Welcome

For over 10 years now I have been researching and writing about the family. I've collected documents and pictures, written up histories and built family trees, proposed theories and tried to get to the bottom of any anomalies. My aim in all this was to preserve and share the history and heritage of the various families from whom I descend. Many of these were pioneering members of New Zealand's earliest communities - hence the name.

You can learn a lot about yourself by exploring the stories of those who went before - certain traits have a habit of sticking around through the generations and these are often the very traits that made people survivors in the first place. There is nothing like leaving a legacy for the family still to come and that is essentially what this blog is all about - preserving the legacy of those whose courage, tenacity, determination and strength have made my life possible.

In the past I had a website and wrote up the histories in newsletter format for distribution to a mailing list of family members. It was a cumbersome way of doing things, lots to keep track of and the files to continually update. This is a much better way to share and folk can comment and correct as they see fit. Essentially all the same information will be uploaded here, along with copies of documents, photos and family trees. As in the past the privacy of those still living will be maintained and the only information shared will be that already in the public domain, or provided with permission from the owner.

There are five major families whose stories will be told herein - the Stevens, Lidiard, Eveleigh, Croot and Day families and along the way a tale or two of those others whose lives have become entwined over time.

Feel free to comment, raise questions or challenge anything I write here - after all it is Our NZ Heritage.