Next, I am sharing a post and picture of Ernest James Ireland, my grandmother’s brother.
AtoZChallenge Ernest James Ireland
The photo is from Ronald Jamieson Bell and Nellie Ireland’s wedding photo in 1906. Nellie was my grandmother’s and Ernest’s older sister. His full name was Ernest James Ireland (1885-1957).
As a child, I did not even know my grandmother had a brother and sister.
I have found in WW1 records his military rank was Rifleman in Regiment 24/1398, Company F.
New Zealand has a wonderful set of digitised military documents. They are a great source of information during and even beyond war times. Although WW1 conflict ended in 1918 Ernest’s records contained notification of his death on 4 September 1957 by V E Ireland. Giving me a date and confirming his wife was still alive at the time.
More military archives for New Zealand
There a number of different types of documents held by Archives New Zealand including the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) Personnel Files. These cover all known New Zealanders who served in the First World War. Archives NZ has digitised over 140,000 individual records in the collection. Best of all these digital versions are open to view and download. There are also many other holdings and research guides at Archives NZ that are useful if researching around the time of WW1.
Slowdown when digging in archives
Just because something is handwritten it does not mean it is the original source.
With Ernest’s military records there are a number of pages with similar information. It is possible to tell some are copies from other documents however without knowledge of the process used to create the documents even ones that look like the originals might be actually copied from earlier documents. So be aware as you scan quickly past records without taking a closer look at the record and the ones surrounding it. Here is an example. The brown document looks to be a copy of the off white versions. However, we cannot be sure. Click to see larger images.
View this #GenealogyPhotoADay along with others on Instagram.
Or check out my Family History Year to find out what happened on other dates in my family history.
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A very good point. It would be interesting to transcribe each row from both, one under the other….it’s plainly not a direct copy, and I’d agree the white one is more likely the initial one.
The lazy genealogist transcribe – that would be interesting!
That’s a good point about a document copy. It isn’t always easy to tell. I love to get my ancestors original signatures.
Yes, original signatures are something I like to find. To know that they held the document is a great feeling.