TEARFULLY: I want to say how much I forgive you. Who would leave a baby in the outside washhouse of an empty house? You're not gonna believe what I've just found. It's really gonna stop here. I'm gonna do something about it. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2020 (SOMBRE MUSIC) I'm David Lomas. I've flown to New Plymouth to meet Lorraine Collier, a 60-year-old mother of two, who wants to solve the mystery that she says ruined her late mother's life and has also impacted her life. Tell me your story. My mother was abandoned as a baby in a house in Christchurch in 1926. She spent a lot of the years of her life trying to find what happened and was unable to. And how can I help you? It's a mystery I'd really like to solve. I'd like to find out who my grandmother was. Recently, I did a DNA test, and not really got any information from it. Lorraine's mother, Maisie De Berry, died in 1994, never knowing who had abandoned her as a baby or why. Who would leave a baby in the outside washhouse of an empty house? You know, and she was not even dressed, and the newspaper said she was left wrapped in a sack. She had congealed blood on her. There was question around whether she had been inflicted in some way. Who would do it? Hmm. Maisie was adopted by the Macpherson family and raised in Temuka. It was a happy childhood, with Maisie always believing she was being raised by her birthparents. When she was 21, she was given her birth certificate, and it was at that point that she found out that she was adopted. And how did that impact on her life? She struggled with mental health a lot of her life. She was in and out of mental healthcare. You know, at times, she had shock treatment. She was on medication. I think she struggled with knowing that she'd been abandoned and that she didn't know who her real parents were. She always wanted to know what did actually happen. You know, why did it happen? In 1953, Maisie married Benjamin de Berry. They had two children, Collin and then Lorraine. But when Lorraine was 8, the family fell apart. Her father was sent to prison for serious assault. Her mother, Maisie, was admitted to a mental health institution. Lorraine and Collin were placed in care. In the years before her death, Maisie appealed in newspapers and magazines for information. The closest she got to an answer came in a hand-delivered booklet put together by a social worker who had read all of the files related to Maisie. So, it says, READS: 'Your birth mother must have decided that she was not able to keep you 'and bring you up as her daughter. You must understand that in 1926 to do this without a husband 'to support you was practically impossible. There was no money available from the government, 'and people were not always understanding of an unmarried mother. 'It must have been very difficult for her to leave you in that unoccupied house. 'It was thought you were about 9 days old when you were found, 'and so your own mother must have fed and cared for you in those first few days of your life. 'Every possible inquiry was made, but no trace of either parent could be found.' And you're trying to find the answer? I'd like to find the answer, yeah. Yeah. I think it'd be huge to pick up, even just some small bit of it ` for Mum, for myself and also for my family. Hmm. Lorraine and husband, Chris, who have a business supplying probiotics to the dairy industry, have a small close-knit family that includes five grandchildren. Till recently, when she met relatives on her dad's side, they were Lorraine's only known relatives. She does not know anyone from her mother's side. A DNA test two years ago revealed some Irish ancestry, but no close maternal ties were identified. Lorraine gives me access to her DNA results, and back in Auckland, I send them to an expert for further analysis. Meanwhile, I start searching for any records that may indicate what happened to Maisie when she was abandoned almost 100 years ago. Christchurch in the 1920s was a city with a population of just 100,000. Women in the wake of the Great War had become more modern. But unmarried mothers were often subject to scorn, because illegitimacy was considered a threat to public morality. As a result, many pregnant unmarried mothers were humiliated by being sent to what were known as 'homes for fallen women'. While giving birth, these mothers-to-be were at times denied pain relief as a punishment for their sin and as a deterrent against reoffending. Their babies were sent to orphanages, but the mothers were still expected to pay for the child's care till the child was adopted. The draconian system meant some women hid their pregnancy and then abandoned their newborn. Newspaper reports from the early 1900s tell a sorry story of babies found in gardens, on doorsteps, and even one in a railway station that had a note saying, 'Please look after my little baby Frances. I have no money to keep her. 'She is the sweetest baby ever was. Goodbye, darling. Mother must leave you now.' Babies who were found alive, like Maisie was, were the lucky ones. Many of the abandoned newborns died. Some were found buried. The police file on the Maisie case has long ago been destroyed. But some health records still exist, and Lorraine messages me to say she has permission to view her mother's file. I'm curious. I head to Christchurch and meet Lorraine at the National Archives. So, hopefully they've got all the documents you've ordered. Yeah, yeah. We're hoping Maisie's health records will detail her condition when she was found. What row are we looking for? L-55-T. So that's C, K. Will the records explain why there was congealed blood on the baby's head? Will they say whether Maisie had been deliberately harmed? So, it will be this one. What row are we looking for? L-55-T. Lorraine Collier wants to solve a near 100-year-old mystery. Is L over here? Her mother Maisie was a foundling ` abandoned in a vacant house on a Christchurch street in 1926. So that looks like us, doesn't it? That looks like it. We are hoping her medical records might have more information. All right. Was she abandoned by a loving mother who for some reason could not keep her or had Maisie been left to die? So, Essex Hospital, report box 1926. I wonder what we're gonna find out about your mother. (MURMURS) Wow. READS: 'Sunday 24th of January 1926. 'Admitted through police station, infant female which was found in an empty home at Waltham.' All right. What's the other one gonna tell us? So that's the Essex home register. Here we are. READS: 'A female infant admitted in Christchurch, New Zealand on the 24th of January 1926. 'Committed to receiving home, admitted from police station.' Wow. So that's her being put into the home. Yeah. The records are brief and disappointing. They are not what we were hoping for. There is nothing to indicate the state of health that baby Maisie was found in. The mystery's still there. Really quite a mystery. The mystery of Maisie's known life started on Waltham Road. I've been doing some research, and in the 1920s, this now busy area of Christchurch had a bit of a reputation. This is Waltham Road. It would've been quite a bit different back in 1926. There would've been a lot of houses here back then. Yes, and the area was apparently called Strugglers Flat because it was quite a working class area, and as you see, behind the containers there, that was the railway line. They used to say it was on the wrong side of the tracks. Wow. So, this is where the house your mother was abandoned in would've been. 219's just here, so 221, 223. What do you think? I think so. For your family, I mean, the story didn't really end here, did it? No, there's impact from one generation to another. Maisie struggled to understand her life. The emotional damage that started here on Waltham Rd continued through to the next generation. It had a huge effect on us as children. How bad was it for you? I was fostered and shifted almost 20 times. I was away from my family for all of my life ` separated from my brother. It took me some time to get on my feet as well, yeah. Lorraine and Colin were only meant to be in care for a short time. But their father, on his release from prison, was deemed an unfit parent and died a few years later. Maisie was never well enough to care for her children again. But you seemed to have come out OK. I was fortunate in a lot of ways. I had good families and friends around me that gave me a lot of support, but sadly things were different from my brother. He was possibly impacted by abuse. I think things were pretty hard for him, and he was really affected by where he was. He ended up living almost like a homeless-type person. He was in council flats in Wellington, lived very poorly, not long before he died. It was very sad to see him living like that. And you put that down to what happened over here? Yeah, yeah. It was a flow-on effect from one generation to another, and I've decided it's really gonna stop here. I'm gonna do something about it. Part of that is solving this mystery. For 94 years, the identity of Maisie's mother has been a mystery, but I'm hoping DNA profile will not only change that, but we will also identify some relatives for Lorraine to meet. I called DNA analyst Gail Wilson-Waring to see how she's been getting on. Hello. Hi Gail, it's David here. How's your analysing going? Well, not that well. There are very few matches, but the Tinnelly name features a few times, which is interesting. It's progress, but Gail warns that the link to the Tinnelly family is weak distant cousins, and that there is no match to anyone living. Well I'll have a look and see if there's any Tinnellys in New Zealand in the 1920s. Good idea. That would certainly help. All right, well look I'll get back to you. OK, talk soon. (COMPELLING MUSIC) On ancestry.com, I search the name Tinnelly in the New Zealand section. Immediately, I'm taken to old electoral roles and what I discover has me back on the phone to Gail with amazing news. (LINE RINGS) Hello. You're not going to believe what I've just found. Lorraine Collier is trying to find out why her mother was abandoned in an empty house in Christchurch in 1926. She is hoping my search might also find living family members. DNA testing has given a very weak link to a family called Tinnelly, but a search of old New Zealand electoral roles has me stunned, and I'm immediately on the phone to DNA expert Gail Wilson-Waring. You're not gonna believe what I've just found. What's that? In the 1925 electoral role, there's a Tinnelly family living on Waltham Rd. That's the same street the baby was found on. Gosh, that's amazing. Look, I'll start trying to build a family tree to see if there are any descendants still alive that we can get DNA from. OK, let me know how you get on. Will do. OK. It's an exciting start, but there's still a lot of work to do to confirm that we are on the right track. (INTRIGUING MUSIC) Morning. Morning. Wondered where I'd find you. The following week, it's time to check in with Gail. So, that was pretty amazing, finding the Tinnellys in the electoral role, wasn't it? Absolutely. So, I've printed off that electoral role and I've started a bit of a family tree for Charles and Elizabeth Tinnelly. Charles and Elizabeth Tinnelly, who were living in Waltham Rd, they had five children, but I've managed to eliminate these three here. Why is that? Well, at the time that Maisie was conceived, Rose, Charles and Agnes had married and moved away. So, basically, that left Mary and Elizabeth. I've done a bit of research on Elizabeth, and I found that by 1917, she had married Norman McLean, and just three months later gave birth to twins. But when I look at the electoral role, we've got Charles and Elizabeth and Mary all living on Waltham Rd, and we've got Mary there, marked as a spinster. Spinster. It's a pretty terrible name, isn't it? Men got off lightly being called bachelors. They sure did. But, also in the electoral role, is Elizabeth. 'McLean, Elizabeth, 162 Waltham Rd, married.' So she's gone home. She's gone home. Back on the street where the baby was found. Yep, now these five children and Elizabeth's twins are all dead. So, what we need to find is a live Tinnelly who we can get a DNA sample from. Yeah. Now on Ancestry, I found a Tinnelly tree, managed by a man called John. Unfortunately, it's a closed tree, which means I can't actually see what he's done, but I think he'll be a good person to contact. So I'll try and get hold of him, but I'll also do some research and try and find out a bit more about Mary and Elizabeth, who seem to be our prime suspects. I think they are, yes. As suggested by Gail, I send an email to John Boyes, the man overseeing the Tinnelly family tree. I head back to Christchurch and Waltham Rd. (COMPELLING MUSIC) Almost 100 years later, there are a few reminders of the old Waltham Rd. The address where the Tinnelly family lived is now a block of apartments. In an age when most people walked everywhere, there's little doubt that the residents on this street would have been aware of a house down the road that was unoccupied. But which sister could it have been ` Mary or Elizabeth? I'm hoping Turanga, the Christchurch library, might have some answers. My online searches for Mary turned up nothing, but I discovered Elizabeth was divorced in November 1920 and convicted of assault in 1928. There is a 100-year restriction on being allowed to see the actual files. I believe I might have success in old newspapers. I know that editors of the old scandal rag newspapers considered divorce cases juicy copy right up to the 1970s, when law changes ended the reporting of divorce proceedings. Sure enough, Elizabeth's divorce was well covered. When she was 26, her husband accused her of adultery. I move on to 1928, and again, Elizabeth is in the papers. This time, a domestic with her mother. I'm beginning to learn about Elizabeth's life. In the early 1900s, divorced women with children could apply to the courts for maintenance from their ex-husbands. But most often they were awarded a pittance. A mother of two might receive 15 shillings a week, about $150 in today's terms. With no income of her own, it seems Elizabeth had no choice but to return to her family home on Strugglers Flat, where she clashed with her mother. Over a coffee, I write a timeline. In 1920, there was the messy divorce, and Elizabeth was only allowed to keep her twins if she lived with her parents. Four years later in 1924, birth records show Elizabeth gave birth to an illegitimate son who was placed in the boys' home where she would have been obliged to pay for his care. In 1928, Elizabeth was back in court, this time for attacking her mother. The report says she'd already lost custody of her children. In 1926, amidst all this, Maisie was born and abandoned in a vacant house down the road. It all paints a picture of a troubled woman leading a chaotic life. Elizabeth is certainly shaping up as the prime suspect for being the mother of the abandoned baby. But I still need proof. As I ponder, I get a message. It's from John Boyes ` the man who has been researching the Tinnelly family. Oh, hi, John, it's David Lomas here. Thanks for getting back to me. As I mentioned, I'm trying to help a woman called Lorraine to track down family, and it sort of links to the Tinnelly family. Are you a Tinnelly? No I'm not, but my mother's youngest brother is married to an Avern Tinnelly, and she's in my family tree. So, what I need is someone from the Tinnelly family to do a DNA test. Well, Marty's still alive, she's 92. I'm taking a meal to her tomorrow. I can ask her whether she'll do a DNA sample. Well, it would be fantastic if she would do it. All right. I'll give you a ring tomorrow afternoon. Thanks, John. Bye. Avern Botty is the daughter of Charles Tinnelly, Elizabeth's older brother. John tells me that Elizabeth had three sons ` Tony, Joe, and Ron. They all died in their 30s leaving no children. So, if we are right and Elizabeth was the mother who abandoned baby Maisie, then Avern, as Elizabeth's closest living relative, should also be closely related to Lorraine. Avern agrees to do a DNA test. Now I just have to wait to see whether I have solved an almost 100-year-old mystery. are now back to $5! Your favourite Value pizzas all with fresh dough, sauce made from vine-ripened tomatoes, and our mouthwatering mozzarella. Now back to $5! At Domino's. I'm helping Lorraine Collier find an answer as to who abandoned her mother as a baby. My search is taking me to the West Coast to Greymouth. I'm heading there because Lorraine's dark family secret is linked to 92-year-old local woman Avern Botty. I wonder what Avern knows. But first, I need to meet her nephew John Boyes, who has been helping me. I want to make sure it's OK to talk to his elderly aunt about this mystery. Hello. You John? Hello, David. Pleased to meet you. Welcome to Greymouth. Pleased to meet you. Good to put a face to the name. Yeah. So, we've got the DNA result. Well, how did you get on? It is Avern who is the closest relative of Lorraine. She's first cousin once removed. Wow. Yeah. So she is Lorraine's nearest living relative,... Yes. ...and I'd really like to go and see Avern and tell her. Is she up to it? Oh yeah, she's certainly up to it, because she's quite sprightly, really. Oh, that'd be great. I won't tell Avern everything because it turns out that Elizabeth wasn't the greatest of characters. I mean, I've found a couple of newspaper articles, and it seems that she whacked her mother with a broomstick at one stage, and on this other article, it said that she was getting divorced and had a couple of children who were taken off her because she wasn't a good mother, so, um... Wow, OK. I don't think we'll mention that part to Avern yet. You can tell her later if you want. Yes. It's amazing what you can get out of paper's past, isn't it? Yeah. So, she'd be OK to meet and see us? Yep. Well, you can go from here straight up to your place and meet her. It's no problem. Whoo. Avern, who goes by Vern, was born in 1927. So was just one year younger than Maisie, the cousin, no one knew existed. How will Vern feel about being told that one of her aunts abandoned a newborn baby? Is she OK with all this? Oh, yes. She's really excited. Hello, Auntie, I've got someone for you to meet. Hey, John. This is David. Hello, Vern. Hello David. I'm David. Nice to meet you. Pleased to meet you. And this is uncle George. Hello, George. Lovely to meet you. Yeah. Well, as John, has probably told you, I'm trying to solve a mystery about a baby that was left abandoned in a house in Waltham Road in Christchurch in 1926, about a 100 years ago. Mm-hm. As you know, it seems like the Tinley family might be connected with that. Were there ever any mysteries in the family that you know of? No, I was too young to remember if there were any at all. Yeah, I wouldn't know. So you never heard any stories about a mystery baby or anything about them? No, no, I didn't. Vern has lived most of her life in Greymouth. She tells me she had little contact with her father's four sisters ` Elizabeth, Mary, the spinster who called herself May, and Rose and Agnes Francis. Those were your aunts. Did you know them? Just one, May. May. Yeah. And just Elizabeth just very, very briefly when I saw her walking home to her place one day there. And my Auntie May told` said that that was Elizabeth. Yeah. That's all I can remember. And do you know your cousin? It'd be the two` the twins. Yes, they lived with us for a wee while, and they would have been around 12 or so. So I think they must have come to us later, not when they were little or babies. So who were their parents? I never knew. I had an idea it might have been Elizabeth, but I really don't know. Well, it seems Elizabeth was actually their mother. All right. They'd been taken off her because she had misbehaved a bit. Right. I would have been too little to understand all that back then. And no one in your family ever talked about Elizabeth having another child at all? No, no, we didn't know anything about them. You did a DNA test with John. Yes. So I've got the result of that back, and one of your aunts was the mother of that baby. And from what I've read, it seems most likely that your aunt Elizabeth was the mother of the abandoned baby. Oh. Oh, right. That baby who was abandoned, her name was Maisie, and she always wanted to try and find out who the mother was. But sadly she died a few years back. Her daughter now, Lorraine, is trying to solve the mystery for her mum and for herself. And I was wondering if it'd be OK if I brought her over here to meet you as her closest relative? Oh, I'd love to meet her. I really would. Hmm. You can tell her a little bit about her family, the Tinley side. Hmm, hmm. Oh, no, that would be nice. Yeah. I head back to Christchurch. It's time for Lorraine to finally hear everything I have learned about Elizabeth, the woman who was almost certainly her grandmother. So, last time we were in Christchurch, we came here to Waltham Road, up where the containers are. How far away do you think that is? About 400 meters up the road. In 1926, there were houses all down here and across the road there was a house occupied by a family called the Tinleys. Most likely a lady called Elizabeth Tinley was your mother's mother. Wow. So you can sort of see in those days, people didn't go far, so the baby there abandoned up there. Yeah. She would have been walking up and down this road many a time. And knew that house was empty. She would have had to have been a fairly hard woman to have left a baby, abandoned, in that house down there. I got a whole lot of information here, which I'm going to show you. We'll go and grab a coffee up around the corner here. For Lorraine after so many years of wondering, it is a relief to have an answer. However, it won't be easy for her to read what the newspapers say about Elizabeth. Long black's this side, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So your grandmother wasn't young when all this happened. She would have been 35 when she abandoned your mother in that house. 35's quite an age to be abandoning a child. I've got some newspaper clippings here from the early 1900s, and... I'll just get you to have a look at this and maybe read a bit of it out for me. READS: Unfaithful wife, husband seeks divorce. Today in the Supreme court, before his Honour, Mr Justice Herdman and a jury of 12, the husband sought the annulment of the marriage on the grounds that on or about April the 20th, 1919, she committed adultery at her home in Antigua Street, that she neglected her children and allowed them to be in an unclean condition. The stipulation being that the two children who are twins should remain in the care of the grandparents. Witness thought the house was filthy inside from what he had seen of it. Yeah. Pretty messy story, really. There's another story here. Have a read of that one. READS: Lizzie Loafed on Mother, Toiled Not. If the story of Elizabeth Esther McLean can be relied upon, her mother takes the prize for originality and tenacity of purpose. For some years past, Elizabeth has lived with her aged mother at Sydenham, but the old lady tired of having her well of hospitality continually drained and took steps to eject her daughter. The daughter, a divorced woman whose children are at present a charge on the state, had studiously avoided any prospects of gaining employment so long as she had a good home and nothing to pay for it. Matters were brought to a head on a recent Saturday evening, when the daughter returned home to find some of her belongings packed up on the veranda. It was unfortunate for the mother, for her head was the subject of much attention from a broomstick, which the enraged daughter 'welded' to some purpose. The younger woman was charged with assaulting her mother. So that's who I believe to be your grandmother. Tell me about her? There's a lot of likenesses between these stories and my own. Well, the story of my mother. In what way are they alike? I'd say she had mental health issues as well. She struggled to raise children. Her children were put into care too. Just like my brother and I were, yeah. A lot of likenesses. Hmm. Wow. So you think the problems went back a generation before your mother? Yeah, definitely a dysfunctional family. How does it feel to get the answers to what you and your mother have been seeking? I think it helps to put a bit of closure on wondering what did take place back then. But also it makes me more determined to... to make sure that this doesn't continue in future generations. I can't help but think about the struggles she had in life, but also her behaviour, her mental health, it makes sense now ` the reasons around her abandoning the baby. Hmm. So that's not all we've found. We've done a bit of a family tree. I explained to Lorraine that Elizabeth had four siblings and that a daughter of her brother, her mother's cousin is still alive. Avern is your closest living relative. She's 92. And she lives over in Greymouth. And she would like to meet you. Oh my goodness. I never... dreamed of... Even though I've always hoped... to know... my mother's family, I never dreamed that I would actually get to meet... meet someone so soon. I'd like to head over to Greymouth with you to introduce you to Avern. Would you be happy to do that? Definitely. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. It's hit you a bit more than you expected. Yes, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. But... I'm excited that I'm able to go and see her, because at the age of 92, if I'd left it a bit longer, that might not have been possible. From your perspective, finishing something that your mother started, how does that feel? So good to have been able to piece a huge missing piece of her life that is also part my life. PHONE: You know, it's just freedom. You know, you just can't beat the feeling of gettin' a few smooth corners together. You're the one in control of your machine. (ENGINE RUMBLES IN BURSTS) You've gotta really own that control. (ENGINE CONTINUES RUMBLING) Lorraine Collier has just learned the likely identity of her grandmother ` the woman who abandoned a baby in a vacant house in Christchurch in 1926. It's hit you a bit more than you expected. Yes, definitely. It makes sense now. And today, for the first time, Lorraine is about to meet a blood relative from her mother's side. This is it. This is the home of Avern, but she just calls herself Vern. She's your first cousin once removed. You'll be met at the door by a man called John, one of her relatives. How are you feeling? Pretty nervous, but excited too. Good luck. Thank you. (QUIET, POIGNANT MUSIC) Hello. Come in. Come and visit your cousin right in here. My goodness. My goodness. Welcome, Lorraine. So thrilled` So thrilled to` This is lovely to meet you. We're finally able to meet. My first blood relative on my mother's side. So good to be here. Lovely. You look lovely. Having to wait all this time to meet you. Look what we've missed. (CHUCKLES) Years and years. JOHN: This is George. Yeah, George. Hello, George. Hello George. Yes, I've got a few photos to show you. I can see a bit of a resemblance there. Now, this is my sister and I when we met Auntie May in Christchurch there. I was only about 15 or 16 there. So that's one of the sisters, Auntie May, and she was lovely. I can definitely see the person looking a lot like my mother. All right. Yeah. Well, there's a photo of two of the sisters. I'm sure they are... But which is which, I don't know. Wow. I have an idea the dark one was Frances. So this one here? And the other one could be Elizabeth. I really don't know. So, this could be my mother's mother, so my grandmother. Could be, yes. But Dad never talked about the family, you see? Yeah. So, there was some things keep fairly quiet in the family. Yeah. He said, 'I've got no time whatsoever for my mother,' and I thought, 'Well, she must have been unkind.' For me, I've never known any blood relatives on my mother's side of the family, of course, and I've also never known any of my mother's adoptive family. Oh, right, yes. No one on my mother's side of the family. No one. So you've been a lone star, have you? (CHUCKLES) Oh, dear. That's sad. It is. It's really sad, the story. Yes. Looking at these photos, there's clearly quite a resemblance. I see my mum. I also see myself... Yes, I can too. Yes. ...in these photos. So, here I've got some photos of my mum. So, this was the little baby that was abandoned. So, she would have been a few months old here. Can you see any family resemblance? I can, yes. Here's another photo of her when she's older. There's quite a resemblance between that and these two photos here. There is quite a likeness, as you can see. That's amazing. It is. (LAUGHS) My life has been a lot of scattered and missing jigsaw puzzle pieces. I've been working at putting those pieces back together again. Meeting with you here today is huge. Yes. It's just lovely. I'm so pleased you came. DAVID LOMAS: Elizabeth never remarried. Her three boys also never married or had any children. Elizabeth died at the age of 51 in 1942. The last document I found relating to her life was her death notice, and it revealed one last side of Elizabeth. It was placed by her sons, Tony, Joe, and Ron, none of whom she raised, yet they described her as their loved mother. We head back to Christchurch. I have one more place I want to take Lorraine. It's the resting place of Elizabeth Tinnelly. It's somewhere I hope Lorraine can get closure. It's been one heck of a journey for you. Has it been worthwhile? It's been hugely worthwhile. It's been a lot of really challenging times, bit of a roller coaster ride, but at the same time, it's been very much something I've wanted to do, something I've wanted to do for my family. It was never going to be that we would find Elizabeth alive, but we found answers. And that's been amazing, absolutely amazing. OK, well, I'm not gonna go with you to the grave, but if you see that black cross there, and you see next to it, there's an empty plot, and then there's an unmarked grave. That's your grandmother's. (CRIES, SNIFFLES) (SOBS) Elizabeth,... (CRIES, SNIFFLES) ...I want to say how much I think of you. I think of you for that day that you left that little baby in the house on Wolthem Rd in 1926. I stand on the gap of my mum, who yearned for so much of her life to know who you were. I come here today to reunite myself and my family to your family, the Tinnellys. This journey has been hard at times, but today begins something fresh, something new ` my family reunited. (POIGNANT MUSIC) While I can never be 100% certain whether it was Elizabeth or her spinster sister, Mary, who abandoned a baby in Wolthem Road in 1926, what I do know is that that decision created a ripple effect that impacted on the life of that baby, Maisie, and on Maisie's children, Lorraine and Collin. The mother of Maisie, who I believe was Elizabeth, could never have imagined that almost 100 years later, her secret would be revealed by a process called DNA testing. But that testing has finally given her descendants her family name and an answer. For Lorraine, who is in regular contact with her new extended family, and has been back to Greymouth for visits, it has brought peace. Do you have a family mystery? I'm filming a new series. (WAILS) I love you. If you want my help go to threenow.co.nz/davidlomas. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2020 Supporting local content so you can see more of New Zealand On Air.