Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand

When the news came of an earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, we immediately thought of Val’s cousin, Gerald Nation, who is a lawyer there. Now news has come via Andy Blum, another cousin living in the USA, that Gerald, his sister Deb Peach, and their families are OK. We were in regular correspondence with Andy Nation (father of Gerald and Deb) about the history of the Green family, until Andy’s death in 1998. The Nations (and Andy Blum) are descended from Edward Lister Green who came to the Cape Colony with his parents and some brothers (one of his brothers was Val’s great great grandfather, Frederick Thomas Green), and married Emily Ogilvie in Grahamstown. He joined the army and served in India, China and Ireland before retiring to New Zealand. Anyway, we are pleased to hear that our Christchurch relatives are OK, and that their houses, though damaged, are still inhabitable.

Hannan and Morton family updates

Over the last 3-4 months we’ve managed to find a lot more about out Morton family of Colchester in Essex, England, and now another Morton researcher, Bernard Waters of Canberra, Australia, has made contact. He is descended from Henry Morton (1814-1874), who went to Australia, and so there is quite a big branch of the family there too. We are hoping to share information.

We’re hoping to go on holiday in the Western Cape after Easter, and it so happens that some Hannan cousins live along the route, so we are hoping to see them sometime then. That got me looking at some of the ones for which we just have names — not even dates — which my mother’s cousin Willie Hannan sent us some 25-30 years ago. Just for fun, I tried entering some of the names into Facebook, and seeing if any of the other names came up among their friends. Some seemed to match. That seems to be Facebook’s strong point — as a way of getting in touch with old friends and family members you have lost touch with. Anyway, who knows, by the time we go on holiday we could have some up-to-date Hannan news to pass around. *ends

Holy dog

Mitsos lived above his restaurant with only his beloved pet dog called Stavros for company.

One day Stavros the dog died and Mitsos went to his local priest and asked, “Father, my dog Stavros died. Could you do a Trisagion for the poor animal, he was like a son to me?”

Father Nikos shook his head, “I’m afraid not; we cannot have services for an animal in the church. But, there’s an English church on the next block. God knows what they believe in. Maybe they’ll do something for your dog?”

Mitsos said, “I’ll go right away Father. Do you think $5,000 is enough to donate to them for the service?”

Father Niko exclaimed, “Kyrie Eleison! Vre Mitso, why didn’t you tell me the dog was Greek Orthodox?