Hi, everyone. I'm Deborah Given Kunze, and I've finally found where to introduce myself.
I've been interested in genealogy since my teens, particularly my Given ancestry and what happened to everyone both before and after immigrating to New Zealand from Ireland. Once I discovered several Given cousins were also working on our family tree, and they shared their GEDCOM files with me, about 10 years ago, my records really started expanding.
I have been able to determine at least four distinct Given family lines that emigrated from Ireland to New Zealand, having thought that all Givens in New Zealand were probably direct relations, but discovering that wasn't the case as I researched. I even started a Facebook group for Given Families of New Zealand, and invited every Kiwi Given I could find to join, but they probably thought I was some kook, if they ever saw my message, so the group hasn't taken off.
My major campaign at present is to get my 2nd great-grandfather, Samuel Henry Given, detached from Alexander and Catherine Given, to whom he was unfortunately attached years ago on various online genealogy sites. I did get Family Search to correct the error, a few years back, but I see he is still attached to the wrong parents on Wikitree, so I'm trying to get that corrected. (Yes, I have contacted the profile manager with my evidence, but have not received a reply as yet.) I have Church Records that clearly show his father was Samuel Given, and my research concluded that Alexander and Catherine would have already been in the USA when my 2g-grandfather was born in County Down, Ulster.
I stumbled across the New Zealand project today, and that looks like it could be an interesting project to assist with, at least until I start grad school in September. So I'll be looking into that next.
I would love to hear from any Given, Gibbs, Needham, and (there's another big family branch my mind is blanking on right now, which is part of my paternal grandmother's family tree) potential NZ relatives. (I know there's lots of US folk with those names, but I'm not ready to tackle the US side yet -- but of course I'm happy to know any of you, and help you connect with the NZ part of your family tree, if I can.) I'm also interested in the Knaufs, Olivers, Scaddens, and Carters on my mother's side, but I haven't done much work on that side because others are already diligently working away on those branches. I have been able to trace my mother's line back as far as the whaler Reeve who I learned of from my maternal grandmother when I was in my early teens, who was in the NZ area in the 1830s (the earliest of my NZ ancestors, to my knowledge).
I'm not a professional genealogist or anything like that, but I love history, and I do believe understanding where we came from and what happened to our ancestors can help us better understand our own families. Not to mention it's loads of fun uncovering scandals, crazy stories, momentous events, and surprising connections all over the world.
My Given research led to my becoming acquainted with a third cousin, once removed in the UK. His generosity in sharing his research caused me to discover that the three Given brothers in my family tree who emigrated to New Zealand not only had an older sister who stayed behind (the ancestor of my UK cousin), but they also had an older brother who moved to Scotland (or back to Scotland, if the stories are to be believed), and having had a slew of children, has left my extended family a large connection in Scotland that may also include at least one cousin emigrating to the US. (See, I'll get there eventually.)
After all that, one might well assume that I live in New Zealand -- and I certainly have for periods of my life -- but I'm actually currently living in Arizona with my American husband and our desert-born son, in a tiny rural town in the Wild, Wild West: a real treat for history buffs like me. :-)
I look forward to getting to know some of you on future collaborations.
