The mysterious life of Eileen Dudson AKA Sister Sylvia

Updated blog 3/04/2017

While doing a research assignment in 2015 on following probate records within the family tree for university, I came across some interesting information within one of the probate records. The aim of the exercise was to research one main probate record and follow what the other family members received including research into their own lives. The research assignment I would later publish as a blog since it involves my family tree. I came across the name of Sister Sylvia, daughter of Elizabeth Dudson. Elizabeth had left money to the Abbotsford Children’s House in Waipawa and the Roman Catholic Church’s orphanages in New Zealand when she died in 1956. I had wondered if I could even trace the life of this Sister Sylvia, also known as Eileen Dudson. It made me wonder if the person would be a total mystery that I could never really solve unless I got in touch with the relevant authorities. I didn’t have much information to go on other than through the probate packet. I do not know how to trace someone through a religious order.

Feeling compelled several years later to see what I can find on Eileen or Sister Sylvia, although I did not think I would have any hope in finding much information. On a whim, I decided to search the electoral rolls through Ancestry to see what could be found. Searching for Sister Sylvia had come up with nothing. The search results came up with several Eileen’s with only one from 1981 in Auckland. I Googled the address, which was 56 Selwyn Avenue, Tamaki to see where in the city, I would end up. The results told me I had the correct person as the address was the Mary Mackillop care rest home run by the Sisters of St Joseph Of the Sacred Heart. I also found she died in 1984 at the age of 80 years, so the next step would be to order the death certificate.

Delving deeper into the electoral roll, I managed to have traced Eileen through the South Island and parts of the North Island in New Zealand. I did actually back track to see if I could find her in Australia even though I did so out of curiosity. Eileen was in Australia between 1930 and 1934 at the St. Joseph’s Convent in Wyong located in New South Wales working as a teacher. St. Joseph’s convent was linked to her name within nearly every location she was located on throughout the electoral rolls and was the biggest clue I had the correct person. She arrived back in New Zealand around 1935, where she appeared in Temuka in the Canterbury region of the South Island listed as being employed by a convent and was a spinster. Between 1935 and 1981, she travelled around several different locations in New Zealand that I will include below. A record I found on Papers Past website suggests she attended university, but I cannot confirm if this is the correct person. Looking up locations like Whangarei and Bay of Plenty tells me there were convent schools in the area that are now catholic schools within the search results.

Last day of school was 16 December 1908 at Maketu near Tauranga

1930 – Wyong, St. Joseph’s Convent, Teacher

1934 - Wyong, St. Joseph’s Convent, Teacher

1935 - Temuka, Canterbury, South Island – convent, spinster

1946 – Marsden (Whangarei), Northland – St. Josephs Convent

1954 – Matata Bay of Plenty – Convent

1963 -    Matata – St. Josephs Convent, teacher

1969 – Mission Bay area, Auckland. Teacher                                       

1972 – Mission Bay area, Auckland, retired

1978, Mission Bay area within retirement home at Mary Mackillop care.

1981 - Mission Bay area within retirement home at Mary Mackillop care.

The death certificate confirms the information; I already had especially listing her parents. The name on her certificate is Ellen instead of Eileen and for a period of 7 years she suffered from senile Dementia. Before the certificate had arrived, I had wondered where she had been buried in Auckland. I soon found where she was in fact buried through the certificate. She was buried in St Patricks Churchyard in Panmure. The location is pretty significant especially since the location is within walking distance from the NZSG (New Zealand Society of Genealogists) research centre. One place I had visited on several occasions, while I have been in Auckland. I had not realised, I had been close who where a cousin was buried. The website below offers more information on the order of the Sacred Heart and I should contact them in the near future to see what they have if anything on Eileen who is my 2^nd cousin 4x removed. The Sister Sylvia part also has my interest. There is always more to the story and more to find.

Links / sources

New Zealand electoral roll

Birth Deaths and Marriages New Zealand

https://www.govt.nz/organisations/births-deaths-and-marriages/

Probate of Elizabeth Brett Dudson 1956

New Zealand School registers through NZSG

Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, Mary Mackillop Care

http://www.sosj.org.au/what-we-are-doing/index.cfm?loadref=88

Researching the death of Joseph Milverton

http://tangaroa81.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/researching-death-of-joseph-milverton.html

Researching divorce records in New Zealand: - Norris and Rona Gabolinscy

There are many different types of records people can come across in the journey of tracing their family tree. Some people are only interested in just doing the names and dates, while other people want more information about the individuals such as what they did in their lives especially through Marriage and death. There are areas in-between where people become separated for various reasons either through death or even when they divorce. Divorce papers are an excellent resource to use as it fills in the gaps and provides you with valuable information about individuals that are involved. I will point out the interesting aspects to the papers. I would not call this a skeleton or a scandal of any sort unless you were caught in the loop within the time period. Divorce in New Zealand was first introduced into legislation in 1867, England and Wales had been in 1857 with the Australian states following. The last state, New South Wales only introduced legislation in 1873. There are many changes to legislation between 1867 and the 1950s so I would not list them. A thesis explaining the changes is attached as a source, which would be interesting reading.

Dissolving a marriage or civil union is the legal terminology for divorce. Every country has a different way of conducting a divorce and there has been opposition towards it. In New Zealand divorce became common place late within the 19^th Century. For New Zealand the most common reason for divorce was desertion, which apparently occurred in New Zealand more often than other countries.

Several years ago while in the New Zealand National Archives, I came across the divorce records for Norris Trevor Douglas Gabolinscy to his wife Rona Esma Ellen Gabolinscy. It was an accidental find and I am still surprised that I was able to get access to the records as I have seen similar records in regards to my Grandparents Peggy Williams and Ronald Gabolinscy ( I only met Ron once at my uncle’s wedding, but I was told to keep away due to his past) as I cannot access the records for around 100 years unless I am the one where the records name.

The divorce was filed for in September 1948 when both Rona and Norris had been married since 1944 with three children. The divorce itself is actually interesting as it had been pushed forward by Rona Gabolinscy herself after finding Norris had been unfaithful. He had committed adultery with a woman who would become his second wife, Ruth Oliver. I had always been under the impression that it had to be the man to begin the divorce proceedings during this time period, but it is not to be.

Some interesting information within this divorce that I don’t know if it is common as it:

Lists the reason for the divorce, which was adultery

The children involved with their birthdates, which are 

·        1. Gordon Trevor Douglas Gabolinscy born 8^th September 1943

·         2. John Robert Hartley Gabolinscy born 18^th August 1944

·         3. Kay Francis Gabolinscy born 27^th September 1945

Letter to Norris Gabolinscy alerting him to the dissolution of Marriage

Marriage certificate of Norris and Rona in 1944

Letters to Ruth Oliver of Mairangi Bay

Correspondence to say the people had received and signed the letters

The letters would have helped as Norris and Ruth were living together at the time.

The marriage was dissolved on the 7^th of March 1949 and that one of the children, John Robert Hartley Gabolinscy who had been kept by Rona herself was to be paid one pound per week for maintenance and support until John was 16 years old. The other two children Gordon Trevor Douglas and Kay Francis Gabolinscy had been placed into adoption under Part III of the Infants Act 1908. The only real information I have on the two siblings is they ended up with other family members within the Gabolinscy family. It would be interesting to see what records there are for them being transferred to an uncle and aunt.

It is interesting that not long after the finality of the divorce between Norris and Rona that there was another marriage. On the 9^th of March 1949 within the Auckland Registry office, Norris Gabolinscy and Ruth Oliver married. Rona actually remarried in the same year, but I do not have the marriage certificate as of yet to see when the date was. She married Clive Neely McNaughton in 1949, although in 1948 / 1949 Clive was in the process of divorcing his own wife, Thelma Ada according to the National Archives of New Zealand. This adds to the story and would be an interesting development to see what happened there. Stories like this would make the family tree a very complex issue.

Links / sources

Te Ara – Divorce and separation

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/divorce-and-separation/page-1

Divorce record between Rona and Norris Gabolinscy

Gabolinscy, Rona Esma Ellen v Gabolinscy, Norris Trevor Douglas (R22643011)

Infants Act 1908, No. 86

http://www.enzs.auckland.ac.nz/docs/1908/1908C086.pdf

Thesis: Unloosening the Marriage bond Divorce in New Zealand

http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10063/1768/thesis.pdf?sequence=2