William James Guy D'elsa

There's this.

Purewa Cemetery cremations.
William James Guy D'Elsa
Last residence 66 Godden Crescent, Mission Bay, Auckland
Cremation date 18/05/1971
Cremation method Returned
Funeral director Morrison Funeral Directors
Registration number 20392
Country New Zealand
Record set Purewa Cemetery Cremations

New Zealand Death Index. (Birth year is out by a year.)
William James Guy D'Elsa
Birth date 1896
Age at death 75
Registration year 1971
Registration number 1971/28994
To order a certificate:

Code:

https://www.bdmonline.dia.govt.nz/NonHistoricRecords

New Zealand electoral roll 1935

 

I still can't think straight. It is amazing how one person in a family tree can mean so much. For nearly 50 years it has become an obsession with us, especially when the older generation were alive. I have had so much help here and on the other thread, thank you so much. We concentrated our search to Canada but we should have been looking in New Zealand all the time and listening to the older generation. This morning I got that confirmation from my DNA match, this William James Guy D'elsa is my uncle I just don't know what to say, thank you everyone for searching and supporting me in this quest. I now probably have more information than his family in NZ. I will so enjoy reading these posts when I have recovered.

 

Brilliant Amle

 

Good one!

 

Such an interesting post, and an interesting chap.

To add to Guy's timeline...he spent some time in Monrovia, California in 1922, and built a house. "House history, Monrovia Legacy Project"
There is correspondence from David Farquhar to the city/newspaper in 1995 inquiring about a house where his wife Raydia d'Elsa was born. Included is an obit 1922 for Sophia Luise (sp) d'Elsa wife of Guy d'Elsa. The letter mentions "after her mother's death she was taken to Dublin and cared for by her mother's family; when her father remarried she was brought to New Zealand at the end of 1924"

The house is 555 Norumbega Drive, Monrovia
https://cityofmonrovia.pastperfectonline.com/archive/1BA847A1-5236-4C4B-AB82-562400866252

Correspondence
http://ppolinks.com/monrovia/SB 189 555 Norumbega Dr.pdf

I've left the links live. No shop, just documents.

D

 

Thats brilliant news Amle

 

I just found a Border Crossing from the U.S. to Canada for a Sophie/Sophia L D'Elsa in 1919, though Ancestry has her listed as Sophia F D'Elsa .

She was a 37 year old female domestic born Dublin Ireland.

Last permanent address (though it doesn't say when) looks like Wenton? Road, Dublin.

I wonder if Sophie Louise and Guy didn't actually marry and he took her surname?

 

Found a probate for Sophia

 

1901 Ireland census

Winton Road, Dublin

Sophia Louise D'Elsa aged 18 step-daughter to Lloyd Blood.
Other's in the household probably include Sophia's mother.

Just managed to look at the original census form and it looks as though it has been torn, so hard to read BUT if Mr Blood's wife is Sophia's mother, it looks as though she was born in ................. Australia.

 

Ireland Civil Registration Birth Index on Ancestry - Sophie Louise D'Elsa - September quarter 1882 - Registration District, Rathdown. Volume 2 Page 856

 

Ah, I found a 4 month old Sophie Elsa listed on Ancestry's Victoria, Australia, Assisted and Unassisted Passenger Lists 1839-1923 - in 1882.

Looking at the original, I think the surname should be D'Elsa.

Father looks like J. D'Elsa, a 28 year old Draper
Mother Luna or maybe Lina? D'Elsa aged 24

Port of Embarkation: Looks like Greenock.

Port at which passengers have contracted to land: Dunedin.

Ship: Hauroto (according to Ancestry) - can't make it out myself (about 4 pages back).

 

That was so interesting @demeler it now seems by doing a little nosy stickybeaking that the house is now Lot 1 of a newly developed gated community. Perhaps that is what Mr D’Elsa had in mind way back in 1922, after reading the letters from his son in law.

 

Hmm, there is a death registration of a Helena Lloyd Blood age 45 (born 1858) in the Dec Quarter of 1903, Dublin South.

Found a marriage registration of an Adam Lloyd Blood in the Sep Quarter of 1890 in Westhampnett, Sussex. One of the other people listed is a Helena D'Elsa.

There is a transcription of the marriage on FMP.

14 August 1890 at Ashington, Sussex

Bride: Helena D'Elsa age 33
Father of Bride: Henry GEOGHEGAN.

 

Where did I see the Geoghegan name earlier whilst looking for D’Elsa?

 

The Bloods (that is Adam Lloyd Blood)are associated with the Findlater’s Mountjoy Brewery of Dublin
Their ancestor Colonel Blood attempted to steal the Crown Jewels in the 17th century

 

It seems that the D’Elsa association with New Zealand goes well back.
Otago Witness 6th October 1881.
At St John’s Church Walkouaiti by the Rev F J Sotham, Max Joseph third son of Colonel D’Elsa, Dresden to Helena, youngest daughter of The late Henry Geoghegan, solicitor of Dublin.
So reading what Jellylegs has found Helena must have married Adam Blood after Max D’Elsa

 

Australia birth index

Helena GEOGHAGEN 1857 - St. Kilda, Victoria

Father: Henry GEOGHAGEN
Mother: Sophia FINDLATER

 

Ooo-errr. On the marriage certificate of 6 October 1924 of Guy D'ELSA to Edith Holloway PAUL, Guy gives his father's name as Max D'Elsa