"I cannot believe that Maisie would have gone her whole life not being told by SIX older siblings!"
How do you know that Maisie was unaware that Alexander NICHOL was not her father?. It is very difficult to confirm a negative.
- When my grandmother found this out (Maisies daughter) it sent her into a state of illness. She was extremely close to her mother and she have never confided this information. This was supported, yes by assumption, by a cousin who is related
If the will of Margaret NICHOL, d. 1944, produced resentment about Maisie's place in this family, do you mean that this was the first that Maisie knew about her origins?
-No this was the will of Mary Louisa Gibb who died in 1934
Where was this family living 1900 - ~ 1915, years of formal education for Maisie and the NICHOLS siblings?. You might be able to access school records to find her.
- That family moved sometimes twice a year - I have found Alice and Geoff at Caulfield State in 1900 but that is all I have found
Do you have any photos of Maisie and of the NICHOL family to see if there is any family resemblance?
- I have a lot of photos of Maisie and enough of the Nicol girls to note Maisie was 5 ft or so and stout, the Nicol girls were tall and thin
Can you direct me to the 1921 electoral listing for Maisie......address, electorate...exact name.
- apologies - it is 1922 and she is at 10 Thomson street
If Maisie is born 15 Apr 1900, she would enrol to vote ...early 1921. Just an observation, but I wonder if that enrolment would be recorded and processed for inclusion in printed listing for the same year?.
At age 28, Maisie is two years older than husband William George GALE at marriage, 1928.
- There was an even bigger age gap - he was born in the December of 1903
There was a tale that he fibbed occasionally to make the gap closer
It might be worth considering that Maisie is older than 28, and cut a few years off her age so as to reduce difference in age to husband. Human vanity, but you see it quite often in the days when you did not need to show proof of identity.
- I have considered this and still found nothing
What was the estate of Margaret NICHOL, d. 1944?. Have you seen this will?.
- Yes - it was the house and not a great deal of money. Maisie and her brother Geoff were executors.
What is the source for the birth date, 15 Apr 1900, for Maisie?
This is when she always celebrated
I have come to the conclusion of Nellie because the birthday is the same, the middle name is that of the birth name.
Just because Nellie was a parlourmaid in 1903 doesn't mean she didn't turn to that profession after the scandal of pregnancy
Alexander was in Queenscliff at 1901 and then at some stage before 1905 went to Hobart
The will of the family squabble was Phyllis Olive Wood who died in NSW in 1988. She was 7 years older than Maisie. Maisie had already passed, as had George, however Phyl's will was written BEFORE George died. Therefore it left him 5% - it was then queried as to where it would go.
Probate is not available as yet when I have requested it. When George's son said it should be divided between himself and his sister their cousins disagreed and responded with telling them they shouldn't be getting anything given they weren't even related.....
Giblet - I have thought this about whether Maisie was the products of a dalliance. Margaret had a lot to lose at doing this as a registered infant life nurse - possibly a jail term for not registering a birth.
She was also relatively strict - her father was a Plymouth Brethren Evangelist (just to throw another one in the ring!), her brother, Harrison Ord Chief of Factories
