1. He told an Aunt that he was born within the ‘Sound of Bow Bells’
2. His wedding cert of March 1924, to Ida (reg’d Ada) Gibbons, aged 19 and he, 34 and a bricklayer, states that his parents are George and Mary Ann (Self) Gibson
3. Auntie said that he ‘jumped ship under the name of Green’ … whether he boarded the ship under the alias or stowed away, I have no idea. I have found no shipping records to New Zealand of him as yet and he never spoke of his English family.
4. The first time our ‘Joseph Gibson’ appears in NZ electoral rolls is 1928 in Tahora, Stratford, as a Labourer.
5. 1938 is the last time his name appears in our electoral roll.
6. Joe, Ida & family lived in Opunake, Taranaki, and he left them to ‘cash a cheque in Hawera in 1942, when his youngest child (of 11) was a few months old and they never saw him again. The children were forbidden to speak of him again.
7. I have found no records of him since then, no missing persons report etc have ever come to light. It is highly likely that he used a pseudonym when he left.
8. A relative thinks he may be a child of George and Mary Ann (Self) Gibson of York, but apart from York being a long way from London, the Christian names from this family do not reappear within our family (no John, Ann, Lydia, Elizabeth, Clark, Henry, Kezia etc).
9. I did find an infant Joseph Gibson, 1891 census, resident of the RC Orphanage of St Vincents, Mill Hill, Hendon, Middlesex, born 1890 in London, England. Does anyone know what happened to this child/man and know anything of his descendants?

My husband had a YDNA test done and when the results come to hand we hope to upload them to the Smillie-Gibson site on My Heritage. I don’t have the time I wish to devote to ‘the computer’ but please, if you have any info, no matter how small, please contact me at jgdownhome@gmail.com

Kindest Regards,
Janice