Dannevirke cemetery walk providing insights into family history

Sharyn Burling at a walk through the Dannevirke Settlers Cemetery talking about the history of many buried there. Photo / Leanne Warr

Tracing family history can sometimes uncover long-held family secrets.

Sharyn Burling, who is one of the coordinators of regular walks exploring stories of those buried at Dannevirke Settlers Cemetery, says those walks often help family members learn more about their ancestors.

The Friends of the Settlers Cemetery recently marked the 30th organised walk and a number of family stories have been explored.

Some are around children who died in infancy such as one family, who worked to restore a grave, only to find a baby in an unmarked grave nearby.

Sharyn believes there could be a number of reasons why this happened but often it was because children who died in infancy in the early 20th century were never talked about.

Some families were also fairly large, due to remarriage.

While there are some sad stories, for some tracing their roots, those stories can also provide some insight into how their ancestor went about their daily lives.

Such as the story of Jane Duley, who died at 89 and was buried in the Settlers’ Cemetery in 1911.

According to a genealogy website, Jane was born around 1822 in Ireland and her maiden name was Robinson.

She married for the first time, with records showing a marriage in 1849 and they were married until 1856.

She would go on to marry John Thompson Duley in 1858 in Victoria, Australia.

She went on to have three children: John William and James Alexander, and Leah Elizabeth (who died at 2 ).

It was believed that at some point she left Australia for Scotland, where she may have gone to stay with her mother, who was living close to Jane’s sister, Margaret, but whether this was because of a marriage break-up is unknown.

Margaret, who was a widow, went on to marry again and emigrated with her husband to New Zealand to live in Marton.

Jane would eventually also emigrate, changing her age, which Sharyn believes was a way to get around maximum age requirements.

She would settle in Marton and may have worked as a seamstress to support her two sons.

It was noted in a small obituary, first reported in the Dannevirke Advocate, and published in the Wairarapa Age, that she had died in 1911, naming her two sons – J A and J W Duley.

Also of note, when the construction of Dannevirke South School was planned, John won the tender – as noted in an article available on Papers Past, published in the Bush Advocate in December 1899.

Jane’s story, along with others, will be explored during the latest Settlers Cemetery walk planned for November 10.

Those interested in coming along should meet at the gates in Dagmar St at 2pm.