Cathie Matthews and Bill Roxborogh
Cathie Matthews and Bill
Roxborogh were married in 1944. Cathie was a teacher from
Morrinsville and Bill a storeman from Devonport recently repatriated
home from the NZ Army. I was born in 1945 and Bill left home not
long after, something I would one day discover that his own father
had also done. My grandparents and Doug were important parts of my
early life and I discovered Bill's story somewhat later.
This photo,
taken in Hamilton, dates from around the time of the wedding in the
registry office, in Te Aroha. My uncle Doug is in his uniform as an
Aircraft Technician, my grandfather in a suit and one of the ties of
which he seemed to have a large collection for a dairy farmer. My
mother Cathie, grandmother Mary and Bill.
For many years Cathie worked on the family history, particular the
story of her father from Devon whose real name was German, and her
mother from the Highlands who was a Robertson descended from a group
of Mckenzie crofters who migrated to New Zealand in the 1870s. She
also tried, sometimes in correspondence with her ex-husband, to get
to the bottom of the mystery of Bill's family name.
So this is the story of Matthews Mckenzies and Roxboroghs. I hope
you enjoy our family history.
John Roxborogh, Dunedin, 2011