The two names written below the line demarcating James and the children were also important. Winnie Juliana Rorke was the mother of Agnes (who wrote the book "Winnefred & Agnes"). Winnefred, the daughter of George Nunn and a Zulu maiden, Roselina Dhlomo, married Benjamin William Rorke in 1934.
The other woman, Rose Lily Nunn, married Walter Sydney Rorke, and these were Daphne's maternal grandparents. Rose Lily was the sister of George Nunn and therefore Agnes's aunt.
Our discussions with Agnes also revealed, although we have no written proof, that Louisa Christina Rorke, eldest daughter of James Michael and sister to Walter and Benjamin, married a Jacob Dunn.
In one day we had discovered links from the Rorke family to the Nunn and Dunn familes. Three great pioneering names in the history of Natal.
In her book Agnes identifies her great grandfather "Jim" Rorke as the man who established Rorkes Drift and the father of James Michael. She further identifies "Jim" as being the son of one of three Rorkes, two brothers and a cousin, who came out from Ireland around 1823. But which one - and when?
We would have to wait a further six months before further research answered that question.
We did find out that James Michael had been married three times.
He first married a European girl, Louise Carter. There were no children from this marriage, and we can only assume that Louise died soon after the marriage as the first child to his second marriage was born in 1878 whilst James was still only 26 years old. His second wife was across the colour line to an unknown Basutho maiden.
There were two children from this union - George Michael Rorke, born 1878 and James Alfred Rorke, born 1879; the first two children listed on our handwritten document.
