Elaine Valk was reading the Waimea Weekly when one of the photos in an article caught her eye. She had an identical photograph in her own family album.
In an article published on 4th March, Richmond Hospice shop manager Anete Smith had contacted the paper asking for the readers help with a photo album that had been left with them in a load of donated goods.
“The album was nothing much to look at but the photos inside were too good to throw away,” says Anete. “Some dated back over 100 years and followed families through generations.”
When Elaine went through the album with Anete she knew all the names in the photos and even had a few of the same photos herself.
“We still don’t know who the book belonged to but believe it has come from a deceased estate,” says Anete.
Elaine, who has already been working on her family history and can trace it back to the first Nesbits, William and Rebecca arriving in Nelson in 1842, believes the album is going to be a great help in compiling it further.
“I’ll share the album with the rest of the family and I’m hoping a cousin in Christchurch will be able to fill in the blanks,” she says.