Family History Month 2020

The Kusabs family of Rotorua

August is known as Family History Month so this year I thought, why not select a family that had deep and wide connections in Rotorua. I'd noted the Kusab building on the corner of Arawa and Tutanakei Street, and of course the beautiful big house at the top of Fenton Street, once the Landmark Restaurant, that had connections to the Kusabs family. Then there are the street names, Kusabs, Edmund, Nairn, etc. So I began searching and looking to see what I could uncover about this family. And isn't that the way it is with even your own family research - certain things jump out at you, and then it draws you on. My apologies to the present day Kusabs family members for any mistakes and gaps, and thanks to Andrew Kusabs who filled in some of my gaps and provided interesting snippets of the family. So, let's begin our journey back in the 1800s. 

I'm starting with Henry and Emily Kusabs. Born in the 1830's, Henry Edmund Kusabs was from Eastern Prussia. Part of the German Navy, Henry traveled to China where he left the navy and sometime in 1858 came to New Zealand. Naturalised in 1863, for some years he was involved in coastal shipping. Henry settled in Ohaupo where he milked 50 cows and established sawmills where he processed local trees and sold the timber. He was involved in local body matters, business, education and the Anglican Church. 

Article supplied by Andrew Kusabs

His wife, Emily Prentice came to New Zealand with Bishop Selwyn. Whether to be governess to his children, or to teach at the school he established, I'm not sure. They met at the Cathedral, fell in love and eventually married. When she and Henry moved to Ohaupo, she taught her sons and other local children in her home. Eventually a school was built and she was appointed the head teacher.

Photo from Winds of change: a history of the European settlement of 
 Ohaupo by Valerie Millington for the Ohaupo School 125th Jubilee Committee

All the books I checked talked about the three sons they had, George Arthur, Andrew Ernest and Charles Edmund.  However, in the Historic Birth, Death and marriage records, I discovered the birth of a fourth son, born between Andrew and Charles, Michael Herbert. He died of tetanus aged 7. Then I discovered a fifth son, Frederick William, who died as a three year old.

Waikato Times 18 January 2014

Sons Andrew Ernest and Charles Edmund leased land in Mamaku where they had a saw-milling business. However, by 1901 the company had been sold with the tramway being sold in 1905. A timber yard was established in Hinemoa Street for genuine dry land timber. Henry and Emily followed their sons to Rotorua in about 1905.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, 13 November 1895, p 3
Papers Past

George Arthur, an accountant, married Phoebe Emmeline Hardwick had 3 daughters, and eventually moved to Auckland. One of his daughters, Lillian, married an American serviceman and moved to the States. When she died another daughter, Phyllis, went to the States and brought the children back to New Zealand where she raised them.

Andrew Ernest, timber merchant, married Lucy Ngamihi Dansey, daughter of Roger Delamere Dansey, who was the postmaster during the Tarawera eruption, 1886. When they married in 1898 Andrew presented Lucy with Moeranga Villa in Pukaki Street as a wedding dowry.  This building was added on to overtime, passing out of the family and eventually becoming the Regent Hotel.

Regent Hotel (original Kusabs house) north east corner Rangiuru/Pukaki streets, circa 1940,
Photographer unknown, Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa (CP-2729) 

Unfortunately Lucy died in 1906. leaving two young boys, Roger and William (Billy). Andrew later remarried, Louisa Lillian Phipps who managed the tea rooms in the Government Gardens, and they had another son, Samuel. It was Andrew who built the Kusabs building on the corner of Tutanekai and Arawa Street. Andrew also owned a launch business, the Rotorua Oil Launch Company. 

Kusabs Building on corner of Tutanekai and Arawa Streets

Photo of launch on Lake Rotorua early 1900's, supplied by Andrew Kusabs

Charles Kusabs married Cora Amelia Penn, and they had one son. After Cora died, Charles married a widow, Mrs Dorothea Nairn (where Nairn Street comes from). Charles moved into the car business. He ran tours, taking tourists around the Hot Lakes district and also owned a garage. His son Arthur was one of his drivers and eventually took over the business. Charles was also responsible for building the beautiful house at the top of Fenton Street. His love of golf drove him to be involved in the establishment of the Golf Course, where he was practicing on the day he died. 

Charles Kusabs, wife Cora and son Prentice in car outside their house, south east
corner Fenton and Meade streets, circa 1906, photographer unknown, Rotoura
Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa (CP-2729)

During 1918 Prentice Arthur trained as a pilot but he did not go overseas. He expanded the car tourism business to include buses running from Rotorua to Opotiki.  Arthur, went on to become the Mayor of Rotorua during the war years, 1942-43.

Arthur Kusabs and mates. Arthur sitting on left side of plane
Photograph supplied by Andrew Kusabs

Rotorua Borough Council, 1946, Panora Studio (Moore & Thompson), 
Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa(OP-6426)

Thank you for reading this brief blog about an early Rotorua family. I hope you'll come into the library, and visit the 2nd floor where we have a display on the Kusabs family, including a family tree which I know is incomplete. However, family stories are always growing, often waiting for another member to provide a link.  We also hope you will be able to attend some of our Family History Events during the month of August.

With thanks to Papers Past, Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa, Peggy Allen, Bryon Somervel and the Don Stafford Collection. Many thanks to Andrew and Hazel Kusabs for sharing some family stories and photographs with me. 

Written by Trish

Recommended Reads - Family History Month 2019

I'm Adopted / by Alex Gilbert

Alex Gilbert was born in Arkhangelsk, Russia. At the age of two he was adopted from an orphanage by Janice and Mark Gilbert and brought to New Zealand.

This book tells of Alex's childhood growing up in Whangarei with his brother Andrei, who was also adopted at the same time. It focuses on Alex's decision to search for his birth parents and the process. He describes finally meeting them at the end of 2013.

He also covers other significant events in a young person's life, such as moving from small-town Whangarei to big-city Auckland, his grandfather's passing, his relationship and break-up with his girlfriend, and pursuing his career in the television industry.

The book also includes a section in the middle with colour photographs from Alex's childhood. At the back of the book there are photographs from his visits to Russia in 2013, 2015, and 2017, and from the I'm Adopted meet ups and events.

Alex writes with simple prose that is easy to read. It is as if he is speaking directly to the reader telling his story.

This book can be found on the 1st Floor,
Adult Non-Fiction at 762.734 GIL NZ.

This book review is written by Graeme.


Our tree leaves, Book 1: how to create a family treasure with a new and less complex approach / by Catherine Pacheco

This book can be found on the 2nd Floor,
Genealogy Lending at 920.1072 PAC

This interesting new book encourages the recording of stories and details of family members. Once upon a time, the family Bible recorded the births, deaths and marriages of a family but that happens less and less today.  This book helps those who have been gathering snippets of information from all over to begin transferring that information into files. The book contains templates, steps and encouragement to put all the information into a logical format.

This book review written by Trish

This book can be found on the 2nd Floor,
Genealogy Lending at 929.1 SAS

Keeping chronicles: preserving history through written memorabilia / by Rosemary Sassoon.

This book highlights the importance of keeping letters, diaries, travel records, memoirs, professional or personal scrapbooks and more. 

The author writes in her introduction ‘genealogists trace the dates of their ancestors, the written trace, of itself, illuminates the character of past generations, as much as the letters, diaries and other lists chronicle their daily life’.

In keeping these items which may seem pointless to some family members, to others this is a link to the past for the elderly as their memories fade or disappear through illness. Diaries also give family an insight into why an ancestor did and said the things they did, often we wonder why a parent or grandparent says certain things or became a difficult person to deal with, maybe they were children during the Great War and lived through bomb raids or being shipped off to the countryside or worse to another country as those from England did.  

Handwriting also brings back a much loved, long dead relative as I discovered for myself recently when I found letters to my great grandmother from her mother. Those letters gave me an insight into life for my great great grandmother.  This means she is not just a name on the family tree, but a living breathing part of who I am.  

This book also has some great tips for what type of ephemera (newspaper cuttings, postcards, envelopes, travel records, maps, recipes etc.) to keep and how to preserve them for future generations.

For those who like to use scrap-booking techniques and those who want to keep stuff forever and those who would normally throw stuff away.

This book review written by Alison

This book can be found on the second
floor in the Rotorua Heritage Collection

Galvanised to succeed: a story of fortitude / Victoria Dansey, 1934

A story about Roger Delamere Dansey and his descendants. The story follows his arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand and the life he forges here. During his time in the armed and mounted constabulary he faced many challenges and taught himself to use the trigger of his carbine to produce morse code. He met his future wife Wikitoria, who saved his life. The story follows his descendants who also faced many challenges and faced them with fortitude. The story is moving, empathetic and gritty.

This book review is written by Ani

Genealogy Book Reviews

Book reviews of new Genealogy books, Heritage and Research, Rotorua Library

Manorial Records for family historians: with examples of how to identify and locate your ancestor’s property by Geoffrey Barber (929.341 BAR). This fascinating little book gives an overview of the manorial system under which many of our British forebears lived. As tenants of the manor there were rules and customs expected of them, along with loyalty to the “Lord of the Manor”. The author explains, with examples from his own family, how Manorial records work and how they can be accessed. The advantage for genealogists is the wealth of information held, from church records to lines of descent and inheritances, along with a glimpse into a former way of life.

To trace or not to trace: a family history overview for the curious by Carol Baxter (929.102 BAX).  Particularly useful for those who are just beginning their family history search, this guide is full of humour and cartoons, along with charts and lots of information on how to get started. It discusses information we may already have, such as photos and anecdotal stories, along with discussions on sources family historians use to discover records such as birth, death and marriage certificates, migration records, census papers.

It’s all relative: adventures up and down the world’s family tree by A. J. Jacobs (929.1 JAC) When  Jacobs was approached via email by “an eighth cousin of your wife”, he began a journey delving into family tree building. His experiences lead to the interconnectedness of all humans, distant relatives and family reunions. Although not a how-to guide, it could be called a why-to guide. Touching on DNA, websites other than Ancestry.com, Jacobs also takes us on journeys meeting family and discovering connections in a readable, enjoyable way.

Further new titles that may be of interest include:

It’s not all online: a guide to genealogy sources offline by Shauna Hicks (929.1072 HIC)

Discover the Poor Law in England and Wales by Paul Blake ( 929.1072 BLA)

MyHeritage…my story: explore the lives of your ancestors and discover your family’s history by Rosemary Kopittke (929.1 KOP)

ScotlandsPeople: the place to launch your Scottish research by Rosemary Kopittke (929.3411 KOP)

Papers Past: New Zealand’s yesteryear newspapers by Coral Shearer (929.1072 SHE)

A beginner’s guide to British and Irish genealogy by Christ Paton (929.1072 PAT)

DNA for genealogists by Kerry Farmer (929.1072 FAR)

Australians in peril: tracing your World War Two Australian military ancestors by Neil C. Smith (929.1072 SMI)

The Genealogy do-over workbook: get your genealogy and family research back on track and still have fun by Thomas MacEntee (929.1072 MAC)

The Family Tree Cemetery Field guide: how to find, record, & preserve your ancestors’ graves by Joy Neighbours (929.1072 NEI)