Kinship Genealogy Co.

17/11/2025

10/11/2025

I am heading to RootsTech 2026 in Salt Lake City!! RootsTech is the world's largest family history conference, held March 5–7, 2026. It's a once in a lifetime experience for me.

Any other Kiwi genies going? I can't wait to meet my lovely FamilyWise boss in person and catch up with any APG mates or colleagues while I'm there. Let me know if you are going!

07/11/2025

As a sixteen-year-old I received the book For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) from my paternal grandmother, who always encouraged my love of reading. It is about an aristocrat who, falsely accused, is transported to Van Diemen’s Land, suffering extreme cruelty and violence at the hands of his jailers and fellow convicts. It greatly affected me. Little did I know at the time we had our own convict amongst our relatives! Read my latest blogpost to find out more...

https://tinyurl.com/3rc4up72

07/11/2025

Ok - so it's been an age since I blogged, but honestly, it takes me weeks to construct a story I'm happy with - and I've
been busy, but that's another story 😁😂.

My latest post features an ancestor of mine who I had not researched much as he is a peripheral character. I revisited him lately and - wow - his story was just so fascinating. I hope you enjoy it.

𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭: For the Term of his Natural Life: Henry Bush 1797-1850

As a sixteen-year-old I received the book 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘳𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘓𝘪𝘧𝘦 (1874) from my paternal grandmother, who always encouraged my love of reading. It is about an aristocrat who, falsely accused, is transported to Van Diemen’s Land, suffering extreme cruelty and violence at the hands of his jailers and fellow convicts. It greatly affected me. Little did I know at the time we had our own convict amongst our relatives!...

As a sixteen-year-old I received the book For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) from my paternal grandmother, who always encouraged my love of reading. It is about an aristocrat who, falsely accu…

02/09/2025

Exciting news! New name - same commitment to professional genealogy research and analysis 🧬🔎📝.

You may be wondering why the name change. It's a few reasons. Most importantly, I believe 'kinship' clearly states what I do: 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. Kinship relates not only to factual lineage, but also emphasizes belonging and identity. As a specialist in DNA and probate research, this name resonates strongly with those clients while still encompassing heritage storytelling.

Although my company name, website and e-mail address are different, everything else remains the same. It's still me.

31/08/2025

FamilySearch's full-text tool is now out of Beta and available from the home screen. This tool is a game-changer for many research projects, retrieving documents that were otherwise hidden away in the FamilySearch library, unindexed.

https://youtu.be/gdmlR3BRUi4?si=3zgb3wqmVkWIspVN

https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/full-text/

It's not often that a new tool comes along that could be a game-changer for genealogists! Full-text search, a new feature from FamilySearch, uses artificial ...

03/08/2025

🏔❤️ I have just spent a week in my fav place while I did an course offered by IGHR (DNA as Genealogical Evidence: Advanced Case Studies). It was in Eastern Time so much easier for me to be here, away from family, so I didn't disturb them. I have discovered that I am a education ju**ie! There's always another course or class that I want to do...

04/07/2025

Dr George Frederick Bush earned a place in history by being one of Nelson's early doctors - and surgeon superintendent of the Lloyds, a ship voyage to NZ that featured unimaginable tragedy, with the death of 65 children. He was also my third great-grandfather.

Bush's family had considerable wealth. Born in Wick and Abson, Gloucester, his father was a maltster and brewer with 12 acres in Marshfield Rd, Wick, on which stood a house with an "entrance hall, 3 parlours, drawing room, 5 bedrooms with garrets", 2 malt houses and stores.

Prior to emigrating, George worked at Bath General Hospital as an apothecary and surgeon. He married his first cousin, Louisa Martin, living at 22 Rivers St in a magnificent (historically listed) Georgian home. He was recruited by the NZ Company for the Lloyds.

The ship sailed from Deptford in Sep 1841 with 75 women passengers and 133 children. George, Louisa and their daughter F***y were in the cabin. Immediately, they struck rough weather with passengers suffering much sickness and diahorrea. Just over a month into the voyage the Lloyds put in at Santiago, where 12 deaths were reported. By the time the ship reached the Cape of Good Hope, 60 had died, including Bush's infant daughter. In addition, Bush reported some of the female passengers were uncontrollable, many visiting the sailors "nightly".

When the ship arrived in Nelson, a board of inquiry found Bush accountable and withheld payment for his services.

He and Louisa had three sons after arrival, one stillborn. She too died in 1848.

In 1849, with two small sons, George married again, to Henrietta Alexander from Edinburgh. Originally hired as a governess, the inevitable happened. George and Henrietta (featured in a previous post) had five children, one of whom, Henrietta Alice Bush, became my second great-grandmother.

George had property in Waimea South and practised in Nelson. He built Bush's windmill in Trafalgar St, of which there is a replica at Founders Park. He died on 5 Dec 1863 and is buried at Hallowell Cemetery, Nelson.

Photo Source: Nelson Provincial Museum, Ref No. C3131. Likely year, c1860. With thanks also to Ian Hay-Campbell.

30/05/2025

The loss of ability to upload raw DNA to MyHeritage will be felt by genealogists who rely on it for the expanded matches it can sometimes provide. An example of the few ruining the benefits for the many 😢🧬

MyHeritage is apparently securing their DNA database in response to the FBI using it in the Idaho murder investigation.