[...] the newspaper report saying Frederick and Cecilia were childless may simply be inaccurate reporting.
My apologies to the reporter... a very kind soul passing through Dunedin managed to do a quick look-up of Frederick and Cecilia's 1907 divorce file. Frederick's petition actually states there were no issue from the marriage.
In fact the newspaper report in reply #4 is a pretty accurate summation of Frederick's petition. As well, the newspaper report has a lot of info mentioned during the proceedings which is not in the file.
The only bit of info in the file new to me (maybe not to you) is that, after leaving Frederick, Cecilia may have been living in the Hutt area with her mother, Johanna NELSON/NEILSON. Maybe this is where Ruby was raised.
Maybe look for Ruby's school records in the Hutt area. See if there is a male guardian mentioned. Or a (usually inaccurate) date of birth different to 21 Nov 1891.
Also, following on from the original newspaper report, maybe look for Ruby's school records in the Motu-Rimu/Southland area, again for mention of a male guardian or a different date of birth.
Johanna was still in the Hutt when she died. Would be handy to know when she moved there from the South Island.
Death notice - Johanna NELSONhttp://tinyurl.com/nhpex5t---
I've stripped the usual legal mutterings from the divorce file and what remains is in the following zip file. Let me know if there's a problem opening the file.
Just click on the following link, then the "Download" button.
If any pop-up boxes appear just X them. There's no need to sign up to Dropbox to download the file.
SWAIN divorce file.ziphttp://tinyurl.com/obcykgtRegards
Beg
