The first story followed James Norton and the telegram waiting at Dunedin. The second followed his brother Thomas William from the whaling boats into a shearing shed at Kekerengu. This third story turns back further, to an 1853 baptism record and one name entered as James's sponsor.
My brother Steve and I have been working through these records with Mum. Our line comes through Thomas William. James's story takes us into the marriage connection between the Norton and Keenan families at Te Awaiti.
On 11 February 1853, James Norton was baptised by Father Garin.
The transcription in our family papers names his parents as Patrick Norton and Margaret Tangitu. Our family records also carry her name as Makereta Tangitu.
Then the transcription gives his sponsor's name:
William Henry Keenan.
Years later, James married William Henry's sister, Anne Elizabeth Keenan. Our family papers also carry her as Annie and Ani.
That one sponsor entry puts the Norton and Keenan families together before the marriage. William Henry was named as James's sponsor. Later, William Henry's sister became James's wife.
A record made 166 years later still carried her family name.
In April 2019, the Te Ātiawa Trust pānui published an account of James and Ani's son Harry Norton, who was born at Te Awaiti in 1879. It says:
"Harry was the son of the late James and Ani Norton (Nee Keenan)."
Nee Keenan.
Annie in one family record. Anne Elizabeth in another. Ani Norton in the pānui. Different forms of her name, with Keenan still there to guide us back.
Anne was a daughter of William Keenan and Hika Mapu. Her marriage to James joined the Norton and Keenan families at Te Awaiti. It is part of our wider whanaungatanga through marriage.
Our own line comes through James's brother, Thomas William Norton. We are not claiming that this marriage makes Anne or Hika Mapu our direct ancestors.
The larger charts matter, but so do entries like this. A sponsor's name in 1853 and a mother's maiden name preserved in 2019 can hold a family connection across generations.
If your whānau holds records of Anne Elizabeth, James Norton or William Henry Keenan at Te Awaiti, Steve and I would be glad to compare the names and spellings you have kept.
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