Hello Rootschatters,
Thank you very much for all your efforts on this one.
I have posted a reply but it didn't work, so here goes again.
Firstly, the respond to posts from Spades. A family member has researched the marriage to Angus McKinlay and this isn't the right Edith. That is definite.
The other Edith that is about Wellington at that time has been identified as the daughter of parents from NZ. She is younger than our Edith too.
I don't know about the form submiited to the NZSG. I didn't post this and don't know who did. I will pursue this with the family contacts I have. Rata married three times as someone has noticed, so there are a number of relatives descended from her in NZ. I don't have a copy of the form and cannot get the Mundia tree etc on Ancestry for some unknown reason. Do you have the name of the person who submitted this please? That way I can tell if they are known to me and the other family members.
I did think that Rata's birth certificate had been obtained but looking through old messages it appears that her adoption certificate is the source of information held. I cannot see any reference to a birth certificate for her.
There have been comments on her birth name as I am told it is of Maori origins. I have her birth as 28 June 1905, Wellington, but think that may have come from her adoption certificate.
The other Edith has been eliminated as she is too young to have been eligible to vote. She wasn't 21 years of age in 1908, the legal voting age.
It would be helpful to have the names for "Edith" deaths for ladies of that name born between 1875-1885.
The residence in 35 Marjoribanks Street is the right one. The details were taken from Wises Directories of Wellington. Entries for that address in those were as follows:
1905 and 1906, Anderson, Wm Francis, Driver.
1907 Coffee, Jas J, Civil Servant.
1908, no entry.
1909-1911, Fisher, Dvd, Carpenter.
Marjoribanks Street is a bit of a mystery and the owner as per the title deeds was traced but it didn't yield any further clues about this.
Other addresses for her are: 1904/5 14 Thompson Street. This is the address on Rata's adoption order.
1905 S.A. Maternity Home. Miss Fanny Shackleton adjutant.
Thanks for the advice re The Salvation Army as a source of information. I will pass this on.
The details on the press report for an Edith Kerridge competing in a shooting match is of interest but I suspect this relates to the other E Kerridge as she lived in Pahiatua and her family were farmers.
Jo.
