The records most frequently accessed from the Auckland Diocese Archive are the sacramental records. The records go back to the 1850s. We have genealogists requesting baptism, marriage or death records of their ancestors; couples needing their baptism records prior to being married in the Catholic Church; and parents seeking baptism records in order to enrol in schools. To access these records we used to have to go to the original or copies of the parish registers. That was until the age of computers where records entered into a database could be quickly accessed.
One of the key projects this year has been to replace the aging database used to store and retrieve the sacramental records of the diocese. The old database was written over 20 years ago in a computer language called Borland. It was run from a Windows XP computer in the basement. Support for Windows XP ended in April 2014 so it was essential that we updated this database before the system fell over.
Thanks to CyberOn we have a new database, ‘SacraDB,’ and the records have been migrated to the new system. A special acknowledgement goes to Trish from the archives who spent many hours testing the system and reporting the bugs.
Here is a printout from the new database.
Thomas and Mary Poynton were the founding laity of the Catholic Church in New Zealand, emigrating to New Zealand in 1828. Through their efforts the first Mass was celebrated by Bishop Pompallier in their home at Totata Point, Northland, on 13 Jan 1838.
The archives also has an extensive photo collection. I came across this moving image from the return of Bishop Pompallier to New Zealand.
After gaining permission from the Pompallier family and French bishops, Pompallier’s body was disinterred in 2001 from it’s resting place in France and returned to New Zealand in 2002. After being taken on a hikoi around New Zealand he was laid to rest beneath the altar of St Mary’s Church in Motuti in the Hokianga.
One stop on that hikoi was the Poynton grave at O'Neill's Point Cemetery.
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