Research conundrum into Kells and Tonks families

 

 

There are times when I find there is quite a bit of information when researching family members especially when you do the Alice in Wonderland thing and fall down the rabbit hole. Looking into both the Tonks and Kells families might not mean very much until you realise that they are not just linked to one line of the family, but there is much more to the story.

 

I have come up with two dilemmas, while I wouldn’t call them bad at all. My thoughts are do I dive into the information that I can access through the National Archives to see where that all leads me as someone might have already written about these people already. One news article from 1944 mentions the Tonks family were one of the three biggest families in the Dominion. That would be quite a lot of information to add to Family Tree Maker.

 

A little about the Tonks family is that William Tonks arrived in New Zealand between 1841 and 1842, where his occupation was Brickmaker. Sources I have came across through Google has him operating a business making bricks, and even a brick well in Wellington near Cuba Street that still survives today. Its on Google Maps as I found. Several of his sons were also linked with the brick making business. The Tonks are early settlers so there would be plenty of information out there already.

 

The links with the Kells family isn’t just John Foster Kells, but also with another brother who married one of William Tonks other daughters. That was Thomas Kells. I know New Zealand would have been a small place back in the 1800s, but I have not looked into the other brothers that were with John Foster and Joseph as of yet, but all seem to be involved with the Militia possibly around the Taranaki area. One of the records I have come across within the Archives is Thomas Kells of the 65^th regt of Foot from 1860 to 1872 in regards to naval and military land claims. I have yet to look up the other two brothers William and Joseph, but I think I have found plenty of information for future research.

 

My thoughts are, should I jump in and see what else I can find especially when I already have a growing list of records I wasn’t to view when I next visit the New Zealand archives or leave all that for another time?

 

 

 

 

Sources

 

Thomas Kells Sergent 65^th regt of Foot, R27457980, New Zealand National Archives

 

EE Tonks Obituary, Evening Post, 14 Sept 1944, p.6,

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19440914.2.55

Researching the Kells of Palmerston North, New Zealand

 

 

Over the last couple of days I decided to jump down the rabbit hole and look at one branch of my family tree to see if the information I had was correct. There is always the possibility I have started following the wrong family line. I tend to use the resources I have and with research in New Zealand I start with the website searches through the New Zealand National Archives and the BDM websites.

 

The Archives I can find people’s wills if they have one and usually link them with the Births Deaths and Marriages. The New Zealand BDM gives you certificate numbers up to certain dates. The wills usually give you the names of family members, and other archive records including if someone contested the will. I have found several so far, but outside of the wills or probate I have to visit the Archives in person. The best part of the BDM search is the results give you the name of the parents, which is helpful.

 

The other sources I use are Ancestry as they have access to more records and even Familysearch, although I always see what I can find in Paperspast through the newspapers to see what other information they have.

 

The family line I have been looking at is a family from Palmerston North as that’s one of the places my main branch had been living. The Milverton family are known in the area and I decided to sort out the information or lack of through the Kells line as they are linked with the Jorgensen family. I hadn’t done much research into the Kells, but I can always see my notes I have written on them and the certificate numbers.

 

The direct line of Kells is the funeral director William Roger Kells, whose father John Foster Kells came to New Zealand and had some involvement in the conflict between the White settlers and Maori known as the New Zealand Wars, but didn’t seem to end up in the Waikato area. John had arrived with his brothers according to a news article and I have not traced them through shipping records. The newspapers say they came from Ireland. John was married in New Zealand in 1852. That was when I realised that was one of the earliest finds I had in New Zealand so far.

 

 I decided to have a look at John’s wife, whose name seems to change. She was Rose Hannah, Roseanna, Rose Anna in several records. Her name before being married was Rose Hannah Tonks. A look on Ancestry gave me the name of the ship and names of her parents, but no record. The familysearch website gave me the name of the ship, her age and the year she arrived in New Zealand. The earliest arrival so far I had come across was the Tonks family arriving in 1841. Rose’s father was listed as a bricklayer and they were a family with young children. I havnt looked into any of that side of the family yet.

 

So far with the Kells family I have found that several were involved with the Salvation Army. One ended up living in Australia and is buried in Brisbane. Others have stayed in the Palmerston North area. I have to look into the records more and see what else I can find especially through the electoral rolls and the Archives, especially the newspapers as they have some good information including gossip. I will be interested to see where the Tonks family end up and what other information I can find.

 

Sources and links

William Roger Kells, past blog

https://tangaroa81.blogspot.com/2020/05/william-roger-kells-undertaker-of.html

 

Births, Deaths and Marriages New Zealand

https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/search

 

Paperspast

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/

 

Archives New Zealand

https://www.archives.govt.nz/

 

Ancestry

www.Ancestry.com.au

A Caricature in Palmerston North Archives

 

Sometimes while researching your family members within Archives, you will come across little hidden gems that an archivist will point out to you. Something I had never considered before until I entered the Palmerston North Archive centre in New Zealand. You never know what you can find in an archive centre especially when you are talking to an archivist, who might come out with something pretty much random.

 

I knew my family member Percival Amos Milverton was a public figure as he was the superintendent of the Palmerston North Fire Brigade around 1935, and had been part of the brigade for many years before that, but I had not realised he would have a caricature of him drawn within a book held by the archives centre. A caricature according to Wikipedia is a drawing to represent a public figure to look either insulting or complimentary.[1] The uses of caricatures range from anything like political cartoons featuring politicians or celebrities as good example.

 

I was shown one book that had been created by Pat Studio around 1934 and the archivist bought the book out to me to view amongst other records of interest. There are a few other people within the Palmerston North area that had pictures created of them. I would call this another source of information that can be used for family history research. Within the book some of the names of the people had been written in pencil to identify them

 

 

 

Sources

Studio, Pat Just For Fun: Personalities at Par, Pat Studio, Palmerston North, 1934.

 

Caricature, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caricature, accessed 14/08/2026.

 

Ian Matheson City Archives Palmerston North

https://www.pncc.govt.nz/Services/Ian-Matheson-city-archives

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[1] Caricature, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caricature, accessed 14/08/2026.