Ronald Kennedy, adopted child

[Thamesite2017]

Given that the grandaughter is interested in genealogy it would be helpful to tactfully say you may have a family connection and discuss it off line
there may be some family rumours that she knows of that could lead you to some more answers

re LEGACY, you can use the aka option and add alternate surnames, then select the one that you want the person to be known as..I think I would go with adopted

Legacy has excellent help pages where you can lookj at options
http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/tipsMultiple-SingleParents.asp
also in the help file

Bye
Althea

[Bugly]

Thanks Althea, I shall follow your advice.

An added bonus today was a response from the Salvation Army archives office in Wellington. They were able to provide a copy of the record of Mary's time at the Maternity Home, and entered in the record was Ronald's father's name! Whether this is correct or not is now another avenue of investigation!

[ellipitt]

Hi
If you've been provided with the birthfather's name, grab it!!

At that time maternity homes, etc looked for some recompense for looking after young women especially considering that they were usually staying up to 6 months instead of the 10-14 days after the birth.

If the family wouldn't or couldn't assist financially, then the birthfather was usually approached. Mary may have also gone to court to get an order for financial support. If that was granted then the Salvation Army would have recorded his name so they would know who the payments were supporting.
Congratulations on getting the court info - it's great to see successes in this area.
Elli

[Bugly]

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?