Gail, It is a good point Gail. Place of birth is not included on marriage certificates or death certificates in this country. On the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses, her marriage and death certificates and her husband's WWI service papers Ada is her name. Ada had no hand in what was entered on the census records, these being filled in by the superintendent of the home in 1891, her employer in 1901 and in 1911 her husband completed the form and these records conflict with the date on the Alice Maud Reeve birth certificate. However, I have yet to find an ancestor where the census ages are correct in every instance even when they have given the information themselves. My mother-in-law who was the informant on her death certificate and the age agrees with the year on the birth certificate for Alice Maud Reeve. By then Ada's husband had also died. My mother-in-law said that Ada always celebrated her birthday on 3rd March and although the date on the birth certificate for Alice Maud Reeve is 18th March 1882 the date of registration is 29th April, exactly 42 days after the 18th March. The Births and Deaths Act of 1874 imposed penalties for late registration, that is more than 42 days and many people who had left it too late often gave a false date of birth to escape the penalty. It makes me suspicious to see that and think that it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Alice Maud was actually born on 3rd March 1882. The age Ada gave on her marriage would give a year of birth of 1881 but as her husband was quite a lot older than her then she may have added a year to just round it up as often happened when there was an age difference. She does give her father as Robert Reeves, deceased a seaman in the merchant service on her marriage certificate. What does fit in all of this with the information Ada gave to her daughter is Alice Maud's father, Robert Reeve the Lowestoft fisherman being lost at sea, the mother dying later and the older brother being called Robert. Couple that with the fact that although I can trace the brother Robert William up to 1911 I have found no trace of a death for Alice Maud Reeve or a marriage as the only one I did find in 1904 is looking like it is another Alice of different parents. I have also failed to find Alice Maud in later censuses so if someone called Alice could be called Ada as a pet or nickname then it is not impossible that she ended up in the home in London under that name and used it for the rest of her life. She would have been only 8 when her mother died so quite young to have to deal with such a life changing event. Sorry for this rather rambling email but I rather think that I am getting it all sorted out in my mind just now. I know that it is quite a leap of faith as I said but so much does fit. Thanks for reading this and the previous email and taking an interest, I appreciate it. Margaret. Preston, Lancashire -----Original Message----- From: suffolk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:suffolk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Gail Petrov Sent: 16 February 2011 14:51 To: suffolk@rootsweb.com Subject: [SFK-UK] Alice Maud REEVE/Ada REEVES conundrum Margaret, What name and place of birth is on Ada's record of Marriage and Death? Also what is Ada's date and place of birth? Does the date match with GRO Birth Reg. of Alice Maud? Something to check into. Gail ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to SUFFOLK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message