Hi,

I'm looking for information on Captain James Bongards' parents. He was captain of the 'southern cross' melanesian mission ship from 1870-ish to 1897, and made several trips each year to the mission on Norfolk Island.
In November 1877 he married Emily Rossiter (of Thomas Rossiter schoolteacher & Charlotte Bissex), and I'm looking to see what was registered as parents names (if any) when he got married.

Is anyone able to help me out with this? I've not been able to find any conclusive proof as yet of his parentage.

Many thanks
Kaaren Bongard

Have you got a copy of his death certificate? He died in Auckland on 10 May 1897 aged 58 and is buried at O'Neill's Pt Cemetery? So he was born in 1839, and presumably married in the 1860s or 70s.
The death certificate may give his parents'names.

Kaaren,
Have Checked his marriage cert here on Norfolk Island, has no indication of who his parents were, the only information on it really was they were married on the 6th Nov 1877 by Bishop Selwyn of the Mission
chhers
Liz
Norfolk Island

Hi,

Thanks very much! i've also checked the death certificate so not sure which way to go now...

Cheers
Kaaren

Here is his obituary, from Paperspast;

OBITUARY.
Evening Post, Volume LIII, Issue 109, 10 May 1897, Page 6

OBITUARY.
[by telegraph— press association.] Auckland. This Day. Captain Bongard, master of the mission yacht Southern Cross, died this morning after a long illness. He had been connected with the mission 21 years, joining the second Southern Cross as mate in 1871. He became captain of the third vessel in 1884, and brought out the present yacht in 1892.

and his burial record at North Shore City, O'Neill's Point Cemetery

Cemetery burial details

BONGARD, James

Surname: BONGARD
Forename(s): James
Age: 58 Years

For further information please contact North Shore Memorial Park Cemetery and Crematorium. The office is open Monday to Friday 7.30am to 4pm, at 235 Schnapper Rock Rd, Albany. This is the only office and the contact point for all North Shore City cemeteries.

Otherwise the Melanesian Mission may have records from when he joined them, or possibly some shipping place. How and where did he qualify as Captain?
Gender: Male
Date of death: 10 May 1897
Date of burial: 12 May 1897
Funeral director: NO DIRECTOR - Contact ActionLine for more info
Cemetery: O'neill's Point Cemetery
King Edward Avenue, Bayswater
Location: Oneils Point Row H Plot 30

Sorry that last message got split in half. The lower part follows the cemetery part.

Hi Luff. James Bongard was born to George Bongard and Fanney B Corney who married sometime [I don't have a date]. George was the son of Bongard of Angmering, Susses [died in America], who was son of Bongard of Toures [sic], France [who fled to England during the French revolution].

Emily Rossiter was the first child of 10 born at Hatfield, Hertsfordshire and was interred at O'Neil's Point Cemetery [died 21 June 1934] at Devonport.

Emily's parents were Thomas Rossiter born 9 September 1830 married Charlotte Bissex born 29 April 1829.

Thomas was the 6th of 10 children of William Rossiter of Croscombe, Wells born 1782, died 29 Jan 1853 and Jane Rossiter born 28 February 1797.

The siblings of Emily Rossiter were

Helen born 5 December 1857, died 1897 at "Siot B.S.I.P." who married Henry Welsham MD at Norfolk Island
Wm Franks born 1860 died 1888
Harry [married somebody in Queensland]
Kate died 1866 age 3.5 years
Hardie born 2 September 1864 married May Robinson at Norfolk Island [they had children Daisy who married Tom Buffett, and William]
Blanche born 1868 at Norfolk Island died October 1948 at Auckland
Frederick died 1869 in infancy
Charlie married Ethel Robinson at Norfolk Island [had 4 children]
Mary born 11 November 1871, died 25 January 1941 in England, married Wm Thomson in England

Emily Rossiter married had 11 children [I'm one of her great grandchildren = Maurice Winn] I have the details of her descendants [some of them, mostly down the Agnes Bongard line, Agnes being her 4th child who married Ernest Kirk and had children James, Blanche and Ernest [Bill]]. edit... no formatting available?!!

Hi Kaaren,
I know you have been in touch with Linda, my cousin, here in the UKK.
Are you the family Nena Ridley knew in New Zealand, "Uncle Ross" etc.?
If so, then it would be good to be in touch. Linda has my email address.
David, Nena's son, was my husband. John and Anthea, his brother and sister, are still in N.Z.
Angela

silverwolf142,my partner Tim,is also interested in Emily and James.He is Uncle Ross's youngest son,and we don't have a huge amount of information,but we want more.Tim and David often talk about Nena,and we see Anthea and John not often enough.Would love to get in touch

Hi Maurice,
Thanks for the info - whereabouts did you get the details on the Bongards from? I'm assuming it must be more than family lore.
After some checking on the internet it seems that a few trees have the same info, George & Fanny seem to be married on 19/06/1829, and Georges parents are John (or James), and Lucy Talmedge.
Cheers for your help!
Kaaren

Hi Angela,
Sorry, don't think we are! There are only a few of us in NZ with the name but it doesn't ring a bell for me.
Cheers
Kaaren

Yes, Tim, Uncle Ross etc.
So who thought we aren't related (only about 4th cousins)?
Christopher is in N.Z. at the moment. So that makes John, Anthea and Chris at the same time. Tim should get in touch with them.
Why does Kaaren think we aren't related? I found her on Facebook too.
Angela

Hi again Luff.
I have that information from a printed family tree which I got from Uncle [Ernest] Bill Kirk and elsewhere. I made a typo on Bongard of Angmering Sussex [I inadvertently wrote Susses in my previous post]. If you would like a photocopy, give me an address to post it to. My email is M.a.u.r.i.c.e.W.i.n.nATGmail.com [leave out the .s so that MauriceWinn is all one word - apparently that helps avoid me getting spammed if you wonder why I wrote it like that]

Yes, there's increasing information on family histories as the disparate bits of information from around the world can find their way into a common pile, adding up to fairly complete history [going back 200 years]. Cyberspace is great.

Here's a link which might be useful: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ausmcguire...

Gung Ho,
Maurice