channel called Orange

Dale was approached to provide Music for the overnight portion of the show

So Juice TV was born and beamed out all over the country from 10pm to 10am, 7 days a week

Then when the Digital Platform was launched and we ended up with two 24 hour Music Channels
Juice for younger viewers and J2 for those who loved music from 70's, and 80's,

This continued until about 4 years ago.

Unfortunately, in 2012 Dale became ill with A condition called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

A very cruel disease.

It meant we had to sell out 4 story dwelling as it was just too dangerous for him

People with this condition fall a lot  Balance is a major problem

He died in 2016.

He did live to see both of our kids married and spend time with the grandchildren 

Dan married Helen, 

they have 2 children Sophia now 22 and Joseph 18

Sophia has completed her degree in Business and Marketing and graduated December 13th, 2019... she has a Job in a Media/Advertising Agency  

Joseph left school and spent 2019 working in a restaurant. 
The Gap Year for him

In September he flew to the States,  returned just in time for his sister's graduation ceremony 

and is planning on going to Culinary School this year. Starting in February
He is also going to do a Creative Writing course
Maybe he will end up writing cookbooks, you never know

Dan and Helen have set up a company Live Streaming sport
There are quite a few sports that just don't get mainstream TV time e.g. Hockey, Volleyball etc so they are very busy
And the beauty of that is it screens out to the whole world

Katie married Chris. 

They have 2 girls Mia nearly 18 and Cleo 12

Mia has just left school and is going to University this year
Leaving home in fact, going to Wellington
That is a big step

Cleo has completed her first year at  Intermediate School  Like a Junior high School, 
One more year there, then onto college 2021

Last year I moved in with Katie and Chris.

This has worked out really well 

I had been renting an expensive apartment which was a bit much for one person, 
Fine when Dale was alive 

I did take on a paying student in 2017 and that worked well

But as it turns out they needed someone to help out (Me) while Katie completed her Naturopath Degree 

She graduated with honours at the end of last year and is now working, with a Natural Drug Company, Biotrace
meanwhile building up her practice, hopefully it won't be too long and she will have enough clients to make that her full time job.

It turns out I am still needed, we really don’t want Cleo coming home to an empty house

Both parents are working late, I have dinner ready which really suits me

I love cooking

I have furnished my room, it looks a little like The Old Curiosity Shoppe

But I feel like I am in my home 

So I reckon that is our history in a “nutshell”

Of course as I finish this story, the world is going through a crisis, never seen in my lifetime

Covid-19

It seems to be bringing the World together, I just hope, this solidarity will continue

Gillian Wrightson 10th April 2020