Calling all Rydzewski descendants

August and Rosalia (nee SLIWINSKA) RYDZEWSKI emigrated from Poland to New Zealand on board the ‘Palmerston’ with their four children; Johann, Marianna, Francisca and Paulina. They arrived at Port Chalmers in December 1872 and the family eventually settled in Gore, Southland.

We invite all descendants of this family to attend the

rydzewski family reunion 

to be held in Gore, Southland, New Zealand

at Labour Weekend (25^th - 27^th October 2019)

If you are descended from any of these families listed below please get in touch as we would love to place you on the family tree and for you to join us at the reunion.

Johann (John) Franz RYDZEWSKI m. Josephine SCHIPANSKE

• Agnes Elizabeth RYDZEWSKA (REJESKI) m. Frank SHIRLEY
• James August RYDZEWSKI (REJESKI)
• Clara Barbara RYDZEWSKA (REGEFSKY) m. Patrick James DARCY
• Ellen Frances RYDZEWSKA (REGEFSKY) m. Frederick FOSTER
• John Francis RYDZEWSKI (REJESKI)
• Joseph RYDZEWSKI (REGEFSKY)
• Josephine RYDZEWSKA (REGEFSKY) m. Jack ANDERSON
• Frances Vistoria RYDZEWSKA (REGEFSKY) m. Francis Hilary SHEPHERD

Marianna (Mary) Rosalia RYDZEWSKA m. Johann (John) SCHULTZ

• Francis Joseph SCHULTZ m. Mary Ann YOUNG & Annie Elizabeth HUGHES
• John August SCHULTZ
• Martha Elizabeth SCHULTZ
• Joseph James SCHULTZ m. Marcella O’KANE
• James Paul SCHULTZ m. Mary Elizabeth WALLIS
• Alexander Andrew SCHULTZ
• Thomas Andrew SCHULTZ m. Alice Anna SAVAGE

Francisca Paulina RYDZEWSKA m William ROBERTSON

• Barbara ROBERTSON m. Timothy John RYAN
• Mary Jane ROBERTSON m. James Ernest NEWLANDS & Owen Gladstone SWAN
• William August ROBERTSON m. Myra Beryl SHANKS & Doris Isabel WAIN

Paulina Anna RYDZEWSKA m. Thomas Reginald JOHNSTON

• Wallace Reginald JOHNSTON m. Amelia Agnes EDWARDS
• Frances Ada JOHNSTON m. John Thomas FLETT
• Ivy Rosalind JOHNSTON m. Frederick Payson DAWSON
• Thomas Henry JOHNSTON
• Violet Hilda JOHNSTON m. John Aitchison BLACK
• Robert William JOHNSTON

Please share the information about the reunion around as many known family members as possible as we do not have contact details for every branch. We would love to hear from as many descendants as possible and hope that you will all join us in October as we reconnect this family 147 years after their first arrival in New Zealand. 

For any queries or for further information about the reunion please contact Maria by email at:   rydzewski.family.nz@gmail.com 

Looking back: New beginnings in Gore

I recently acquired these two very old photos. The first time I glanced at them I had no idea of where they were taken or who was in them. But the more I looked at them the more familiar they seemed to me until one day the penny dropped; they were taken in the town that I am so familiar with, the town that is a part of me and where I feel most at home. 

These photos were taken in the town of Gore, and this building is in fact the beginnings of the large department store called H & J Smith’s that still today stands proudly on the Main Street.

My eyesight is no longer the best so I scanned these photos at very high resolution to see if I could bring up some of the faces to see if there was anyone familiar amongst them. And when I brought them up on my computer screen, there looking back at me was my maternal great grandfather, James (Jim) Paul SCHULTZ.

James Paul SCHULTZ
(1887 - 1973)

Jim was born in East Gore in 1887 to Polish immigrant parents, and he was a painter and paperhanger in Gore his whole working life. These are the very first photos I had seen of Jim at work, in his white painting clothes. Looking at these two photos I can only but guess that all the men in white are painters and the others probably builders or labourers. The front windows of the shop appear to be covered in white paint so obviously the shop is still in the process of being built and is not yet open.

James (Jim) SCHULTZ looking from one of the
upstairs windows that overlook Irk Street in Gore.

At this point in time I do not have an exact date for these photos. I know that in the past few years there has been a book written on the history of the H & J Smith department stores in Southland so I may have to find a copy to see when the Gore store was built. At the same time as I acquired these two photos I also acquired another photo of Jim, who appears about the same age and also taken at work painting another brand new, not quite completed local building. This other building has the date 1909 proudly across the top of the door way so I can only assume that the H & J Smith buildings were completed around that time also.

Regardless of the exact date, these wonderful old photos are still probably 100 or more years old. And the fact that I can now see my great grandfather Jim, hard at work decorating this lovely old building that still stands magnificently today in our beautiful town, makes me very proud indeed.

Obviously extended over the years and now somewhat larger, the H & J Smith's
building on the corner of Main and Irk Streets in Gore.       (Photo taken in 2012)

Faces from the past: My great uncle Alex

Alexander Andrew SCHULTZ,
date unknown but possibly taken during
or immediately after World War 1

I have just recently acquired boxes and boxes of old family photos, which as a keen amateur genealogist is something I am really very excited about. In time I want to share them with as many family members as possible, so as a starting point I thought I would share some on my blog.

Amongst the photos were these three which have been identified as being of my 2x great uncle, Alexander Andrew SCHULTZ. 

Alex was of one of the younger brothers of my maternal great grandfather and was born on the 28th of February 1890 in Gordon (East Gore), New Zealand. He was the eighth child of nine born to Marianna (nee RYDZEWSKA) and Johann SCHULTZ, Polish immigrants who arrived in New Zealand in 1872.

As a member of the Wanganui
Garrison Band, NZ Champions 1937

I don’t know a lot about Alex as yet but like my great grandfather Jim (who was one of his older brothers), he was a painter and paperhanger by trade. He was educated in Gore and spent some of his adult life living and working there before moving away to live in Wanganui, where he died in 1963, aged 72 years. 

As far as I am aware Alex never married nor had any children. His main interest in life was playing the trombone and he was a member of many different bands throughout his lifetime. He enjoyed playing in band competitions and regularly travelled throughout New Zealand to compete.

In the future I hope to find out a lot more about Alex and the rest of his siblings, especially to see what life was like for them during the period of the first world war. Carrying a surname that was often thought of as being German may have been problematic for them so I would love to find out more about this time in their lives.

Happy 100th birthday Grandad

Today, the 24th of November 2014, marks what would have been the 100th birthday of my maternal grandfather, John Francis (Jack) EGAN.

Jack was born at Otautau in Western Southland, the eldest child of Hanora (nee COSGRIFF) and James EGAN, farmers from nearby Wrey’s Bush. He had two younger sisters, Molly and Kathleen, and a younger brother James. Jack’s mother died when he was only four years old and his childhood after that was quite unsettled, being brought up by his elderly grandmother and his father. After his mother’s death his younger siblings were taken away to be raised by others so Jack very rarely saw them. 

St Kevin's College Dux 1933

After his grandmother's death in 1926, and with his father becoming blind after a failed operation, at the age of 12 Jack was sent away to boarding school at St Kevin’s College in Oamaru. Here he excelled academically and also on the sporting field, showing talent in many different sports including cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics and shooting. He became Dux of the college in 1933.

While a pupil at St Kevin’s College he captained the 1st XV rugby team and also the 1st XI cricket team. He eventually went on to play provincial rugby at fullback for both Southland and then Otago, captaining the Otago rugby team during the late 1930’s. He captained the South Island Varsity rugby team, then the NZ Varsity team, as well as captaining the Otago cricket team.

Otago rugby captain 1937

Jack attended Otago University and then Teachers Training College. After an initial teaching post to the Hawkes Bay he returned south and spent the rest of his life either teaching or as headmaster in primary schools throughout Otago and Southland, including at Nightcaps, Kaiwera, Wendon, Hokonui, Balclutha and Mataura. 

Jack married in December 1944 to Mary Dorothy (Doris) SCHULTZ. They had a very happy marriage and went on to have a family of four children; Maureen, Dorothy, Paul and Brian.

Lieut. J.F.EGAN
NZ Army 1939 - 1945

Jack came from a long line of hard-working Irish immigrant families and he had a very strong work ethic, a trait which he tried to pass on to both his children and his pupils. He enjoyed giving back to the communities in which he lived and often organised the production of stage shows and musicals, coached sports teams, served on numerous committees and even spent some time as an elected member of the Mataura Borough Council.

My grandfather John Francis (Jack) Egan died on the 20th of October 1977, while still serving as the headmaster of the Mataura Primary School. He was aged only 63 years old. I was only six years old at the time and have only a few vivid memories of him. But from what I can remember of him as both my grandfather and also as the headmaster of the school I attended, he was a kind man who was firm but fair. Right throughout his career as a teacher, and then later as a headmaster, he very quickly gained the admiration and respect of his fellow teachers, his pupils and the whole community. 

Doris & Jack EGAN, about 1975

I would love to have had my grandfather in my life for a longer period of time as I was growing up. From what I have been told he had a great knowledge of our family history that unfortunately was never written down to be passed on. I think that him and I would have gotten on so well together and I can even picture in my mind conversations that I would love to have had with him that sadly never got to take place. 

I would love for him to still be around today to see his grandson Brendan (only 2 years old when he died) carving out his own career as a school teacher and now head of Religious Education at the Catholic secondary school that he himself worked so hard to help fundraise to build. Jack had dreams of his own children being able to be educated at St Peter’s College in Gore, but the building work was delayed and it wasn’t opened in time for any of them to attend. But after his death six of his grandchildren, including myself, did get to be educated there, and in more recent times two of his great grandchildren (my own two children) have also attended this great school. 

Brendan and Bridget, Aug 2014.
Wouldn't Jack have been so proud of these two !!!

Besides rugby and his family, two of Jack’s other great loves in life were drama and debating. I would love for him to have seen my daughter Bridget (his great granddaughter) scoop the senior debating awards at a recent Catholic secondary school debating competition, with his grandson Brendan also as the debating team coach. And at the same event another Egan family member (the great granddaughter of his cousin) won the junior debating awards. I bet Jack would have been just so proud if he had been there.

Another fullback in the family

And I bet he would have loved to have had the chance to stand on the sidelines and watch my son Mark (his great grandson) playing his favourite sport of rugby in the very same fullback position that he once played in, slotting the ball between the uprights from way out wide by the sideline, just as he did all those decades ago.

I believe it is such a shame that younger generations aren't able to get to know and love those from the older generations, since they often have so much in common but never have the chance to actually meet. But that's just the way life works; - people live and then they die but their genes still live on. My kids may not realise it, but I firmly believe that they have a lot of their great grandfather in them and that his legacy lives on through them and all of their cousins.

I know my grandfather Jack will still be keeping an eye on us all from Heaven, and I hope he is proud of how his family has grown and what they have all achieved. He was a hard working man who gave back to the community as much as he could. I believe he has every right to be proud of his family as it was him who instilled in us all the ethic to work hard to achieve well in this life, the willingness to help out and to give back to others, and the desire to do our best at all times. 

Happy 100th birthday Grandad. I think of you often and really wish I could have spent more years with you and had the chance to have known you better !!!

______________________________

( For the full story of the early years of the marriage of Jack’s parents and the subsequent splitting up of the family please follow this link. )

Faces from the past: My great, great grandmother, Marianna Rydzewska

Marianna (nee Rydzewska) SCHULTZ

This beautiful photo used to hang high on the wall in the front bedroom at my great grandparents home in Stratford Street in Gore. This is the face of my maternal great, great grandmother, Marianna Rosalia RYDZEWSKA. She was born in Muhlbanz, West Prussia (now part of Poland) on the 19th of August 1859, the second daughter of August Valentin RYDZEWSKI and his wife Rosalia Marianna SLIWINSKA.

In July 1872 Marianna (age 13), her parents and her siblings Johann, Francisca and Paulina left their homeland behind and sailed from Hamburg, Germany on board the sailing ship ‘Palmerston’,  disembarking at Port Chalmers, New Zealand on Christmas Eve 1872. During the voyage Marianna met a very handsome young gentleman by the name of Johann Valentin SCHULTZ (age 25), and he became her husband three years later. They were married in the Catholic basilica in Invercargill, New Zealand on the 24th of November 1875.

Like many of the other Polish immigrants, after arriving in New Zealand Marianna and Johann anglicised their names to become Mary REGEFSKY and John SCHULTZ. After their marriage John and Mary went on to have a family of nine children, two of whom died as babies; Frank (b.1877), John (b.1879), Martha (b.1881), Joseph (b.1882), Thomas (b.1884), Adam (b.1886), James (b.1887 - my great grandfather), Alexander (b.1890), and Thomas (b.1893). 

Many of the Polish immigrants that settled in southern New Zealand lived in the area of East Gore then known as Germantown, with many of them working on the development of the railway. In time some of them were able to purchase land and John SCHULTZ purchased 200 acres at Croydon Bush, west of Gore. Life was tough for immigrant families trying hard to settle in a new country where they often struggled to be understood, but John and Mary worked hard to develop their land and raise their young family. 

But after several very poor years on the farm, and heavily in debt, John found himself in trouble and had to sell his land. The farm was auctioned off and he had to find other ways to feed his growing family. He spent time working on the maintenance of local roads, and also made some extra money shooting rabbits. However, his debt was too much for him and he was eventually declared as bankrupt in July 1887. 

From the "Mataura Ensign"
17 April 1894

From the "Mataura Ensign"
20 April 1894

In 1893 John fell seriously ill with tuberculosis and then contracted pneumonia and could no longer work to support his family. He died on the 2nd of November 1893, aged just 47. Mary was 34 years old and seven months pregnant at the time, and was left a widow with seven young children to raise on her own. Her parents and her brother and two sisters were all living locally, so they would have been available to give her some support and help. 

But it must have been a very tough time for Mary as six months after John’s death I found an interesting report in the newspaper of a concert being held to benefit Mary and her young children. There were mixed reviews of the actual concert but in total it raised over £18 for her, which was a fair amount of money way back in 1894. They must have been a well-liked family for the town to do this for them.

Although Mary never fully came to grips with the English language and struggled with it throughout much of her life, she became a naturalised New Zealander in May 1926. My late nana (Doris, nee SCHULTZ) told me that as a child she would go to the home of Mary (her grandmother) each day after school and do chores for her. At times she struggled to understand her grandmother but remembered her fondly and said she was always very, very kind to her. 

Mary died aged 72 on the 22nd of January 1932 after a long battle with cancer of the liver. She was buried with John and their two young sons, Thomas and Adam, in the Gore Cemetery.

I have nothing but admiration for Mary and would love to have been around 100 years ago so I could have known her. To me she seems like a very strong woman, and I guess she would have had to have been to put the bad times behind her and carry on and raise her seven children on her own. To do it in this day and age would be difficult, but to do it 125 years ago would be extremely hard, especially too as she struggled so much with the language in her new homeland. I am very, very proud to be descended from Mary, such a beautiful, kind and strong Polish woman.

Happy Fathers Day !!!

I am unsure about the rest of the world, but today in New Zealand it is Father's Day, a day we celebrate and remember, and also thank our fathers for all they have done for us. My own father died when I was seven so I have no real recollection of spending a Father's Day with him, but I’m sure he has spent every Father's Day watching down on us from Heaven. Instead, my childhood memories of Father's Day lie solely around my paternal grandfather, Robert ENGLISH. He lived in the house right beside us and was probably the main father figure I had in my life. So my childhood Father's Days always meant a visit next door to see my grandad and my mother always baked him a sultana cake which was one of his absolute favourites.

Today I would like to celebrate and remember all the fathers on every branch of my family tree. Without them our tree would simply stop growing. An extra big thank you must go to all those fathers whose genes make me the person that I am today and whose blood still runs through my veins. These remarkable men; my own father, my two grandfathers and my many great grandfathers further back, have all helped me to become the person that I am and to them I owe a very big thank you. Each and every one of those whose photos appear below makes up a special part of me, and although there is only four of them that I actually ever met, the rest have all had an influence in some way or another in my genetic makeup.

So a very happy Father's Day to those below, and to all of my other great grandfathers further back on my tree. 

But today’s most special happy Father's Day wish must go to the most important father in my life today; - the fantastic father of my children, my husband Ross. For eighteen years now he has always been the kindest, most patient and loving father to our children. Thank you Ross for giving me two absolutely beautiful children and thank you for being the best husband and father that anyone could ever wish for. You are one in a million and Bridget, Mark and I love you so much   :-)

Family Treasures: - Uncle Willie's violin

This beautiful violin is one of my favourite old family treasures. It once belonged to my great, great uncle, William WALLIS, but has been in my possession now for about 35 years.

William WALLIS

William Stewart WALLIS was born in Riverton, New Zealand in October 1884. He was the eldest of five brothers of my maternal great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth SCHULTZ (nee WALLIS). William, or Uncle Willie as he was known to the family, never married and spent most of his life living with my great grandmother and her family. Like two of his younger brothers, Uncle Willie spent some of his life as a racehorse trainer, and also worked as a labourer. From what I have been told he was a very, very lovely, quiet man who worked hard and loved spending time with his horses and also his nieces and nephews. He died after a short illness in October 1968 at the age of 83 and is buried in the Gore cemetery.

William WALLIS  (1884 - 1968)

I have no idea when or where Uncle Willie got his violin from, all I know is that he could play it beautifully. I never heard him play it as he died before I was born, but I was very fortunate to be given the violin by my great grandmother when I began to take violin lessons at the age of eight or nine. I took lessons for about seven years but you would never really say I was that good at it. Sure, I read the sheet music and played the tunes that were put in front of me, but I never really mastered it and never learnt to play by ear like so many of the wonderful old family violinists did. To listen to someone who can play like that is just beautiful. I doubt that you could ever call my violin playing “beautiful”, probably quite the opposite, but I tried and I have been left this beautiful violin as a legacy of that effort. Maybe I should have stuck at it for a bit longer. Maybe someday I might pick it up again and start to play again. Maybe ……. !!!

I was told by my late nana that my great aunt Nora SCHULTZ (Uncle Willie's niece who also lived in the same household) played the violin too, so perhaps this is the violin that she played also.

I have no idea of the value of this violin but to me it’s value is immeasurable. It belonged to my great, great uncle Willie and that alone makes it valuable beyond measure. It has writing inside it that says “Antonius Stradiuarius, Cremonenlis, Facebat Anno 17..  Made in Germany”. A quick search for this name on the internet reveals that this violin is one of the many fake Stradivarius violins that were made in the early 19th century. It is probably well over 150 years old, maybe even 200 years old, but it is definitely not a genuine Stradivarius. But that’s quite alright. I will love it and treasure it for what it is and for whose it was, and that’s enough for me. My only wish is that I had been around to have heard my great, great uncle Willie play a tune for me.