The Mystery that is Frederick Milverton

The Majestic

The search for Frederick Milverton was an interesting search, which has taken years although there has been no shortage in records showing his movements and achievements. There were the usual family stories about how he had been involved with the mafia and even something to do with the Ford Company or the President.

Frederick William Milverton was born in 1871 to William Strickland Milverton and Caroline in Middlesex. He was one of eight children by William and Caroline.  In the 1881 census he is listed as a scholar age 10, in the household of William Milverton. When the family immigrated to New Zealand in 1886, Frederick did not travel with them. For some reason Fred stayed behind in Middlesex.

Frederick appears on shipping records aboard the Majestic in 1891 sailing from Yorkshire to Ellis Island, New York, arriving 18^th March 1891. His age is listed as 25, when he was only 20 years of age. The next time Fred appears on an official record is when he is Naturalised on the 16^th of July 1898 in the county of Salt Lake in Utah.

During the 1910 census Frederick is living in Honolulu City, Honolulu in Hawaii and his occupation is an Attorney. In 1913 he travelled from British Columbia, aboard the Umatilla to San Francisco and 1915 from Hawaii to San Francisco. The Bar Association of America lists him as the general council elected member for the Hawaii Territory in 1917 and 1918.

On the 11^th of july in 1916 Frederick applies for a passport for the purpose of travelling to New Zealand, Tahiti and Tasmania, Australia for a vacation in October of 1916, leaving from Honolulu on board the SS Makura and he returned aboard the Moana via Tahiti in February of 1917, arriving in San Francisco.

During 1917 Frederick either joined or was drafted into military service during the First World War. His occupation was listed as Attorney at law and his nearest relative was his mother Caroline Milverton of Palmerston North. The location listed to where he was staying was the Fairmont Hotel in California.

When he next appeared was on another shipping record in 1922. This time he had come from San Francisco in California to Ellis Island in New York aboard the Venezuela. The ship had left California on the 15^th of March and had arrived in New York on the 17^th of April. The shipping record contained two surprises. One was the year and location, where he had been naturalized and the second surprise was he had a wife. Frederick’s wife, Helen J. nee Johnson of North Carolina was actually 25 when he was 45 although he had changed the year he had been born from 1871 to 1877 on all his records for some reason.

After this point in time the only record that could be found was the death of Helen Milverton, Frederick Milverton’s wife. This conundrum changed, while researching in the Palmerston North Archives, amongst my great grandfather’s scrapbook for the PN fire brigade. There was a newspaper article from ‘The Reidsville Review’ about the death of Frederick Milverton, dated March 1926. The newspaper article contained information about his life in America after the First World War.

During the war, Frederick Milverton had volunteered his services when he was called to Washington D.C to serve as a Major Judge advocate. In 1920, he received an honorable discharge from the army, but retained his commission as Major Judge Advocate O.R.C.

He married Helen Johnson in December of 1920. He was a graduate of Georgetown University with a degree of L.L.M and a member of the American Bar Association and of the American Society of International Law. From what I can work out L.L.M. means something like Master of Laws. He died in Washington D.C and his remains were brought to Reidsville, North Carolina, where he was buried at the Greenview Cemetery.

He was a member of the Episcopal Church and ‘lived the golden rule everyday’. His wife Helen Milverton nee Johnson died in April 1972 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her parents were David Woodson Johnson and Lillie Rose Rominger, both of North Carolina. Helen was born in 1898 in Rockingham County, North Carolina.

The sources I have used were

Ancestry.com,

Palmerston North Archives, New Zealand,

LDS film Full transcript from film 1754840, v. 7076-7077 Apr 17 1922 - passenger lists Venezuela April 17 1922,

Free BDM

Naturalisation record located Salt lake city, Utah in March 1898 324 Dist Court

Rebuilding a city after a natural disaster. The story of Napier

Art Deco building Napier

The flooding disaster in the city of Brisbane brings to mind, the devastation of the earthquake in Napier in February 1931. The coastal city of Napier located on New Zealand’s North Island was rocked by an earthquake.  The earthquake measuring 7.8, flattened most of the city and what was not destroyed by the earthquake was actually burnt to the ground by fires. The fire department was unable to put the fires out as the water lines had been cut. The only communication with the outside world was from HMS Veronica. She sent signals for help and two Navy ships the Dunedin and Diomede both located in Auckland responded. The crew of The Veronica sent personnel ashore to help after the earthquake.

The earthquake occurred during the depression, when there was not much work and unemployment was high. The Market Reserve building was the first building in the earthquake ravaged city to rise. Riveting, not wielding was used on its steel frame.  The reason was to create as much noise as possible as a message of hope to Napier. Rebuilding the city took two years making Napier one of the newest cities of that time. Unheard of at the time the power and telephone lines were all placed underground.

The town of Napier is well known for its architecture, known as Art Deco. Many of the buildings are heritage listed and there are tours by a local group to show the visitor the different styles. Only 140 of the 164 buildings remain that were built between 1920 and 1940. 

The rebuilding in Napier during the 1930's proves that after a major disaster, a city can rebuild itself. Napier was not the only city in the area to hit by the earthquake as Hastings was as well. February 2011, commemorates the 80^th anniversary for the earthquake in Napier.

Art Deco Napier 

Napier Earthquake 

Historic earthquakes New Zealand 

Lord Of The Rings Tours New Zealand

Lord of the rings was filmed in various locations in New Zealand. Locations used were on both the North and South Island. The places like the Hobbit village in Matamata near Rotorua, where you can visit on a guided tour. The tour is actually on private property as it’s a working farm. Wellington has various tours for the movie where many of the scenes were shot like the battle of Helms Deep.

The tours in New Zealand I went on started with the Rovers tour in Wellington that took you to locations within the city and outside. They take you past the company that Peter Jackson used to make the special effects for the movies. Weta now has its own shop where you can buy busts and figurines from the movies and has a display of the various things they have had in movies like The Frighteners and Black Sheep. Locations like Rivendell is actually a national park that has signage pointing you to the places filmed. The set for Helms Deep was actually a quarry.

The tour of the Hobbit Village is a guided tour that is on a farm. The movie and most likely the film the Hobbit will actually be filmed here. The location of the farm is actually on a road called Bagsend and wasn’t named because of the movie. The hobbit houses are visible and the only one you are able to enter is Bag End, Bilbo’s house although when they enter the house in the movie it is on the movie set and not the location. People have been known to turn up in full Lord of the rings costumes and spend their time dancing around the party tree

The south island tour I went on was outside Christchurch called the Edoras tour that takes you out to where Edoras is located and the great hall was actually built. There is nothing to see now as everything was taken down and returned back to where the location was originally before the set being built. This was a condition from the owners. There is a survey marker on Mt Sunday although if you look closely there are still nails embedded in rocks to show that something was left over from the movie. One funny thing that was notices was how close to Helms Deep Edoras actually was since they used the same set for shots as well.

In New Zealand there are plenty of tours to go on that will show not just the locations for the movies, but other scenic delights. Queenstown has a tour for the movies although I never got to go on that one although that would be a tour for next time. The tours are very informative and the guides are nice. Just don’t tell the Edoras guys that they forgot to charge me for my trip while in Christchurch.

Edoras Tour 

Hobbiton tours

Mt Sunday

Helms Deep

Supermarket layout and price tickets

Supermarket layout and tickets

Supermarkets usually follow the same design principles as others worldwide. At the front of the store is where the Fresh produce and bakery lines are stored. The bakery lines to clarify are the breads and other lines, not where the flour is kept. The next places are usually the meat department and Deli department. These are usually all located near the front of the shop where the customer walks in. The next area is the Grocery department where all the dry goods are kept like tinned food, baking needs and pet food.  The far side of the shop and the very back is where the cold section, where the frozen foods are along with the milk. Usually there are signs above the aisles informing people to what is stored the section.

How to read price tickets

The price tickets are placed on the same shelf for the product to be purchased.  Depending on what is on sale that week the price may change, but pay careful attention to what the name of the product on the ticket as some things can be placed in the wrong place. Some supermarkets have buy 3 of a certain product for a certain price. If there are two different brands that are the same price they cannot then be mixed and matched. When something is unavailable some stores will have a ticket that will tell you the product is unavailable for some reason, such as warehouse shortage. If that product was available then it would be on the shelf.

Wrong museum, Right museum. The hunt for the dinosaurs

In June 2010 on my last day in London, I wanted to visit the museum with the dinosaurs before heading to the airport. The problem was I thought the museum I was after was the British museum so off I went. The museum had only been open for around half an hour when I walked in and bought a map to find the way to go. The first clue that should have told me something was the fact the map never said there were dinosaurs, but I did want to see the Rosetta stone. After around and hour of wandering around the Egypt room with all the Egyptian stuff they had displayed along with a mummy or two, I looked at my guide and found that I was in fact in the wrong museum. The museum I should have gone to was the natural history museum. Obsessing whether I should go there or make my way to the airport, I just could not get the museum out of my head so I had to visit. 

There was a line waiting to get into the Natural History Museum, where they were doing bag checks before you went in. After my bag was checked I headed straight for the crowd who were in the dinosaur exhibit. I did stop and look at the dinosaur in the main foyer before I vanished. The dinosaurs were what I expected and this quieted my mind. A quick walk through was all I could manage before heading to the airport but I vowed that next time I would visit both museums for longer and I never did find the Rosetta Stone although I was in a hurry.

The British museum 

The natural history museum - dinosaurs 

The British Museum