Hi Yogi,
If your interest is in Emily Moyle/Conway/Pearson, then perhaps there's information on the m.c. most recently mentioned here :
Emma Moyle = Kong Wye (ie Conway)
Registered 1878, Victoria, Ref 5163.
I am aware that "Emma" and "Emily" have at times been interchangeable names, particularly in my own 19th Century Aussie forebears.
Also I am aware of the Anglising of surnames, and do not see any obstruction to get from Kong Wye to Conway especially as you note that the 1887 m.c. does not include a given name for Mr Conway who died the previous year.
I expect the m.c. image would show that CONWAY is the name recorded by the clergyman, based on verbal advice from Emily, and thus the clergyman used his own understanding of the name, based of course on his own experiences, rather than asking Emily "and how do you spell that".
Then the clergyman forwarded the details to the civil registration authorities. Thus there is no given name on that civil registration.
......Marriage of Jordan PEARSON and Emily CONWAY 1887 Fitzroy. Emily CONWAY Widow husband deceased 1886. (no given name for late husband.) 1 CHILD DECEASED.
It is unlikely that the deceased child would be mentioned on Emily's 1902 d.c., but it also seems that the informant for that d.c. may have either mis-understood the question posed regarding any issue, or perhaps had no knowledge .... as she had been hospitalised and unable to speak in those days immediately before her death, it is likely the informant, if a family member, simply mis-understood the question, due to personal grief and the need to make funeral arrangements....
It is quite possible that any children (for example Frederick Leslie Pearson) would have been fostered out as it would be unusual to find a father in 1902 raising his children, as a widower. His employment could have been at least 48 hurs a week, over 5 1/2 days, and travel to and from his work place for those 6 days may have meant the children were placed with extended family members, who in turn, may have lost contact with that widower, and presumed him to have died.
I realise this is speculative, however, Frederick Leslie's AIF papers do indicate he was over 21 years of age, and thus he did not need to seek permission from either parent to enlist. He did nominate a n o k contact, without specifiying the relationship. And he obviously believed that both his parents were deceased.
Cheers, JM
