Ok, so Mabel Willock isn’t Edna’s mother. Does that mean Mabel’s sister Miriam has to be Edna’s mother, that Miriam must be May Willock? Well… Maybe…

What do I know about Miriam Willock?

She was born in Molong New South Wales in 1884, just down the road from Wellington, which is where May Willock said she was born.

On 16 September 1911, Miriam gave birth to a baby boy named Albert in Katoomba New South Wales. Miriam said she was 23, a spinster, from Wellington in New South Wales. Albert’s father was not named in the record.

Then on 13 November 1913, she gave birth to another baby boy. His name was Jack Willock, and he was born at the Crown Street Women’s Hospital in Sydney… the same place that Edna was born. Jack’s father was not named in the record. Miriam said she was 25 but this time she said she was from Trunkey Creek. That’s where Mabel was born.

In both of these cases, she used her own name – Miriam.

There’s no sign of a ‘Miriam’ anywhere in Edna’s birth or hospital documents.

Why would Miriam use ‘May’ for Edna’s birth and not ‘Miriam’ like she did for Albert and Jack’s births? Is this obvious proof that May and Miriam are not the same person?

(Push on with it girl, don’t give up.)

On 24 December 1913 a warrant was issued for the arrest of a man named David Donald, a 24 year old meat presser. He was charged with child desertion and the complainant was May Willock of 23 Bay Street Glebe.

The Broadway Hotel was at 23 Bay Street in 1910. May Willock’s address was the Fitzroy Hotel when she gave birth to Edna in 1909. Was she a hotel worker? Or were inner city hotels an easy refuge for an unmarried mother?

In 1915 a baby named John Willock was baptised by his foster parents in Sydney. They said that his mother was ‘May Willock’ and his birth date was November 1913.

People named John are often called Jack. Is baby John actually baby Jack Willock? I checked the birth register from 1910 – 1915 and there isn’t a John and a Jack Willock in the register. There is only Jack, born to Miriam in 1913.

If Jack and John Willock are the same baby, Miriam must be May Willock, but its guess work, not proof.

The only other thing I know about Miriam is that she married in Queensland in March 1914.

May Willock was trying to get money from David Donald in December 1913. Is it too much of a stretch for the same woman to be trying to get money from a deserting father on Christmas Eve and then getting married in Queensland less than three months later?

Looking for answers, I bought Miriam’s Queensland marriage and death records.

And that’s when I hit the Mother Lode.

The marriage record says Miriam May Willock, 25, born Wellington New South Wales.

And then she signed it…

Guess what else?

Her death record says there were four babies from the marriage in Queensland, and armed with her new surname I can see that I share DNA with at least one of them… (perhaps I should reach out to them, maybe they have a photo)

Thank you ancestry DNA, it seems we have answered one of my questions. We found Edna’s birth mother, the mysterious May Willock!

Now can you help me find Edna’s father?