Certificate recognises Max’s tree-mendous work

It all began with a couple of banana boxes.

In those boxes were papers and other documents that had been collected by two aunts. The collection was the seed from which Max Feist grew his family tree.

His curiosity aroused, 15 years ago Max joined the New Zealand Society of Genealogists’ Te Puke branch.

“Pretty much straight away I was the librarian, and that continued for about 10 years,” he says.

He has also been the branch convener, treasurer, secretary and a committee member and is currently branch auditor.

Last week Max received the society’s branch service award in recognition of his work.

In his time as a member, as well as carrying out a range of roles, he has traced his family on his father’s side back to his five times great-grandfather Richard Feist who was christened in Sussex in 1741.

“I have a near-complete history of the family right through to my grandchildren,” he says.

Despite his own research and that of a relative in Dunedin, the

I have a nearcomplete history of the family right through to grandchildren.’ my

mists of time have shrouded the identities of relatives prior to 1741. Research has been complicated by the fact that there are around 20 different variations on the spelling of Feist.

“I think I am getting to the stage of being close to finishing,” says Max. But far from that being the end of his interest in genealogy, he intends to begin tracing his mother’s family.