Steve Wrathall of New Zealand

"I am a pulp and paper research technician working in [the Chemical Processing Group] of the NZ Forest Research institute in Rotorua. My Great-great-great-grandparents were Stephen Wrathall and Maria Hinutoto. Their son Stephen was my ancestor. I am very interested in tracing my family history.

"Most N. Z. Wrathalls, like me, live in the North Island. A few still live way up North in Mangonui, where Maria Hinutoto & Stephen Wrathall lived. I was actually born there. Last year Trevor Wrathall of Mangonui had a whip-round of all the Wrathalls he could locate in N.Z., and we belatedly got a headstone put in for Stephen & Maria's son Stephen, and his wife Elizabeth Wells, who are buried in Mangonui."

Here is a Wrathall family group photo taken ca. 1910, probably near Mangonui, of Stephen J. Wrathall, 3 of his sons & their families. At front are (L-R) LIONEL ("Lenny", Garrow & Winnie's son, adopted by Syd & Tish when his mother died), STEPHEN J., ELIZABETH (née Wells) and LOVEY. At top left is the family of WILLIAM & MARTHA (née Townsend): JOHN (held by Richard), IVY (between Willam & Martha, later known as Aunty Nuk), MARGARET (right of Ivy) & SONNY (in front of Ivy). At top right is the family of RICHARD T. & FRANCIS (née Evans): LLOYD (held by Richard), & in front of them (L-R) MAVIS, NEWELL & PHOEBE (my godmother, died ~1993). In the middle is the family of HENRY G. & ANNIE (née Bramley): LAUREEN (held by Annie), CECIL (beside Annie), CYRIL (behind Cecil) and HORACE (holding hat, my grandfather, died 1980).

"I was ACT's Rotorua candidate in the October 1996 general election. I only gained 1.3% of the candidate vote, but that was not my objective. NZ has recently changed to the German-style "Mixed-Member Proportional" (MMP) voting system, where you have one vote for the local candidate, and one for the Party (which determines that party's total representation in parliament). ACT managed to get 4.7% of the Rotorua party vote, and 6.1% nationwide, entitling us to 8 MPs. So I was not too displeased with the result."

"In case you hadn't guessed, I have sent out a letter to all the NZ Wrathalls I could find in the white pages, telling them about the websites, and asking them to contribute to the Wrathall family tree. Within a week I've got a phone call from Merve W. in Whakatane (I'm the Maori Branch), an email from Robyn W (also to you) and a letter from Diane W in Auckland, who sent a huge genealogy which I'm adding to mine."

"Sharon and I [went] down to Taupo again for my brother Mark's birthday. He's over from Austria (see Wrathalls of Austria ) for an intensive 5-week flying course in Hawkes Bay. My cousin Raewyn Cook (Geraldine's daughter - see generation 4A) was also there. Apparently she's [also doing research] on the NZ Wrathalls - could be interesting. My sister Susie was also over from London to do an interior design job in Auckland recently. Here's a photo of Me, Mum, Dad & Susie - most of generation 5A. The photo is on Waitemata Harbour in Auckland; I cropped out the landscape as it wasn't that interesting."