Was MAY GRAY actually EMILY MAY (MAY EMILY) DOWSE?

[GeoffTurner]

Hi all, thanks for all your help in the past and I have a new query someone might be able to help with.

I have been contacted by a researcher trying to sort out a friend's ancestors, and she thought I might be able to help because I am descended from the Dowse family. Isaac Dowse Senior (Abt 1777-1853) was convicted of horse theft in London and transported to NSW for life, arriving in Port Jackson in 1803. He became a successful brickmaker in the Campbelltown area.

His grandson Thomas Dowse (1847-1925) married Mary Gray (1849-1933) and they settled at Jamberoo on the NSW South Coast and had nine children, many of them registered at nearby Kiama.

Among them was Emily May Dowse (1878-1960), who appears on later family documents as May Emily Dowse, and perhaps preferred the name May. She married Englishman George Stephenson Coupland (1876-1950) in Sydney in 1900 and they had nine children. The first seven were born (or registered anyway) between 1901 and 1911 at Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley.

May's sister Florence was married at Muswellbrook in 1898. Did May travel to Muswellbrook to have the children at the home of her sister? Or was her husband living up there? We know he arrived in Australia as a child in 1883 and was on the roll with her in Botany in 1930, but not a lot about him in between. And the last two Coupland children were born in 1913 and 1917 in Mascot and Redfern.

Or did May live at Muswellbrook as well? 

We also know there was a woman calling herself May Gray who had four illegitimate children at the Benevolent Asylum in suburban Sydney in the period 1901-1909. May Dowse's mother's maiden name was Gray. And May Gray says she was born at Jamberoo, and was 18 years old when Leo was born in 1901. That would make her born about 1878, so the same time and place as May Dowse.

These children were Leo (1901-1901), Bridget (1902-1968), William H (1908- ), and an unnamed stillborn child in 1909. We know Bridget was fostered out, and our contact with this family is through one of Bridget's descendants, who has people named Dowse among his DNA matches. 

Given the similar birth places and dates, it is tempting to think the two Mays are the same person. Perhaps if she was living part from her husband, she went to Muswellbrook for the births she could explain, and went to the Benevolent Asylum for the "mistakes" with an eye to having those children fostered out.

The main problem with the May Gray = May Dowse theory is that in a couple of cases the two women had children in the same year. Leo Gray was born 22 Apr 1901. But the birth of the first Coupland child was registered in 1901. An April birth rules out a second birth in the same year, as far as I can see. There are also two births in 1908, one for (Emily) May Coupland and one for May Gray.

If you agree it seems unlikely that it's the same woman, does anyone have any ideas about how to find out more about the identity of the May Gray who had the illegitimate children at the Benevolent Society?

Thanks,

Geoff Turner   

[sparrett]

These children were Leo (1901-1901), Bridget (1902-1968), William H (1908- ), and an unnamed stillborn child in 1909. We know Bridget was fostered out, and our contact with this family is through one of Bridget's descendants, who has people named Dowse among his DNA matches. 


Geoff Turner   

There is a neglected child named Bridget GREY on the neglected child register, NSW State Archives. Admitted 1903. Cant quite read where.

Her mother is named May GREY.
She was born 31 /7/ 1902.

Her father is named Sydney Ross ALBON (or similar).

She is Roman Catholic and fostered to Elizabeth Barrett at 30 Massey street N. Sydney

Is this the same child or a co-incidence of names, dates etc.

 Sue

[GeoffTurner]

Yes, but I'll check. I don't think they have that father's name.
NSW BDM lists her birth as  GRAY Bridget 24962/1902 Mother May Father ---
Paddington & Randwick

[sparrett]

Yes, but I'll check. I don't think they have that father's name.
NSW BDM lists her birth as  GRAY Bridget 24962/1902 Mother May Father ---
Paddington & Randwick

Yes which? 

[GeoffTurner]

I thought yes it was her (birth year matches) but when I checked with the family source she said they had seen this and it is not her.  Wrong surname spelling, and mother did not name father when Bridget was born at the Benevolent Asylum, so father was unknown.

[maddys52]

The Bridget GREY who appears on the Dependent Children Register was from the "B Asylum". Her birth date is said to be 31 July 1902. There is no birth registered for this name on this date, however, Bridget GRAY registered in 1902 (24962/1902) was born 30 July 1902. I think they are likely the same person. Interesting that May GREY was at the St Magdalene Retreat in Tempe.

You can find the entry for the Dependent Children Register here:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01srg/

There may be no father's name given on the birth registration, however perhaps a name was given when giving her into care? It may be invented, or it may be real. Looks like Sydney ROSS Albion Pk (Albion Park - near Jamberoo). 

[maddys52]

She married Englishman George Stephenson Coupland (1876-1950) in Sydney in 1900 and they had nine children. The first seven were born (or registered anyway) between 1901 and 1911 at Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley.

For interest, I can count 11 children born to George S COUPLAND and Emily /May up until 1923 (as far as the NSW BDM index goes at this stage), and another mentioned on his death notice. Son Charles died in 1928. So 12 children all together?
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18160785

[GeoffTurner]

Thanks, I’ll have to update my tree.

[Jennaya]

There is an Ethel May GRAY born 1877 at Berrima, who possibly could be your May GRAY.

It's also possible that the GRAY and DOWSE families are connected in other ways. Many of these large families living in the same localities had numerous connections by marriage.