In January this year I celebrated my 70th birthday with closer family and friends at our home in Tawa, Wellington. While I continue to minister as priest with Porirua Anglicans and assist with their food bank; I spend increasing amounts of time doing genealogical research and writing.
My primary assistant in all of this is the 'My Heritage' genealogical research programme I use. Currently I am having my DNA analysed to assist with verifying and extending family links. Please contact me if you would like to know more about this, or if you want confirmation or information about your branch of the family. My database currently records nearly 6,500 individuals. In addition to working with My Heritage, I also regularly refer to 'Ancestry.com' and 'Family Search' programmes to help extend my research. This year I am focusing on my grandmother Theresa Wagner's ancestry. While several of her family visited Tasmania where she was born and met with relatives there in the 1970's and 80's, I have not had the privilege. I am currently planning to be there for two weeks in late October into November with Margaret my wife to meet descendants of her siblings and cousins - there are many of them. Both of Theresa's parents Philip Wagner and Caroline Hauke arrived in Hobart from Germany in 1855. Grandmother Theresa took the opportunity to visit her uncle William Hauke in Dunedin in 1915 and by the end of WW1 had married Henry Alve in the Manawatu, only returning to Tasmania for brief visits around the times of her parent's deaths in 1920 and 1931. It is now less than two years before some of us will celebrate the sesqui-centennial (150 years) of the marriage of Carl and Maria Theresa Alve (nee Mollers) - our first New Zealand ancestors. They married on Valentines Day 1874 in St Augustine's Catholic church, Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr Valley, Germany. We understand that theirs was part of a group marriage ceremony with several couples marrying at the same time - such was the life and busyness of the church and priest Father Schulte at the time. To mark the occasion I propose that we gather in Palmerston North during the weekend of 17-18 February 2024. Carl's and Maria's graves are in the Palmerston North cemetery and they spent their latter years in the Manawatu developing the Rangitane Alve farms. I propose to have written by then a fuller version of their lives than previously published. Then in late March 1926 it will be time to celebrate 150years since the arrival of Carl and Maria Theresa with their daughter Anna Catherine who later married George Busch in 1898 near Featherston. I think it appropriate that we celebrate this anniversary in Wellington. More about that later. Interest in Alve-related genealogical facts remains high as younger descendants give thought to their origins and whakapapa. I regularly field requests for information as I am sure some of you older also get. It is a privilege to know a bit about the family and to be able to share that. Occasional gatherings, like we had in both 1995 and 2015 in Palmerston North, keep the flame burning and us all at least a little connected....
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I have recently added a page to this website, "Alve Family Reunion Easter 1995." The page title is self-explanatory and it reminds us that we are all 20 years older, unless we were born since 1995. The Alve Family Reunion was a grand occasion celebrated in the magnificent Highden Country Estate, Green Road, Awahuri in the Manawatu, west of Palmerston North. Nearly 150 relatives and associates of the NZ Alve Family gathered, reminisced, journeyed, worshipped, ate, enjoyed speeches and entertainment over two days of Easter. Various momentos were on offer including photos, key rings and letter openers with Carl & Maria's photo, and the recently published "Alve Road" history of the family. The Reunion page mentioned above offers a full report of that occasion and a copy of keynote speaker, Rolf Panny's Saturday evening address to the family which highlighted the very significant role of pioneer women. This website is an attempt to keep Alve Family memories alive. Much of the the "Alve Road" content is re-presented. New research findings are reported. Subsequent births, deaths and marriages are included and your family information is invited for inclusion. The question I am wrestling with today is, "Should we do something to mark the passing of another generation 20 years on?" Only four members, all males, of the second generation of Carl & Maria's descendants survive from the 20+ who were living at the time of the 1995 Reunion: Alve Purdom, Hilton Alve, Ivan Alve and William Alve - please correct me if I am wrong. Recent deaths include Phillip Alve (2012), Thelma Avery (2013) and Thelma Pedersen (2014) - wife of the late Russell Pedersen. Alongside these deaths are various new births. Grandchildren of my parents - Val & Joyce Alve - born in the last couple of years include Ruby Weir, Olive Perris, Wolf Schroder, Eden Alve and Lucy Alve (born last week). My suggestion is that we consider scheduling a ONE day event, possibly during Easter 2015 - maybe Sunday 5th April? I'll do a bit more homework around this thought and get back to you via this Blog and our eList. In the meantime what do you think? Please consider contacting me or leaving a response to this Blog post via the form below. Terry Alve - Tawa, Wellington P.S. I always appreciate notice of your family's BDM info which can then be added to the family record. We've taken a while to get this website to a stage where we feel it can be publicly promoted. I think we are there. Of course there is plenty more to add, including the biographies of the first three generations in NZ. That's all available digitally to load along with appropriate pictures - some from the 1994 Book and some new ones.
We have an email list of about 20 that we will send a website link to along with a password to the member only content. There's no cost for membership currently, but we have made it that you need to give us your email address to access the Book historical info and (in time) the biographical info that will be an edited version of the "Alve Road" book content. Please do not give the member only password to others. Ask those interested to complete the signup form here: http://www.alve.org.nz/get-your-free-password.html As we launch we ask that you start promoting this website, especially to family, and to others who may be interested in knowing more about the family. And, Christmas/New Year greetings to you. Marg and I have recently had the privilege of a kitchen upgrade. In the process Marg bought a wall decal that appears below. We offer this as our prayerful hope for you this Christmas and into the new year. Terry Alve Phillip Alve, Noeline King and Marion Karipa With the deaths during 2012 of Phillip Alve (July 20) , Noeline King (July 4) and Marion Karipa (October 12), five of Carl and Maria Theresia Alve's thirty six grandchildren are living. We extend our condolences to the close family of these three esteemed relatives who have lived long and fruitful lives before their passing this year. And we prayerfully wish surviving grandchildren and their families health and happiness. Those grandchildren living are:
The Alve grandchildren were born from 1900 (Bill Busch) to 1955 (William Alve). With the launch of this website and news blog, it may be that you would like to provide information about descendants (or ancestors) of Carl and Maria Theresia. The kind of information we think will be relevant to the wider family includes:
Written and photographic information is welcomed. When you provide information please ensure that you give us permission (electronic message is ok) to publish, if it is yours to give. Otherwise please indicate who "owns" the material so we may contact them. If your information is on the web please indicate where - again we will require your permission to copy it to this website. You may prefer that we just provide a web link to your material. Finally, while Google will do its best to let relatives and others know that this website exists, we are somewhat dependent on word of mouth (so to speak). If you have a website or Facebook or Twitter accounts appropriate links are valued by us. In return we are open to linking to you. Let's do what we can to keep in touch with one another. Terry Alve Anna Alve 1880-1906 This is just one of several new pics and comments that have been added to the Alve Family History website in recent days. Anna was the fourth of Carl and Maria Alve's children. Some of this material replicates content in the book, "Alve Road - How do you spell that?" Available Here There is also new material like information about Thomas Richard Elcox's WW1 service with the British army in France. Photo's on this website have been labelled where info is available. If you notice that there is incorrect or missing info we would be delighted to hear from you. You can CONTACT US here. Who are they? Several photographs of Tasmanian Wagner relatives have been posted in a page on this website. The photos were taken by Philip Alve during a visit to Tasmanian relatives in the late 1970's. They have been recovered by Terry Alve whilst clearing Phil's property in Kelburn Wellington following his death during July 2012. We are seeking help in identifying who the people are in these photos and the locations, etc. Phillip is a grandson of Philip Conrad Wagner who lived in Woodsdale, Tas. His mother is Christina Alve (nee Wagner) who came to NZ during WW1 and married Henry Alve, They lived and farmed at Rangitane south of Palmerston North into the 1960's. Christina died in1971. The Alve Family Genealogical History Published 2004 CLICK ON IMAGE TO BUY When the Alve family history was compiled and published in 1994, its title mused on the dilemma every one who has had the name 'Alve' faced. Although it is a little 4 letter word, no one who does not know the Alve's can spell it! Joking aside, the Blog section of this website is designed to facilitate dialogue about the general subjects of Alve family history and genealogy. While much progress was made during the 1990's in Alve Family research, the time seems right to advance the research for a number of reasons:
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Alve NewsA digest of news about and from the Alve Family in New Zealand. Archives
January 2024
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