Tracing Family Members
If you'd like to find out whether any of your close or distant relatives took part in, survived, were wounded or died in the First World War there are a number of ways of approaching the task.
You have family history material
Those who already have even a little family history material that covers this period may be able to identify deaths of men aged between 17 and 45 between 1914 and 1919. Finding out if they were victims of war, where they died and where their graves are is not complicated.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission runs an excellent website with a full search facility of its database. You type in a surname, initials and other information you are certain of in the fields provided. Then you press search.
The results will give you a list of name matches from the country and force concerned. Be aware that not all New Zealanders served with New Zealand forces - some served with the Australian, Canadian or British forces for example. The details provided for each name includes the grave or memorial reference and cemetery and can also give extra information such as age, date of death, next of kin, etc. By clicking on the cemetery you'll be able to find out exactly how to get there as well as details of related battles, etc.
Another excellent site for finding out more is the Auckland Museum's Cenotaph database with records compiled from various sources of New Zealanders who died at war:
http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/
With certain conditions, you are also able to request copies of service records from the New Zealand National Archives. The personnel records provide comprehensive details about your relative's time in the armed forces.
You don't have any family history material
Working your family history back beyond the First World War should not be too difficult in most cases. First talk to older members of the family to find out if there is already a tree in existence or if someone has written things down about the family. If not, ask them what they remember about the family - names, dates, places, photos.
Start building your tree with your own generation and begin working back. There are plenty of sites with good advice on how to go about this. There are also family tree computer programs that make life a lot easier than recording everything by hand although templates of record forms are also available for downloading.
Sites that provide good information about how to build your family history and the many resources available include for example:
The New Zealand Society of Genealogists
The Christchurch City Library
http://library.christchurch.org.nz/FamilyHistory/
Good luck!