Typhoon

Last Thursday a strong typhoon was forecast to hit the Kanto region. Although Japan has 10 or so typhoons each autumn, it has been a couple of years since the last typhoon that hit Tokyo directly.

Everyone took the warning seriously. Normal programing on NHK was replaced by continuous coverage of the storm. Most people left work early and went straight home to sit it out. They expected the trains to stop running when the storm hit and didn't want to be stranded.

This is a false-color satelite radar image showing the storm over Japan on Thursday night. The forecast proved very accurate, except that the typhoon moved slower and arrived later than expected. Since I live a short subway ride from work I stayed at work until 8pm. When I cam home the town was very quiet and there were broken umbrellas cast about the pavement. Japanese littering rules are clearly suspended during potential natural disasters!

The center of the typhoon made landfall in Izu in the evening and the eye of the storm passed directly over central Izu where Rika's mum lives. I was a bit concerned about Rika's Mum since the hills in Izu are prone to landslides and flood damage, and the rice is just about ready for harvesting. Also they have suffered disasters from typhoons in the past. But apparently there was no major damage, although some rain leaked into one of her windows.

I downloaded these maps from the Japanese met office at that time. This storm was strong but not super strong - but on the other hand it was slow so the rainfall was more concentrated. Izu city received 500mm of rain in 24 hours, much of it concentrated in a few hours. 　Thats 2/3 of the rain London typically receives in a year! (annual rainfall c.750mm). These radar images show the rainfall. The detailed image below shows rain falling in Tokyo at a rate of 30mm/h. 　

Since the Typhoon arrived at night there wasn't much to see or photograph. So we just watched reports on TV and the pressure on our barometer. The drop in pressure as the storm approached was dramatic. It literally fell off the scale of my barometer!　

So the lowest pressure we reecorded was just under 980 hPa. The centre of the low pressure area was about 960hPa and this went past a few tens of km to the west of Tokyo in the early morning.

I didn't see much storm damage apart from the umbrellas. But therse was a lot of small debris and litter scattered across the streets, which is unusual for Tokyo. It was quickly swept up. We are going down to Izu today to help with the rice harvest. So I'll update with a damage report later.

Family History (4) Smith Family in New Zealand

After William death, Hannah became the head of the family and lived at Birchlands for most of the next 24 years, surrounded by her children. She died in Ashburton in 1926.

Hannah’s obituary described her as a ‘fine old lady’ displaying the ‘best Victorian traits’ and said that although she was ‘not out of sympathy with modern times’ she ‘disliked frivolity and weakness’.

Photo: Tottie’s wedding, 1908. Tottie is standing far left. Hannah sitting 3rd from right. 'Willie' is standing behind Hannah, 3rd from right.

‘Willie’ became established as a land-owning farmer with financial help from his mother Hannah. He married Catherine (‘Kate’) Harvey in 1900 and they had 6 children, including Hannah Elizabeth (1910-1962) and my grandfather Duncan Graham (1914-1974),

Photo: 'Willie' (William Tayler Smith junior) and Catherine Harvey, 1900

In 1826 Willie bought the sheep station Hakataramea Downs. This is a high-country sheep farm towards the top of the Hakataramea valley. The stone farm-house was first built in 1858 and extended in 1880?.

Photo: Hannah Elizabeth’s wedding, 1939. Willie (seated left), Kate (seated right) and their children (from left to right) Duncan, Nellie, Jack, Allan, Hannah and Ted.

Willie died in 1945 and after that my grandfather Duncan Graham farmed at Hakataramea Downs with his brother and then his sons until his death in 1974.

Photo: Farmhouse at Hakataramea Downs, 2002.

My father, Mervyn Graham, was born in 1937 and grew up on the farm at Haka Downs before moving to Dunedin. My parents still own the stone farm buildings which they use as a holiday house.

Photo: Hakataramea Downs, 2002

My father did not have any siblings or first cousins called Hannah. In my generation, I have a cousin called Johanna and she has a daughter Hannah Rose who was born in 1999. Also my grandfather, my father and myself all have the middle name of 'Graham', after the family name of our ancestor Hannah Graham.

Photo: The ‘cook shop‘ at Hakataramea Downs. Looking south-east down the valley.

Hannahs family tree (Smith & Graham families)

8. James Graham 1740-1829. Married Anne Filmer 1739-1805 St Lukes Old Street, London
7. John Bond Graham 1766-1834. Married Margaret Tayler 1766-1851 St Lukes , Old St, London, 1791
6. William Graham 1809-1989 Married Hannah Austin 1808-1849, St Boltophs, Aldersgate London, 1830. Arrived Lyttleton, New Zealand 1851
5. Hannah Graham 1845-1926

8. William Smith married Margaret Frazer, 1751, Rothiemay Scotland
7. Charles Smith. Born1770 Rothiemay, died 1852, .Elgin, Scotland
6. John Smith 1807-1887, Rothiemay, Scotland. Farmer
5. William Taylor Smith 1844 1902. Arrived Lyttleton, New Zealand, 1863.
Married Hannah Graham, Lyttleton 1869. Sheep farmer.
4. William Taylor Smith (Willie) 1875-1945. Sheep farmer.
3. Duncan Graham Smith (1914-1974). Sheep farmer.
2. Mervyn Graham Smith 1937- . Not a sheep farmer
1. Me.
0. Hanna Smith S.  2007-

Family History (3) Smith Family from Scotland

William Taylor Smith (1844-1902), was born in Scotland in the parish of Rothiemay, in East Banffshire. Rothiemay is a rural area of small farms, villages and forests about 9km north of Huntly. Our family has been traced in Rothiemay as far back as William Taylor’s great-grandfather, William Smith, who married Margaret Frazer in Rothiemay in 1751.

Photo: Coldhome, Rothiemay, Scotland

William Taylor’s parents were John Smith (1807-1887), and Euphemia Wilson (1807-1893). John Smith was a crofter (farmer) who lived at Burnside of Coldhome in Rothiemay and had 7.5 acres of land (30,000 m2) .

John and Euphemia had 3 daughters and 6 sons, but only one child remained in Scotland. The 2 other daughters moved to England, 2 sons emigrated to the USA, and 4 sons emigrated to Canterbury, New Zealand. The choice on New Zealand may have been influenced by news of discoveries of gold.

Picture: Gold Mining town West Coast, New Zealand,1866

William Taylor Smith was their youngest son and when he was only 19 he traveled from Scotland to New Zealand, arriving at Lyttleton on the ship “Brothers Pride” in Dec 1863. 44 of the 371 passengers died the voyage. His brother Hay had arrived at Lyttleton in Jan the same year, and his brothers George and Charles followed in 1864. He first worked in the west coast gold-fields 1863-1867 .

Photo: Mt Somers from near Staveley

Around 1867 he started as a bullock driver. He worked at the farm ‘Buccleuch’, where his brother Hay was working, and other farms in the Mt Somers/Staveley area. This area is where the Canterbury Plains meets the foothills of the Southern Alps It is also near the location used for filming ‘Edoras’ in the Lord of the Rings.

Photo: Bullock team pulling a wool wagon across a stream, Canterbury,1890s.

William Taylor Smith and Hannah Graham married in 1869 at Lyttleton and settled in in a sub—division of the ‘Buccleuch’ property which they later bought and called ‘Birchlands’. They built up a successful transport business using bollocks and then horses, and also bought and farmed properties in the Staveley area.

Photo: Bullock team and wool wagon, Canterbury, 1880s.

William Taylor became known for his competitiveness, strength, perseverance in getting wool out of remote high county sheep stations, like Mesopotamia. Messapotamia station is well known for being remote, and famous because the English writer, Samuel Butler, lived there 1859-64 and wrote about his experience.

Photo: Mesopotamia Station, showing house, group and surrounding land, 1871.

William and Hannah had 11 children (4 sons and 7 daughters) and 58 grandchildren. The sons all became sheep farmers in Canterbury, and their daughters married local farmers.

Painting: Sheep station, Canterbury c 1890. By Francis Fortescue Croft Huddleston.

Their 2nd son was called William Taylor (1875-1945) just like his father and was known as ‘Willie’. He is my great-grandfather. Their 4th daughter was called Hannah (1878-1955) and was known as ‘Tottie’ to distinguish her from her mother.

Photo: Hannah and Williams Family, Birchlands 1898.

Photo: Birchlands 1898 (detail). Hannah and William are seated. 'Willie' is standing behind Hanna on the left, Tottie standing behind Hannah.

In 1902 William Taylor traveled to Auckland to buy horses but he disappeared from the ship “Zealandia” somewhere between Napier and Auckland. It was believed that he fell overboard, and may have been robbed for his money.

Photo: The clipper ship Zealandia

Family History (2) Canterbury Pioneers

In 1851, William Graham re-married and then sailed to New Zealand on the ship “Sir George Pollock” with his new wife Mary Anne and his seven surviving children, including five-year-old Hannah Graham. The voyage took about 4 months and they arrived in Lyttleton in Nov 1851.

Picture: Canterbury Association Ships in London. “The world begins to feel very small when one finds one can get half round it in three months” - Samuel Butler, January 27 1860, on arrival at Lyttleton.

Hannah’s family were among the first European settlers of the New Zealand province of Canterbury. (Canterbury is a province of 42,200 km2 in the middle of the South Island, centered around Christchurch). Native Maoritribes had lived in this area for 700 years, and caught eel in the swamps around where Christchurch is now. But the first Europeans didn’t land until 1815, and they didn’t settle there until the 1830s when a few whaling stations and farms were established.

Drawing: Maori on shore watching a canoe beach, Kits of food beside the group. 1852-1860. By William Fox.

Around that time, the Maori tribe living in Canterbury (Ngai Tahu) was almost wiped out by Te Rauparaha’s Ngati Toa tribe,who raided from the North. Te Rauparaha was the first chief to trade with the Europeans to buy muskets, so he was able to kill a lot of his enemies. He is also famous for writing the ‘haka’ (fighting challange) that is used by the All Blacks. The part that sounds like ‘ganbatte, ganbatte’ means ‘will I die?, will I die?’. In the years 1829-32 he attacked the Ngai Tahu villages in Canterbury and killed most of the people living there.

Drawing: Te Rauparaha's fleet attacking Kaiapoi village near Christchurch, 1829. By William Menzies Gibb. Only 200 of the 1,000 inhabitants escaped.

In 1840 the Maori tribes on New Zealand signed the ‘Treaty of Waitangi ‘, and agreed to be governed by the British in return for guarantee of rights. At that time the population of New Zealand was about 100,000 Maori and only 2,000 ‘pakeha’ (‘pakeha’ is the Maori for ‘gaijin’). But the treaty allowed Europeans to buy land and live in New Zealand, so by 1850 there were about 22,000 ‘pakeha’ living in New Zealand. But in Canterbury there were only 500 Maori surviving, and about 300 Europeans with 700 cows and 4000 sheep!

Drawing: Rakutawine of Te Hakataramea Waitaki, 1848. By Francis Edward Nairn.

In 1848 the ‘Canterbury Association’ was formed in England to organize the settlement of Canterbury. The company bought land from the Ngai Tahu, including one block of 80,000 km2 (about the size of Hokkaido) - for only 2,000 pounds! (around 8,000 Japanese ryo). The company then planned the city of Christchurch, recruited skilled settlers in England, and organized a fleet of ships to bring them to New Zealand.

Lithograph: Landing of passengers at Port Lyttleton, 1850. By William Fox.

The “first 4 ships” with the first 792 ‘Canterbury Pilgrims’ arrived in Lyttleton 17 December 1850. Hannah Graham’s family arrived 11 months later on the ship “Sir George Pollock”. This was the 17th of a total of 28 Canterbury Association ships that brought 3,600 settlers to Canterbury between 1850-1853.

Photo: Christchurch in 1850

This voyage must have been quite a dramatic experience for the Graham family. To leave London, which had a population 2.6million in 1851, to sail for 4 months in a 630 ton sailing ship, and then arrive in an empty landscape on the other side of the world!

Drawing: Lyttleton in 1852

William Graham and Mary-Anne settled at Brenchley Farm near Lyttleton and had a further 8 children, bringing William’s total to 18 children! Brenchley Farm was probably just off the left edge of these 2, up the hill behind the village.

Painting: Lyttleton in 1852

Hannah grew up in Lyttleton and would have watched the town grow up around her. Before she married, she worked as a governess to the children of William Reeves (MP). One of these children, William Peber Reeves, became a famous writer, government minister, and statesman.

Photo: Christchurch in 1854.

The main industry in Canterbury was faming sheep for wool for export. The farming industry developed rapidly and by 1867 there were 2,500,000 sheep being farmed in Canterbury. In 1867 Hannah was working at the farm ‘Buccleuch’ (about 100km from Christchurch). There she met William Taylor Smith who was working as a bullock driver, and they married at Lyttleton in 1869.

Photo: Mt Somers from near Stavely and ‘Buccleuch’ c.2005

Painting: Canterbury Plains, 1855

Family History (1) The Graham Family of London

On my father’s side of the family, we know our family-tree going back 8 generations from Hanna. In 5 of those generations there was someone called Hannah in the immediate family!
私の父方の家族の歴史は　羽菜から八代前までさかのぼることができます。　直系の家族の中だけでも５人の「はな」と呼ばれる先祖がいました。

5 generations before Hannah, my father’s family are descended from Hannah Graham (1845-1926), and William Taylor Smith. They married at Lyttleton, New Zealand in 1869.
羽菜の５代前、私の父方の家族のルーツはハンナ・グラハム（１８４５－１９２６）とウィリアム・テイラー・スミスに　あります。　二人は１８６９年にニュージーランドのリトルトンで結婚しました。



Photo: William Taylor Smith and Hannah Graham.　　ウィリアム・テイラー・スミス　と　ハンナ・グラハム


Hannah and William are especially important in our family because they emigrated from England and Scotland and established our family in New Zealand.
ハンナとウィリアムの二人はイギリスとスコットランドから移住して、　ニュージーランドに家庭を築いたという点で私の家族にとって重要な人物です。

Hannah Graham was born in London, England in 1845. Her parents were William Graham (1809-1898) and Hannah Austin (1808-1849).
ハンナ・グラハムはイギリスのロンドンで生まれました。　両親はウィリアム・グラハム（1809-1898）と　ハンナ・オースティン(1808-1849)です。



Photo: William Graham ウィリアム・グラハム（1809-1898）

William Graham’s profession was ivory turning. A turner is someone who makes things using a lathe. So he probably made ivory objects like thimbles, cups, chess pieces etc. Ivory was an expensive material so these would probably have been luxury items.
ウィリアム・グラハムの生業は象牙のろくろ師でした。　ろくろ師（旋削師）はろくろでものを作る職人です。　おそらく象牙で指貫やカップや将棋のこまを作っていたと思われます。　象牙は高価な材料だったので、これらは贅沢品だったことでしょう。


Photo: Turned ivory bottle.　そくろく作った象牙のボトル。

William Graham’s family lived in London for 3 generations in the parish of St Luke’s, Old Street. Possibly in a house on Old Street itself.　　
ウィリアム・グラハムの家族は、かれの祖父の代からロンドンの聖ルーク・オールドストリートの教区に住んでいました。（教区は教会の区域です）。　たぶん彼の家はオールドストリートにありました。


Painting: St Lukes Church Old Street c 1810 by George Shepherd. View from the North　East. Old Street runs behind the houses on the left. 聖ルークの教会・オールドストリート １８１０ごろ．　北西から景色

The parish of St Lukes was outside the old London city walls north of ‘Moorgate’. It was originally an area of fields but between 1650 and 1850 the fields were gradually built over as London expanded. Several hospitals were built there so it became a fashionable area for doctors. Then from the beginning of the 19th century the area became more commercial and industrial, especially with the building of the City Road basin of the Regents Canal in 1820. So the doctors moved west to Harley Street. The area was badly bombed during the blitz and almost all the original buildings have been replaced by offices and apartment blocks.
聖ルーク教区の近所は　ロンドン市の障壁の外で、　モーゲイトから北　の　所です。　もともと　牧草地でした.　（「モーゲイト」は　平原にある門のことばで、昔の障壁の門でした。）　１６５０年から１８５０年までの間に、ロンドンが大きくなり、たくさんのビルが建ちました｡ いくつかの病院も建ち、そこは医者にとってみりょく的な場所になりました。 しかし１９世紀に入ると、商工業がさかんになりました。　たとえば1820年に　レイジィントの運河と運河の「シテイロード」船着場　がたちました。そのため医者は西のハーレーストリートへ移りました。


Painting: St Lukes Church Old Street c 1810. View from the north east　聖ルーク教会・オールドストリート １８１０年ごろ．　北東からの景色。

The church of St Lukes Old Street was built in 1732.　　William Graham’s parents were married there in 1791. His grandparents were also married at St Lukes, probably around 1765, and were buried there.
オールドストリートの聖ルーク教会は１７３２年に建てられました。　そこで　ウィリアム・グラハムの両親は１７９１年に結婚しました。　祖父母も１７６５年ごろ聖ルーク教会で結婚して、　その教会に埋葬されました。

Painting: Sherpherdess Walk, Hoxton 1845. Looking south towards the City Road and St Luke’s. ホクストン　１８４５年　北から望む、聖ルーク教会の景色。

William Graham’s grandparents, James Graham (1740-1829) and Anne Filmer (1739-1805), may have originally come to London from villages in Kent. But we don’t have much information about their ancestors.

ウィリアム・グラハムの祖父母は　ジェームス・グラハム(1740-1829)　と　アン・フィルマー(1739-1805) です。おそらくケントのある村からロンドンに移って来ましたが、彼らの先祖の情報が余り残っていないので詳しくはよくわかりません。

Our family have a story that James Graham had a famous uncle, although we can’t verify if this is true not. ‘Honest’ George Graham (1673-1751) was a clockmaker and member of the Royal Society. He invented several important designs for making clocks more accurate (the deadbeat escarpment and the temperature-regulated pendulum) and so made the most accurate clocks in the world at that time. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. He is called ‘Honest’ George Graham to distinguish him from the Arsenal football club manager of the same name.

本当かどうかはわかりませんが、ジェームス・グラハム　には有名な伯父がいたと言われています。 それは　「堅実な」ジョージ・グラハムという 時計職人　で　ロイヤルソサエテイーの会員でした。 彼は時計を作る上でのいくつかの大事なメカニズムを発明し、その当時で一番正確な時計を作り出しました。彼はウエストミンスター寺院に埋葬されています。

Painting: ‘Honest’ George Graham (1673-1751)　 「堅実な」ジョージ・グラハム

Hannah Grahams mother was Hannah Austin (1808-1848). She was also born in London. Her maternal grandparents were Thomas Austin (1783-1831) from London and Hannah Oakley.

ハンナ・グラハムの母はハンナ・オースティン(1808-1849)です。　ロンドンで生まれました。　祖父母は　ロンドンの　トーマス・オースティン(1783-1831)と　ハンナ・オークレイです。

Photo: Hannah Austin (1808-1849) in 1830. ハンナ・アウストン　

William Graham and Hannah Austin married in 1830 at the Church of St Botolph’s. This church is just inside the old roman walls of London and was first built around 1000, although it was rebuilt in 1791.

ウィリアム・グラハムとハンナ・オースティンは　１８３０年に　聖ボトルフ教会で結婚しました。　この教会　は　ロンドンの障壁の中で約１０００年に建てられて、１７９１年に　建て直されました。

Picture: North-east view of St Boltoph, Aldersgate 1814, by John Coney. 聖ボトルフ教会 1814年。

Hannah Austin had 10 children with William Graham before she died in 1849 aged 40. Hannah Graham was the 9th child and was born 2-Aug-1845 in Camberwell, South London.

ハンナ・オースティンは１８４９年に４０歳で亡くなるまでに１０人の子供を生みました。　　ハンナ・グラハムは　9人目の子供で、1845年８月２日に　南ロンドンのキャンバウェル　で生まれました。

Picture: View of City Road Basin on Regent's Canal, Finsbury with barges on the canal. c1830. You can see the spire of St Lukes in the background. The Camberwell Basin near Hannah’s house in Camberwell would have looked similar.　　リージェント運河、「シテイロード」の船着場. 後ろの教会が聖ルークです。 「キャンバウェル」の船着場もおそらく同じような光景でしょう。

In the 1851 census Hannah’s family was recorded as living in South London at 5 Canal Place, Camberwell in South London. Canal Place was next to the Grand Surrey Canal, and near the Camberwell Basin, which would have been a commercial area of warehouses and workshops.

1851年の国勢調査の記録には　ハナの家族の住所は　南ロンドンのカナル・プレース、５番地　キャンバウェル とあります。 カナル・プレースは　グランド・サリー運河　に面し、キャンバウェルの船着場の近くでした。キャンバウェルの船着場は　倉庫と町工場が建ち並ぶの商業地帯　でした。

Painting: Surrey Canal, Camberwell, 1935 By Algernon Newton サリー運河､キャンバウェル, 1935年

The Surrey Canal and Canal Place no longer exist. In the 1970s the Surrey Canal was filled-in and the area was redeveloped into a new park called Burgess Park.

残念ながらサリー運河 と　カナル・プレース という住所は現在では存在しません。 １９７０年ごろ　サリー運河は埋め立てられ、新しく　「バゲス・パーク」　と呼ばれる公園になりました。

Photo: Burgess Park , 2005. Remains of Surrey Canal.　バゲス・パーク 2005年　サリー運河の名残　

In 1851, William Graham re-married Mary Anne. Soon after he sailed to New Zealand on the ship “Sir George Pollock” with his new wife and his seven surviving children, including Hanna Graham (aged 5).

1851年　ウィリアム・グラハムは　再婚しました。　新しい妻と　５歳のハンナ・グラハムを含む７人の残された子供達と共に　「サー・ジョージ・ポロック」号で　ニュージーランドへ　出航しました。（＊１０人の子供のうち３人は幼い時に死亡）　

Picture: Canterbury Association Ships in London.　ロンドンの港に漂泊中のカンタベリー社の船　

To be continued....

“The world begins to feel very small when one finds one can get half round it in three months” - Samuel Butler, 1860, on arrival in Lyttleton.

「３ヶ月で地球を半周できるようになって世界はとても小さくなったような感じがし始めた」サミュエル・バトラー　（１８６０年にニュージーランドのリトルトンに到着）