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 2nd
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
Probate of Elizabeth Brett Dudson 1956
New Zealand School registers through NZSG
Sisters of Saint
Joseph of the Sacred Heart, Mary Mackillop Care
Researching the death
of Joseph Milverton
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