Did they marry in Melbourne?

[cando]

http://www.rootschat.com/links/09or/

In Lloyds London Weekly Newspaper the following missing friends are enquired for......
Mary Elizabeth Dady who left Woolwich for Christchurch May 1873, is desired to write to her father.

Cheers
Cando

[cando]

Suzy spent a bit of time on the Elizabeth Mary DADY whose birth I found in the UK in 1854...she is not your lady as she appears to have married in 1874. 

I have also checked military births in the period...nothing.

We need a cert and preferably the one with her marriage to Henry FORD...pretty sure it is your lady.

Puzzled at no birth reg in NZ or Vic but in NSW in 1883....now is the mother your Mary E DADY? 

Transcriptions are available in NSW
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/howToTraceYouFamTree.htm#TranscriptionAgent

1811/1883     
FORD Mary E
Father Henry  Mother Mary E
District Sydney 

Cheers
Cando

[Suzy W]

Thanks, sorry for the late reply, had a major earthquake here in Christchurch at 4.30am and power and phones have only been back a couple of hours.
So very tried and not thinking well.  Will look at the information you sent a.s.p.

Cheers
Suzy W

[cando]

Sounds as though you should have a day away from family history

I think the only way forward to establish the DADY/FORD/COX facts is the marriage cert in NZ showing Henry and Mary's signatures and then hopefully, a couple of certs from Victoria or the one from NSW, which will have signatures of Mary at least.

I was thinking about the DADY birth registration in 1888.  I wonder when registering Amelia in 1888 the local registrar may have asked the following -

* name of child .....   Amelia Frances COX
* your name  ......    Mary Elizabeth FORD ... whoops
* and your former name   ......  DADY.
And then it may have become a little confusing for Mary so she didn't name the FORD father as she had just named the child Amelia Francis Cox FORD/DADY.

As I always told my children....if you are going to tell fibs, you need to have a very good memory.

Cheers
Cando

[Gwila]

To add to this,
Henry Ford made an application to send his 3 children to the Burnham Industrial School in December 1882.  In his application he made the statement that his wife was dead (ie Mary Elizabeth nee Dady) . No mention of Mabel Edith. It's quite possible this was a convenient lie,  in order for his children to be taken off his hands quickly. He was very unlikely genuine in his inability to care for them properly.  Mary is also mentioned in information about the 'First Four ships' arriving in Canterbury - Henry was a 1yr old child on the Cressy. Information there states that Mary Elizabeth Dady was born in Malta abt 1853 and that she died in Christchurch in 1894, however there's nothing on NZ BDM to say this is so, under the names of Ford, Cox or Dady.
What a gal!