Ruby May Bernard

[anitawanita]

Seeking your kind help once again 

I have been informed that my relative Ruby May Bernard had a child out of wedlock and put them up for adoption. Ruby didn't have any other children that we know of and she married twice in her lifetime.

Ruby's Nephew, who knew about the child also knew that they had died (not sure what age, might have been a son).

I would love to find out more about Ruby's child, is it possible to find out any information about the birth/adoption?

More info about Ruby here:

http://www.rellyseeker.nz/ourfamilytree/MAWHINNEY-DALTON/ps09_442.html

[minniehaha]

Hello,

If you live in New Zealand and are able to visit one of the main libraries which hold microfiche for birth indexes, probably the only way you will be able to obtain the information you require, is to trawl through the years when you think the birth may have been registered.


Minniehaha.

[CaroleW]

She was born 1892 & her first marriage was 1917 so you would be looking for a birth from approx 1909 - 1917

[anitawanita]

Thank you, looks like another trip to the library is on the cards!

[anitawanita]

I have checked the Bernard births but not exactly sure what name the child would be registered under. Would it be the mother's maiden name, Bernard?

The microfiche birth info correlates with the Bernard birth information on the NZ BDM website. Pretty much all of those births have both parents named except one.

 I understand that Ruby possibly had a son.

[CaroleW]

I don't know how NZ birth registrations are shown.   In England - if the child is born to a married couple it would be on these lines

Barney Bernard - father Joseph Bernard  mother Mary Bernard nee Smith

If the child was subsequently adopted I would hazard a guess that the birth you found with only one parent named is a better possibility at this stage.  I am assuming you would be able to buy that cert to confirm mothers name?

Is there any facility within the NZ sytem to put a condition on the application that you only want the cert if mother was Ruby or Ruby May?

[anitawanita]

Thank you. The mothers name was Lillian so unlikely to be our Ruby Bernard..

I've fired off a couple of enquiries about researching past adoptions. I went through a similar process many years (decades) ago for another relative, but perhaps things have changed now?

[CaroleW]

Just how reliable is the source of the info re illegitimate child?  There have been instances here on RC where it has later been found that the source had got confused with another family or family member.

How did the nephew hear about it & from whom?  Is the nephew from Ruby’s side of the family?

[mckha489]

On the NZ BDMs you can put just a fullstop in the surname field, Ruby in mother’s name  field and your date range. And then, in the resultant list, see who has a father NR (not recorded). But I do not know if that would help or not.
These are the ones I could see which were not girls and where Ruby did not have a more obvious second name, like Dorcas.

1916/27093   Boddington   Donald Stuart   Ruby Mary   NR
1909/24983   Caddy   Raymond Gordon   Ruby   NR
1914/5268   Davidson   Cecil Edward   Ruby   NR
1911/26579   Dodd   Frank   Ruby   NR
1915/12424   Foster   NR   Ruby   NR
1910/15903   Goss   John   Ruby   NR