Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay of New Zealand, part 1

I'm continuing my research into the New Zealand branch of my line descended from Charles McKinlay and Jane(t) Finlay by looking at Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay.

Ancestors of Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay

The reason I got interested in him was that one of the public trees on Ancestry had the following location for his death, "Panama in route to New Zealand" in 1918. That got me curious. What was he doing going to New Zealand by way Panama? So I took a look at that tree and noticed that there was record pointing to the "UK, Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921 and 1939-1947" collection on Ancestry. The image of the record had the following text:

REPUBLIC OF PANAMA

COROZAL AMERICAN MILITARY CEMETERY

McKINLAY, Pte. Charles Thomas Walter, 63390. Wellington Regt., N.Z.E.F. Died at sea en route to New Zealand 22nd April, 1918. Age 30. Son of Mrs. F. B. Thomas (formerly McKinlay), of Cumberland St., Dunedin; husband of Isabella McKinlay, of 54, Murray St., Caversham, Dunedin. Sect C. Row 2. Grave 14.

Hmmm, some very interesting details in that record. I knew that Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay's father, James, had died shortly after Charles birth. I hadn't realized that Johan Riddell (or Riddle as she signed it in the marriage register) had remarried. Looks like I might need to look for an F. B. Thomas and a possible marriage in New Zealand or even Australia for him to a Riddel/Riddle/McKinlay [added to my to-do list].

I now also know that he married an Isabella. I need to keep focused so I add another to-do item and that is to search for marriages to an Isabella by Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay.

Yet this record states that he died at sea not Panama but he wasn't buried at sea. Curiouser and curiouser.

So I turned to an old friend of mine for assistance, Google. I typed in Charles' full name and asked Google to search for him in the hopes something of interest might pop up. And did it as can be seen below:

Google search results for Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay

So I clicked on the Auckland Museum link for the online cenotaph for Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay. A treasure trove of information was displayed including a picture of Charles in uniform from the Auckland Weekly News in 1918. I wonder if I could find any mention of his death in a New Zealand newspaper. Yet another item in my to-do list, this time to search in Papers Past courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand.

But continuing with the Online Cenotaph page (keep focused!) I see all kinds of additional information about Charles and towards the bottom I see something I was least expecting. A list of the sources used to create the page:

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• Military Personnel File
• FamNet: The Family History Network record page

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission site and information I knew about and the FamNet site search didn't find anything in their search engine. But that middle one, Military Personnel File, that pointed to the Archive New Zealand web site. Have they done what Library and Archives Canada is still working on? Digitizing the service files from World War I?

Screen capture of Archives New Zealand search results for Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay, 63390

Clicking on the "record online" tab on the screen and then Charles' name brought up his services file and I could download each page to my computer. Can you say a happy researcher?

Screen capture of Archive New Zealand military service file for Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay

Much downloading and reading was then started. Page 2 of his file had the answer to the question of "Where did he really die?"

New Zealand, "WW1 Army Service file for Charles Thomas Walter McKinlay, 63390," History Sheet; digital images, Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand, Archives New Zealand (http://archives.govt.nz/ : accessed 21 Jan 2018). 

"He died on board the H.S. [Hospital Ship] Marama during the passage through the Panama Canal at Pedro Miguel of Carcinoma Rectum 22 April 1918."

and

"Died 11 am. 22.4.16 during passage through Canal. Buried at Balboa Cem by Chap. Read with full Mil Honours. The U.S. Army supplying firing party."

So that question has been answered but what else can be found about him? That's for part 2!