Writing about ones family history always comes down to one question – where to start? That question then leads to a multitude of others like – where to stop?

Within other family records we can trace the family back to Scotland, however we don’t want to double up or simply repeat that information. Generally speaking that information just forms the basis required for a family tree, including name, birth and death records along with spouse and children.

In this record we wanted to add the story behind the names – where they lived, what they did including the hardships and struggles they may have faced – all in context with the times they lived in – these after all are our close ancestors and each had a life story worth recording.

To start this record from a single reference point – we have chosen John Henry Gunn and Annie “Gettya” O’Connor. Both had emigrated to New Zealand, at different times in their life, but ultimately meet and were married in Auckland.

They went on to raise 13 children. We will look at their respective families (the Gunn’s and O’Connor’s) as much as we can (refer History section), but essentially our story will begin with these two emigrants, cover their children and grandchildren – one of whom is – at the time of this being written – is still alive.