Simon Canning

Ancestors

Son of D. Canning and I. (Bone) Canning

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Simon Canning [send private message]

Biography

Early Years

Simon was born in South Canterbury, New Zealand, during the 1960's. The family moved to the North Island on his third birthday. As was the case with many boys, he became interested in playing with toy soldiers and this developed into an interest in military history.

Reading about historical battles and campaigns eventually led to wonder whether any ancestors were involved in or impacted by these events. The only way to determine this was obviously finding out where they were living and their occupations during these historical periods.

Genealogy

Many years later, a move to Lower Hutt meant easy access to New Zealand's BDM records at the Central Registrars Office and also the National Archives in Wellington. In 2013 DNA testing^[1][2][3][4] was added as an adjunct to standard family history research. The rest, as they say, is history.

My Surnames

Clicking on the surnames will take you to my known most distant ancestor. Blue denotes my Paternal surnames and Pink my Maternal surnames:

Bone, Burroughs

Canning, Catherol, Cattrall/Catterall, Charters, Cowan

Downs, Duffy, Dykes

Edwards, Ewing

Gray, Gorrie

Haldane, Harlie, Hay/Hayes, Howland

Kirk

Lauden/Lothian, Lesslie

McFarland/McFarlane, Middleton

Pendal, Potts

Rainford, Rivan, Robertson, Robertson

Stadham, Smith, Stevenson, Stivenson, Straughan

Teddor, Temple, Turnbull

Walls, Wealens/Weleans, Willins, Woolley

Young

Private DNA Workspace

My DNA Workspace.

The Old Canning Family Photo Album

Simon's Great Grandparents Thomas and Mary Canning had a photograph album that contained a number of photographs of their family taken in Scotland, numerous photographs of the family of Antoine Bertrand, a photo of Mary's brother Bernard Duffy and a number containing other unknown individuals. This album was initially passed down to Alf Canning's family and this treasure remains in their possession. Alf identified some of the people, but was unable to identify them all.

Some of the photographs were taken in Scotland, a number in the United States (primarily New York, one in Nebraska) and the Bertrand photographs were taken in Scotland, London and France. These photographs appear to have been taken over a period from about 1890 through to about 1920.

The unidentified photos have been uploaded here and if you recognise any of these people, leave a message saying who they are.

Any help in identifying these people would be greatly appreciated!

Fact or Fiction - Unsubstantiated Stories

While working at the Howick branch of the Auckland Savings Bank the manager had left early leaving the Accountant, Mrs Fred Smith, to close up. After we had all "Balanced up" and put the money into the safe Mrs Smith noticed that the strong-room door was still bolted open. This caused some concern as she was meant to be going out to dinner and as she didn't know the combination it would be necessary for her to wait for the branch manager to unlock it. I offered to attempt to unlock it for her and stuck my ear just above the tumbler which enabled me to successfully do this.

While this was met with some joy from Mrs Smith, it apparently caused some consternation amongst the bank's upper echelons. The next day two or three "big-wigs" arrived from head office and invited me to unlock the strong-room door again. The comments coming from them didn't appear to bode well for me and due to this I sadly failed to unlock the door!

During the 1980's an "invite" to do a First Aid Course at Hopuhopu just north of Ngaruawahia was given. As part of the course the participants travelled to Auckland to observe an autopsy that was being performed by the then Chief Pathologist in the building across the road from the Auckland Hospital. Luckily, due to his accent, it was necessary to concentrate very hard on what he was saying. Unluckily, he was very "voluble" with his hands which lead to some concern among all of the viewers. The looks of relief from everyone except the Transport representative was made even more humorous when the Pathologist advised that we didn't need to worry as that was "only one of his party tricks".

The humour of the day continued when on the trip back we were advised that there had been the sound of a large explosion and it was suspected that there might be injured people in the middle of a swamp. With a lot of mutters regarding the "spits" and "dress" everyone headed into the swamp. Finding one of the instructors on her back half immersed in what was surely the boggiest area in the whole swamp was a highlight. As the "patient" was apparently unconscious an initial investigation to see if there were any obvious injuries was undertaken. Upon suggesting that they might have sustained a spinal injury, the "patient" came out with the rhetorical statement of "Don't you know what a bra strap feels like?" which was quickly followed by "Don't you dare undo it!".

About February 1989 the Mayor of Napier visited the initial HQ deployment area for Colchis^[5] close to Napier with a contingent of reporters. The Sergeant Major ordered me to grab my kit so I could be part of the "display" for the Mayoral visit. During his discourse a reporter asked if it would be possible to see what I was carrying in my pack and webbing. The Sergeant Major advised that as it was my personal equipment that it would require my agreement for that to occur. A nice little out for me in case I had stuffed it full of newspaper to bulk it out!

Sources

1. ↑ Simon's Paternal relationship is confirmed by a 3382.3 cM Family Finder match between Simon Canning GEDmatch T376938 and his father D. Canning GEDmatch T433476.
2. ↑ Simon's Maternal relationship is confirmed by a 3383.8 cM Family Finder match between Simon Canning GEDmatch T376938 and his mother I. Canning GEDmatch T076690.
3. ↑ Simon's relationship to his Maternal Great Grandmother, Agnes Haldane, is confirmed by a 582.8 cM Family Finder match between Simon Canning GEDmatch T376938 and his first cousin once removed Ed Wealleans GEDmatch T911288.
4. ↑ Simon's relationship to his Maternal 2xGreat Grandparents, Thomas Haldane and Agnes Stevenson, is confirmed by a 37.8 cM Family Finder match between Simon Canning FTDNA 295464 and his second cousin once removed John Haldane FTDNA 686660.
5. ↑ Golden Fleece

• First-hand information entered by Simon Canning at registration based on personal family papers and official records.