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Aumarire,  Good luck with the Wellington NSW contact!

Lu, I'm trying hard to think of some scenarios to explain the 'bombshell' but ...

Thanks for the reference back to post #56 - I'd completely forgotten about James's 1919 marriage in Raffrey, Co Down (whence Lily's husband Francis COATES originated).  It's hard to remember all the twists and turns.
Whether one could get a copy of that Northern Ireland cert, and what info such a cert should contain, I have no idea.

At least you've finally found Ivy's bc - albeit it's pretty useless!  Do you have her mc and dc with parents' names?  Can't remember whether we've already discussed this.

Given that you've now found Ivy's bc, it restores hope that perhaps you will end up finding birth certs for some of the others - Thomas, Lily and James.

Re the 'bombshell', one thing I'm holding on to is that James's WW1 record referred to Thomas, his next of kin, as his Uncle.  Perhaps James knew that Lily was his mother but had no idea who his father was - but gave some names on the 1945 mc simply for the sake of appearances (to hide illegitimacy).  Only trouble with that is that Uncle Thomas was still alive (Uncle T died - do I recall correctly - in, I think, 1958).  But perhaps there was little chance that Elsie would meet Uncle T and have an opportunity to ask questions if James & Elsie stayed in Auckland (where they were married), and Uncle T in Christchurch.

Best of luck with the ongoing search for some more birth certificates ...

JAP
Hi all....this James Richings maybe my great grandfather. Mine born bout 1892 did live in Christchurch with wife Sarah Richings nee Thompson...married 1919 over in Ireland . Im a realitive of this marriage. Sarah died in 1944. James moved to Auckland. Sarah  and James had 2 children Vera and Thomas born in Christchurch. Thomas moved to Auckland aswell.
Be good to confirm if this is him and Elsie was his second wife.
My James Richings  died 1975

This is excellent information. 

It is my understanding that Blanche's sister Kate Tilley emigrated to the USA prior to anyone else in the family.  Kate married Thomas Harvey and had two daughters.  Kate lived to be almost 100 years old.

I assume that my grandmother, Constance, was able to stay with relatives once she arrived in the US.

By the time the rest of the family emigrated in the early 1920s, Constance was married and had three children.

Mary Vivian Richings married John E. Hersam, who was the publisher of The New Canaan Advertiser (which he founded in 1908 and is still run by the Hersam family today and has expanded to include 19 weekly publications in three counties in Connecticut).  It was John's second marriage. and he had children by his first marriage.  John died in 1949.  My mother (who is 92) recalls attending the funeral.  He apparently was an important  and respected community leader.

As you state, Mary Vivian died in 1959.  I recall having dinner with both her and my great aunt Audrey in downtown Los Angeles sometime in 1958.  Both Vivian and Audrey died of cancer.

Regarding Blanche's nephew, Arthur Tilley, my genealogy simply states that he "died without issue" - and doesn't mention WWI specifically.  His father was Blanche's brother, Llewellyn Frank Lewis Tilley (1863-1919) who apparently was married two times (Florence Alice Duckering 1876-1901 and Lillian Agnes Harriet Browne 1874-1967 m. 1902), had 6 children and emigrated and died in India.  Our handwritten family genealogy does not mention either of his two English wives, or the German woman who gave birth to Arthur (do you have her name??).


I'll ask Scott Richings if he has any information regarding James Richings' birthplace.  Scott tried tracing James Richings to John Richings, but couldn't make the connection. 

Thank you !!

Hi all ive just joined....I'm this Scott Richings mentioned above.
My great grandfather was James Richings 1892-1975 my great grandmother was Sarah Richings nee Thompson 1892-1975
I'm still trying to connect my Richings to all these Richings as I'm on ancestry DNA and I'm getting matches into realitives connected to them.
Is anyone else on here on ancestry DNA? Or interested in doing DNA test on there to connect in ☺