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

[maddys52]

That's interesting Sue, well worth following up I think.

For interest - George AMEY charged with deserting his wife May in 1910.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/251648937  (middle, first column)

and discharged with no prosecution:
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/251649386  (pg233, 2nd column, near the bottom)

[GeoffTurner]

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

[sparrett]

Thanks for the update.
It will be challenging I think to find the possible Ross/Dowse connection.

All DNA connected names available will need to be checked and charted.

I wish the family success and I'm sure all would be interested in any new developments.

Sue

[Dorothycourt63]

Hi
So all DNA matches have been checked and colour coded. No Ross matches at all. Not even a connection. We are now waiting on 2 DNA kits to be completed.

[maddys52]

Doesn't help with identifying family, however of possible interest - an article on the ABC today about the Magdalene Retreat.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-13/magdalene-laundries-and-the-free-labour-of-fallen-women/103235648

[GeoffTurner]

Thanks, Maddie. It is always good to get context. I remember seeing a 2002 movie called “The Magdalene Sisters”, described as: “Three young Irish women struggle to maintain their spirits while they endure dehumanizing abuse as inmates of a Magdalene Sisters Asylum”. The film's script was fictional, but it was based on four testimonies reported in the documentary “Sex in a Cold Climate”.