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Thanks Elli - yes, we were very happy to get this info. The father was shown on the records to be making payment of 7/6 per week, with a signed agreement. I guess this means that the name might be the real one. Mary stayed for six weeks after the birth, and then left the Home. The child was left in the care of a nusing mother, who was the Mary Jane Kennedy who later adopted Ronald. An 'agreement' was signed prior to Mary's admission to the Home ... I assume this was an agreement to give the child up for adoption following the birth. Would this be correct?

Great news!! I was successful in an application to BDM for a "pre-adoptive" birth certificate for Ronald Kennedy, which showed that he was adopted at the age of 4 months. Unfortunately (and not unexpectedly) his natural father's name was not recorded.

Now, googling his mother Mary's full name shows that after giving birth to Ronald out of wedlock in 1903, she married in 1906 and had a few more children to her husband. Mary's grand-daughter is presently seeking information on a genealogy forum about her grandmother, so I guess in fairness to her family research I should make contact with her and let her know of this skeleton in the closet. I should, shouldn't I?

Now a question to the genealogists ... when recording Ronald's birth (I use Legacy 7.5) how should I record his surname? Up until now he has been recorded with his adopted surname, as I knew of no other. Now that I know his mother's surname (being the name he was originally recorded under) should I change to this one? Unfortunately I cannot imagine that I will ever find his natural father's surname. It will be likely that I can trace back his ancestry on his mother's side.

Any advise will be very much appreciated.

I received the birth printout for (grandfather) Ronald Kennedy, which blew away a few family myths on his background.

From the birth printout, Ronald Kennedy was born on 10 March 1903 at 14 Thompson Street, Wellington. His birth however was not registered (at least not registered under THIS name) until 24 May 1921. Ronalds parents were listed as James Kennedy, labourer, of "Nainai, Lower Hutt" and Mary Jane Kennedy, wife of James Kennedy, also of "Nainai, Lower Hutt". The column between the 'Father' details and the 'Mother' details, normally showing when and where married, and previous issue of existing marriage was simply notated "Adopting Parents".

Papers Past at http://www.paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19011130.2.66.6&srpos=4&e=-------10--1----214+Thompson+Street-- shows that 14 Thompson Street was a Salvation Army "Maternity Home" ... but was it an orphanage too?

Would there be any way of tracing 1903 records to find birth parents (or mother) of Ronald? Clutching at straws, I know ... 

Thanks very much Beg, that gives me a few leads to work on now. I'll then get closer to following Alexander's children ... I believe that his youngest son Ronald was our grandfather. The other children of Alexander may have been Duncan, Jane, Mary, Robert and Margaret.

I posted off to NZBDM today a request for the death printouts for Duncan (d.1904), Alexander (d.1914) and Ronald (d.1964), and also the Cyril Roy Kennedy birth printout. (I already have Ronald's birth printout). Cyril was the son of Ronald and our father, and died in NSW in 1994. This hopefully will tie the whole line together!

I'll keep this post live for a bit, and let you know if the death printouts confirm the lineage.

Cheers - Lou