Conundrum

 Urban-Cub dropped Ellie off this morning, soon after 7:15. Unfortunately, Jasper had been awake and prowling all over us from about 6:00 so we were awake earlier than necessary.

There was a craft day at school today, so Ellie didn't have to wear uniform - they were likely to get mucky. As we have had a lot of rain today, she got wet as well. Anyway, we dropped her off at school and headed home for breakfast.

Once we were suitably caffeinated and fed we popped around to the community centre to drop off some more supplies destined for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova. The collection didn't seem as busy today, but it was good to see that people were still contributing.

Back home the Silver Vixen returned to her sewing project and the Gorse Fox to his research in Agent Mulderski's family. He has come across a conundrum.

We have a conundrum regarding the Mulderski family at the time of their emigration to Canada from Britain.

What we know

John Mulderski’s memoirs (written in 1941) tell us about their stay in England and Scotland (1876-1884):

1. A baby, Mary, was born while they were in Cheshire. She survived and ended up in Chicago.
2. A second child was born, but died soon after being baptised.
3. The family moved to Leith, Scotland
4. Another child was born, and Christened Magdalena
5. A further child was born but did not survive and is buried in Leith

Why we are confused:

1. The UK General Register Office (GRO) has a birth registration for MARYA MAGDALENA MULDERSKI in 1881 and a death registration under the same name, the same year (same quarter); this would correspond with event 2, above
2. Parish register for Middlewich, Cheshire shows the baptism of a MARGARITA MULDERSKI in July 1881. (This is the same quarter in which MARYA MAGDALENA was born/died).
3. No further registration or baptismal information is evident from the GRO or Parish Registers in a 5 year period.
4. Were MARYA MAGDALENA and MARGARITA, in fact, the same child. Registered with one name, but christened with another? Or did MARGARITA become known as Mary?
5. Where does Mary (latterly of Chicago) come into the equation?
6. As mentioned in 4, above, the Scottish Public Record Office (PRO) has a birth registration for MARGARET MAGDALENA MULDERSKI in 1883, in Leith.
7. No further records can be found for the baby mentioned in 5, above.
8. The passenger list for the Steamship Lake Winnipeg shows 2 infants in the party: Margaret, and Maria - the assumption is that this Margaret was the child born in Leith… and Maria is the Mary who became a resident of Chicago

The Gorse Fox is not quite sure what his next course of action will be. It is not uncommon to reuse the names of infants who had died… but the sequence seems wrong.