re: Gertrude Ruth JONAS [McDONALD] :
* * * see explanation below * * * This may be the birth mother's own birth in NZ ??
1885 / 8402 - JONAS - Clara
Parents: Emma and Moss JONAS
This birth was registered at Mt. Cook. Date of Birth is 25 February 1885[Can only find two girls named as "Clara JONAS" - another born c. 1872 has a second christian name
... will check out both of them further. ]
~ Lu
Added : Mt. Cook is MacKenzie country ... did you say Charlotte and James once resided in the MacKenzie ?
* * * Monday 12.28 am NZ Time -- I have just found some new information for both Clara JONAS (b. 1885) and Clara Johanna JONAS > who also used the surname RYDER > (born NZ 1872).
Having read a report on the Jewish wedding 1911, in Canada of Clara JONAS (b. 1885), I began to have doubts she was the mother of Gertrude Ruth. On checking NZ BDM once more I noticed a further 3 births - 1903 / 1904 / 1906, which had "Clara - mother and NR for father". Then there are another 4 births which have mother "Clara Johanna / Clara Josephine - Father NR" : There are trees at ancestry.com for both of the Claras ... and Gertrude Ruth (b. 1899) is claimed to be the daughter of Clara Johanna JONAS (RYDER) ? Conversely, on another site, I saw information which claimed Gertrude Ruth and a child Florence to be daughters of Clara (b. 1885). All 8 of these births were registered at Christchurch where Clara Johanna resided. I can also see that an infant > Florence JONAS aged 5 months died on 8 August 1903 and is buried at Christchurch. It appears then that Clara Johanna JONAS used only the name "Clara" when registering the first 3 or 4 of her children ... hence the confusion which resulted in me making the wrong call.

But the only way to know for sure who Gertrude's mother is,
is to purchase a copy of her birth record (and it is the "printout" version you'll need - it has the maximum amount of information available). So apologies for this "stuff up" - it happens sometimes when there is so much material to have to read through. ~ Lu
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