For Week 2 I was barely on time with this – this one is now 2 weeks late…
This week’s prompt was “Unusual Name”. I have a few in my family that might fit this requirement…
Houliston is one – a fairly rare Scottish name that made it to New Zealand in the 1860s and have left behind thousands of descendants – 2,808 by my count – over the last 150+ years. There aren’t a huge number of people around the world with this name, and a colleague – Andrew Houliston in South Africa – has compiled most of those he has found online and in genealogy databases into a single database that stubbornly refuses to provide any hints of where “my” Robert Houliston’s father, Adam Houliston, came from
Plunket(t) is another one – my father’s Mum’s brother – great uncle John Dewar, married a Gladys Kathleen Plunkett of Tasmania, Australia, who Grandma said in a memo she wrote, was related to William Lee Plunket – the 5th Baron Plunket. He was Governor General of New Zealand from 1904 to 1910, and New Zealand’s Premier Cricket Competition – the Plunket Shield – is named for him. But I’ve found no evidence of that connection so far. But one of Gladys’ grand-daughters, my second cousin Melinda Dewar, is now married to the Marquess of Reading. Continue reading »
