Postscript

POSTSCRIPT

I completed the transcription of these letters in 1992. I printed out a number of copies and sent one to Linda and Graeme Liggins in New Zealand and that was virtually the end of the exercise.

It is now March 1996, surprisingly it is nearly four years since the transcription was completed and certain events have happened since then. Firstly, my son John has visited the Liggins in New Zealand and also met Martin Smith there. He is the son of young Joe Smith and the grandson of Joseph and Edie Smith.

The book on Tokomaru arrived as a present for Christmas 1993 and was far more comprehensive, both about the Liggins families and about Tokomaru itself, than I ever imagined it could be. It was in this book that I saw the first suggestion about Edie Liggins had married Joseph Smith. It was in a photograph of three men, two of whom were described as being Joseph Liggins’ sons and the third, which was Joseph Smith, was described as being Joseph Liggins son-in-law. There is also another clue, mentioned in Joseph Smith’s first letter, where he is writing about considering buying a flax mill and refers to Joseph Liggins flax milling -"Now form your idea of Dad’s income" but I had not noticed this at the time when I transcribed the letters. In a recent letter from the Liggins they confirmed that Edie in fact came to England, in her early twenties, for a holiday and stayed on, eventually marrying Joseph Smith and having the first three of their four children in England. Apparently then she felt homesick for New Zealand and persuaded her somewhat reluctant husband to let them to go to New Zealand. The Liggins are due to visit us in May and they are bringing with them a school project completed by Amy Smith, who is Martin’s daughter, and which is about her great grandmother Edie. This will be one of the many things that we shall all want to talk about when they visit.

At the end of last year I decided to update my pc and printer and this present printing of the letters is the result. I think it has made them much more easy to read and this I hope has made them even more interesting.