Boys Toys

I’m going to add some final comments about those 19th century relatives and then change the subject.
It would appear I managed to identify the wrong woman as my maternal great grandmother.  Elizabeth Crallan was my great grandmother’s sister!  I found a newspaper article which mentioned the Crallan’s.

Bush Advocate, 30 May 1904, Page 3 GOLDEN WEDDING.
A pleasant family gathering took place yesterday, at the residence of Mr and Mrs Crallan, senr., the occasion being the celebration of Mr and Mrs Crallan's golden wedding. Mr Crallan came to New Zealand in the year 1859, in the good ship "Regina," landing at Lyttelton on December 16th, that day being the 9th anniversary of the Canterbury Province.; Mrs Crallan joined her husband three years later, having come to the colony in the ship "Chariot of Fame." They spent about three years at the Church Bush, near Kaiapoi, Mr Crallan being at that time engaged in pit sawing. Some time afterwards be shifted to Oxford, in North Canterbury, where he remained for twenty years. Mr Crallan's next shift was to Dannevirke, where he and his son are well known in sawmilling circles. We regret to say that Mrs Crallan's health has not been good for some years, but fortunately Mr Crallan is still hale and hearty.

So Elizabeth Crallan (nee Richardson) couldn’t have come from a wealthy South Island sheep station family because she married James Crallan before he left England!  Having the name of the ship Elizabeth used to reach NZ enable more information to be found.

The Chariot of Fame was a three-masted, square-rigged 'medium clipper' ship, built at East Boston, Massachusetts, by Donald McKay, for Enoch Train & Co., Boston, for their White Diamond packet line between Boston and Liverpool, and launched in April 1853. Dimensions 220'×43'×27'6" and tonnage 1639. For the first year the Chariot of Fame sailed out of American ports as a packet vessel. After this the vessel was chartered by the White Star Line of Australian packets and made a number of good passages to Australia from England in 1854 and 1855. In 1862 the vessel was sold in London and the vessel came out to Australia and New Zealand on several more voyages. She London 29 October 1862 and arrived in Lyttelton 29 January 1863 with 430 Government immigrants and 30 passengers.

I was then able to find the 1862 passenger list and listed were
CRALLAN   ELIZABETH  30  DOM SERVANT
CRALLAN   ELIZABETH  5    --

So my great-great grandmother arrived in New Zealand as a government assisted migrant with her five year old daughter Elisabeth.  They weren’t fare paying passengers, and her profession was Domestic Servant.
Well that resolves the “wealthy family connection fable”!
This means my great grandmother must have been born in New Zealand.
She was Jane Elizabeth Crallan.  More digging around on the internet and I found a photo of her headstone revealing she was born in 1867 and died in 1944.  It means my grandparents were born in the same year.
Next I rediscovered the two digital copies of the photos my mother had of her grandparents.

Jane & Thomas Mills (date unknown)
And the first bus in Dannevirke which was owned by Thomas Mills.  He is sitting in the front passenger seat.

OK…. enough of the boring family stuff.

Today was “Boys Toys” day and I was up early ready to make the dash walk to Lidl when it opened at 10am.  Readers imagine my horror when I arrived to find the car park full of males either entering or leaving the supermarket.  I was convinced they were all there buying the items I wanted. 
Fortunately with a little jostling and shoving I managed to seize everything I wanted.
Clockwise from top left.  Soldering iron station, dremel with attachments, right-angle drill attachment, diamond core drill bits, case of assorted of dremel attachments.
Yes, I know they aren’t the best quality.  but it’s not as if I’m a tradesman and will rely in them for daily use!  Oh….. and I did leave some for the late arriving boys

<is that better Bill?>