Name of “Olive Louis Sievers”, year of birth of “1886”, year of marriage of “1910” from Janet (Jan) Kelly, great-granddaughter of Mary Ann Carroll, Mary being a daughter of John and Talitha (nee Hutchings) Carroll/Carrel.

Different year of birth, country of birth, from search on New Zealand BDM website in November 2023:
1885/17993. Sievers, Olive Louis. Mother: Ruth. Father: Louis

Full date of birth of 25 September 1885 from further searching in November 2023 on BDM Search by incrementally changing the date range for the birth.

Second given name spelt “Louise”, country of marriage, from marriage search on New Zealand BDM website in November 2023:
1910/6756. Bride: Olive Louise Sievers. Groom: Ernest Forbes Shirley

Full date of marriage of 20 October 1910 from further searching in November 2023 on BDM Search by incrementally changing the date range for the marriage.

The following children were found when searching on New Zealand BDM website in November 2023:
1911/21870. Shirley, Desmond Forbes. Mother: Olive Louis. Father: Ernest Forbes
1914/8663. Shirley, Ailsa Ruth. Mother: Olive Louis. Father: Ernest Forbes

No record of death could be found on the New Zealand BDM website as at November 2023.

Year and place of death, died as “Olive Louis Nicholas”, from Judith Dinneen (nee Blackie) in an email dated 30 March 2024.
Judith is the great-granddaughter of this Olive L Sievers. Olive was the daughter of Ruth Maria Carrel.

In this email Judith writes [abridged]:
Olive disappeared from her home in 1931 taking the two youngest [Cushla and Stuart] with her. When Olive left, husband Ernest was at work and first daughter Ailsa was at school.
Olive went to Rotorua, following a gentleman who was an author from England who was writing a book on New Zealand. That information came from my mother [Cushla]. The association with the gentleman came to nothing after which I believe Olive joined a church. She struggled to care for the two children who were fostered out within the church. Eventually my grandfather divorced her as she refused to return to the matrimonial home.
The divorce was granted in 1935. For two years Olive tried to keep the children with her, living in boarding houses with virtually no money and moving on from place to place avoiding paying her board. In 1938 she sent the two children back to my grandfather [Ernest F Shirley] basically with a note advising she couldn’t care for them and popped them on a train back to the city. I think the reason she let them go was she had insufficient means to support herself. When she appeared in the Hamilton court she refused name suppression and said that since her divorce she had been persecuted and put down and she wanted her name to appear in the newspaper to let those who had turned against her know what damage they had done. She was especially upset that the church had shut its doors on her and that the persecution came from not only the women but also the men..
By chance, I discovered that as a child Olive used the surname Nicholas which was Ruth’s third husband’s surname. I don’t think he ever adopted her but it was a name she chose to use as a child and again later in life and so I was able to discover that Olive died as Olive Louis Nicholas in 1975 in Hamilton.
I feel sad that Olive went to her grave without her family forgiving her and I think it is sad that we as grandchildren have been denied knowledge of our heritage by those who were able to tell of their heritage. I don’t think Olive was a bad person, I think she was brave to have stood up in court and refused name suppression I was proud of her for that she certainly had spirit.


Result from death search on New Zealand BDM website in April 2024 using surname of “Nicholas”. This shows different date of birth of that found earlier on BDM website. Death result:
1975/38430. Nicholas, Olive. Date of birth: 14 March 1888

Full date of death of 13 August 1975 from further searching in April 2024 on BDM Search by incrementally changing the date range for the death.

Confirmation born in 1885, place of birth, from the New Zealand Civil Registration Birth records found in July 2024:
Name: Olive Louis Sievers
Birth Date: 1885
Birth Place: New Zealand
Father: Louis Sievers
Mother: Ruth Sievers
Registration Place: Wanganui, New Zealand
Birth Registration Number 1885/17993