Judith Lacy's Jottings: The new J S Lacy on the old J S Lacy

James and Margaret Lacy with their nine children. My grandfather, Frank, is standing next to his father. Photo / Judith Lacy

OPINION:

When I was a baby my paternal grandmother put me on the lap of a distant relative and announced "meet the new J S Lacy".

The comment only had significance to those who knew the first J S Lacy, or at least had heard about him. By all accounts, my mother was horrified and I doubt there had been much affection between Nanna and her former father-in-law - the first J S Lacy.

So who was this man? He was James Sarsfield Lacy, my great-grandfather, and he was the first Lacy of my branch of the family to come to New Zealand.

That we ended up with the same initials is pure coincidence as my given names come from my mother's side of the family. Judith was Mum's cousin who died tragically aged 19. Susanne is Mum's middle name and is spelt without the traditional z as that was what Gran wanted. Pop was serving in the Pacific during World War II when Mum was born so Gran did the birth certificate formalities.

If you put "J S Lacy" into Papers Past you get a considerable number of hits. James was well known and had opinions he wasn't shy to share.

But re-reading The Family of James Sarsfield Lacy and Margaret Mary Nidd by Mary Lacy, I was amazed by some of the letters James' mother wrote to him.

Let's start at the beginning. James was born on August 26, 1863 in Bansha, County Tipperary in Ireland. His grandfather Hugo was French, while his parents Edmond and Margaret were third cousins and had to have special permission to marry. James was the fifth child, but first son.

James and his sisters Mary and Annie arrived at Lyttelton in 1888. He first worked at a large sheep station in Marlborough. He later worked as a prison warden in Wellington and New Plymouth, then leased the Mangamahu Hotel (inland from Whanganui). In 1904, James bought the hotel, which had been built in 1891. He decided to return to farming and in 1910 bought a farm at Retaruke, where the Retaruke and Whanganui rivers meet.

In 1892, James married Margaret Nidd. The Evening Post reported it was a "very pretty wedding" with the bridesmaids wearing "very pretty brooches", the gift of the bridegroom.

James and Margaret went on to have nine children with my grandfather, Francis Aloysius, the seventh.

James' mother was not impressed with her new daughter-in-law, even though they never met. She wrote to her son to say she did not admire his intended, nor did his sisters. "I did not intend ever to rear you for a fruit seller's daughter such as Bob Prince in town. I would send back her photo but it got a little defaced through anger between them."

Wow, just wow. Don't tiptoe around the four-leaf clover, Margaret.

In a letter to her daughters in New Zealand, Margaret complained James hadn't told her "that reared him" that he was married. She asked if they knew if James had gained "any portion" by his wife.

When James came to New Zealand he had a letter of recommendation from a Catholic priest, John Kelly. He said James was "of inapproachable character, sober, sensible, industrious and trustworthy".

When his mother died in 1908, James inserted a death notice in the New Zealand Tablet, a Catholic periodical. "We beseech thee Our Blessed Lady and Holy St Patrick to intercede for her before the throne of the Most High."

As an aside, James' sister Annie married Moore McKay in 1897 in Christchurch. On the marriage certificate Annie gave her age as 26 but she was in fact 37. The groom, who was from County Antrim, was 10 years her junior. I wonder what her mother would have thought of that!