Bulletin Board members may be interested to know of a Manx connection with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, of international opera singing fame.

Kiri was adopted in 1944, Gisborne, New Zealand, by Atama (Tom) TE KANAWA and
Hellena Janet (Nell) nee LEECE. Nell was instrumental in directing Kiri's progress.

Nell LEECE d/o John Alfred LEECE & Emily Beatrice Agatha SULLIVAN b. 1897, Waihi, NZ

John Alfred LEECE s/o James LEECE & Margaret Ann KINRADE chr 30 Aug 1866, Maughold, IOM. This couple and 4 of their 8 children emigrated to New Zealand in 1874.

James LEECE s/o Thomas LEECE & Jannett DAVIDSON chr 27 Dec 1840, Kirk Rushen, IOM.
Margaret Ann KINRADE d/o John KINRADE & Mary Ann MARSDEN chr 26 Jan 1843, Maughold, IOM.

Most of these lines are known apart from that of Jannett or Jennett DAVIDSON b. 1805, Tranent, E. Lothian, Scotland. If anyone has information on her background I would be interested in obtaining it.

I am a descendant on the KINRADE line. Margaret Ann KINRADE's younger brother Henry KINRAID (sic) b. 1856, also emigrated to New Zealand. Many of his descendants are musical, and some have achieved national fame in NZ.

The best information on Kiri's natural and adoptive parents is recorded in "Kiri, Her Unsung Story", an unofficial biography, by Jenkins & D'Antal [Harper Collins, 1998]