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« on: Wednesday 20 December 23 02:47 GMT (UK) »
Bridget's marriage certificate 15712/1923, which I ordered on 18 Nov 2023, finally arrived by email this morning. She married at the District Registrar's Office at North Sydney on 24 Nov 1923. She was 21 years old, a tailoress, of North Sydney.
Her mother was May Gray (deceased) and her father was "unknown".
No great revelations here, but I think this (with the 1929 carnal knowledge court case) supports the theory that Bridget was fostered to Emily Barrett at North Sydney after spending the first 12 months of her life at the Benevolent Asylum. Perhaps a one-year-old child was "old enough to leave" the asylum and move into the care of foster parents.
If Sydney Ross of Albion Park was Bridget's father (as noted on the Dependent Child Register) that would suggest his unmarried mother, Ellen A Ross, may have had a liaison with one of the Dowse family from nearby Jamberoo -- possibly Mary Gray's husband Thomas Dowse -- and that is why Dowse DNA is so common among Bridget's descendants.
A possible link between Thomas's wife Mary Gray and Bridget's mother May Gray is a whole new can of worms, and not one I'm willing to open!
I have forwarded the 1923 marriage certficate to Dorothycourt63.
Thanks for all your help.
Geoff