AMERICAN VISITING N.Z. TO SEE STRANGERS IN FAMILY

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28529, 7 March 1958, Page 6

AMERICAN VISITING N.Z. TO SEE STRANGERS IN FAMILY

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, March 6. Mr William P. Thompson, of Philadelphia, has come to New Zealand to meet a brother he has not seen for 63 years and to meet two brothers and a sister he has never met. Mr Thompson arrived aboard the Mariposa for a five-week stay. He was greeted by a “stranger,” Mr Albert Thompson, of Havelock North, a younger brother. Soon he will leave for Christchurch to meet his older brother, Mr iThomas Thompson, whom he last saw at the age of three, and |wo more “strangers,” Mr John Thompson and his sister, now Mrs Sarah Barrett.

“I was born in County Tyrone, and my parents left for New Zealand in 1894, when I was still a tot,” Mr Thompson said. “I stayed and was brought up by my grandmother, but it was understood I would follow my parents here later on.” • But ,Mr Thompson went to England to work for his uncle, and followed his uncle to the United States. “I got married there when I was young, and that virtually put an end to my travelling," he said. “I retired from business recently and decided to look up my relatives.”

His wife and daughter are accompanying him on the trip.