The Horewhenua
library has a searchable catalogue
of historical photographs of the Levin, Foxton and
Shannon areas, including many photographs of teams,
school groups and clubs, with names.
The entire Dictionary
of New Zealand Biography is online. Searchable and
with the full text entries. Not just the famous (or
infamous), but people like George Snelson, the father and
first Mayor of Palmerston North.
Cemetery records for Feilding, Halcombe, Kimbolton,
Pohangina, Rangiwahia, Rongotea, Sandon and Waituna West
can be accessed through the Manawatu District Council cemetery
search site.
Cemetery records including photos and headstone
transcriptions for two Levin cemeteries can be searched
via the library
cemetery database. More Horowhenua cemeteries will be
added.
The records of the two Palmerston North cemeteries,
Kelvin Grove and Terrace End may be searched at the city
council Cemetery
and Cremation database, as can cemeteries at Ashurst
and the Pahiatua district cemetary (strictly speaking in
the Wairarapa province).
Archives New
Zealand have microfilm copies of some early (1815
onwards) Church of England records for the Kapiti (includes
some of Horowhenua) and Manawatu area at their Wellington
Head Office. The accession number is ADFD; MICRO 2792-2794.
Transcriptions of Wise's1875 Directory for Bulls, Marton, Otaki, Feilding/Manchester Block,
regional Manwatu, regional Rangitikei, Palmerston
North, and Foxton are
available. The information differs between areas, in some
you get full names and occupations, in other merely a
list of surnames. As well, some names are repeated in two
areas, for instance in both the Bulls, and the Rangitikei
entries.
"The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : industrial,
descriptive, historical, biographical facts, figures,
illustrations" published in 1908 in six volumes,
each big enough to choke a horse, is full of names,
biographical details and photos. Volume 6 contains the
Manawatu and Horowhenua province's entries.
Madeleine Morton has extracted the names of women
mentioned in the "Cyclopedia etc". This data is
available in the Massey
University library
The 'Helen's
Page of New Zealand History' site has a collection of
transcriptions of names from early lower North Island
sources including directories and rolls. Some I've added
links to in these pages, many more are there to be
explored.
Index of names
that appear in G. C. Petersen's The Pioneering Days
of Palmerston North.
Index of names
that appear in A. G. S. Bradfield's Forgotten Days (a
history of Palmerston North).
The National Library Papers
Past collection has digitised copies of the Foxton-published
Manawatu
Herald (Aug 1878 to 1881, 1889 to 1900) and the Feilding
Star (1906 – 1909). There is no index for either
publication.
The Palmerston North library
has an online
index to the Palmerston North based Manawatu
Evening Standard from 1992 onwards. A card-based
index dating from mid-1900 to 1940 and 1960-1992 is
available in the library. If you ask very nicely (and
don't demand the entire history of a common name) I may
do a look-up for you. Email = a.c.midwinterATxtra.co.nz.
Replace the AT with @. The library has microfilm of the
Manawatu Evening Standard (dating from 1883) and the
Palmerston North free paper the Tribune
(from 1964).
Probate documents from 1904-1977 filed in the Palmerston
North Supreme Court (ie. those from the Manawatu/Horowhenua
region) are kept by Archives New Zealand;
check their Archway
search engine.
The New Zealand Society
Of Genealogists has transcribed a number of school
registers including ones from Foxton and Levin. You
need to be a member to request a look-up though.
You can get in contact with former schoolmates through
the OldFriends
site.
An index of the women on the 1893 New Zealand electoral
roll has been produced by the St John's Branch of the
NZSG. Massey
University library has a copy as does the New Zealand
Society Of
Genealogists.
