Catherine Margaret Ponceby Identity Review - 28 April 2026

Scope

This review supports HIR-20260425-001. It does not promote any proposed source to accepted, does not change canonical person records, and does not create a new source record because no new artifact or official archive response was obtained in this pass.

Repository guardrails followed:

Evidence Matrix

Evidence Status What it supports What it does not prove
source-border-crossing-manifest-card-for-catherine-margaret-ponceby-1950 accepted Catherine (Kathrya) Margaret Ponceby, born 7 June 1927 in Edmonton, Canadian-born nurse, single, admitted at Detroit on 28 February 1950 to reside permanently with father Donald Ponceby at 9715 Logan Court, Cleveland. It also records brother Peter Cook at 309 Burwell St., Cranbrook, British Columbia. Catherine's mother, the legal/biological nature of Donald's father relationship, and the reason Peter Cook is recorded as brother.
source-east-high-school-yearbook-pages-for-kathryn-ponceby-1945 proposed Kathryn "Kathy" Ponceby at 9715 Logan Court in Cleveland in the June 1945 East High School yearbook. This strongly supports the Catherine/Kathrya/Kathryn/Kathy same-person hypothesis through rare surname plus exact address. Parentage, birth details, Peter Cook, or any Johnson marriage.
source-cuyahoga-probate-marriage-index-entry-for-robert-ray-johnson-and-kathryn-margaret-ponceby proposed A concrete Cuyahoga Probate marriage target for Kathryn Margaret Ponceby and Robert Ray Johnson: case 1900ML635049, volume 392, page 0510. Actual marriage date, ages, residences, birthplaces, parents, prior-marriage status, or whether the bride is the same person as the 1950 border-card Catherine.
source-census-ponceby-household-1926 proposed Donald Edwin Ponceby and wife Catharine McKay in Edson, Alberta, on 1 June 1926, with sons Donald Stuart and Gordon Francis. Catherine Margaret's birth or mother. It also carries unresolved Gordon age and McKay/Horne name conflicts.
source-alberta-death-index-catherine-mckay-ponceby-1927 proposed Catherine Mckay Ponceby death-index entry at Edson, Alberta, on 7 May 1927, record 403-162. The full death registration is still needed. If the indexed 7 May 1927 death and Catherine Margaret's 7 June 1927 birth are both correct, Catherine McKay/Mackie Horne is unlikely to be Catherine Margaret's biological mother; do not update person records until direct records are reviewed.
source-marriage-record-gordon-f-ponceby-shirley-armstrong-1948 and source-death-certificate-gordon-francis-ponceby-1984 proposed Gordon's records identify Donald Ponceby as father and preserve the mother-name problem as Kathy Horn / Catherine McKayhorne. Catherine Margaret's mother or the Peter Cook relationship.

Assessment

The current best identity reading is conservative:

  • Treat Catherine (Kathrya) Margaret Ponceby and Kathryn "Kathy" Ponceby as a strong same-person hypothesis because the 1945 yearbook and 1950 border card both point to the rare Ponceby surname at 9715 Logan Court in Cleveland.
  • Keep Donald Ponceby as father as recorded only. The accepted border card is enough to preserve the reported relationship, but not enough to choose biological, adoptive, step, foster, or another legal/family relationship.
  • Do not identify Catherine Margaret's mother yet. The Catherine McKay/Mackie Horne death timing is too important and too conflict-bearing to resolve from index evidence.
  • Do not create Peter Cook as a canonical person or sibling relationship yet. The border card's Cranbrook address is the search key, not proof of how the relationship worked.
  • Do not create a Robert Ray Johnson spouse relationship or marriage event from the Cuyahoga index alone. The full marriage record is the highest-value next item because it may name parents, residences, ages, and the true marriage date.

Fresh Public/Access Check

Exact public web searches on 28 April 2026 for Catherine/Kathrya/Kathryn Ponceby, Peter Cook of Cranbrook/Burwell Street, and Robert Ray Johnson with Ponceby did not expose a new durable public artifact. People-search snippets and unrelated broad-name results were ignored.

Official access pages checked:

Ordered-Record Request Packet

1. Cuyahoga Marriage Record: Robert Ray Johnson and Kathryn Margaret Ponceby

Request target:

  • Court: Cuyahoga County Probate Court, Marriage License Department
  • Case: 1900ML635049
  • Parties: Robert Ray Johnson and Kathryn Margaret Ponceby
  • Volume/page: volume 392, page 0510
  • Known caution: the 1900 dates in the web docket are historical-conversion placeholders, not the marriage date.

Preferred path:

  • Search the Cuyahoga Probate web docket for case 1900ML635049.
  • If an image or "Request Full Case Copy" path is available, request the full marriage-license/certificate case copy, not only an abstract.
  • If using the mail form, include the case number and volume/page in a cover note because the certified-copy form asks for a marriage date and the docket index does not supply the real date.

Suggested cover-note wording:

I am requesting the full marriage-license/certificate record, or the most complete available case copy, for Robert Ray Johnson and Kathryn Margaret Ponceby. The historical web docket entry is case 1900ML635049, volume 392, page 0510. The docket appears to use 1900 as a historical-conversion placeholder, so I do not know the actual marriage date. Please include any application, license, certificate/return, and associated image pages if available.

Extract before updating the repo:

  • actual marriage date
  • application, license, certificate, and return dates
  • bride name exactly as recorded
  • groom name exactly as recorded
  • ages, birth dates, birthplaces, residences, occupations
  • parents' names and mothers' maiden names
  • prior-marriage status
  • witnesses, officiant, and filing/recording details

Decision rule:

  • If the returned record names Donald Ponceby, gives the 7 June 1927 Edmonton birth clue, or otherwise ties the bride to 9715 Logan Court, ingest it as a proposed marriage source and then ask the user whether to add Robert Ray Johnson as spouse.
  • If it does not connect to the border-card Catherine, keep it as a separate lead until another bridge appears.

2. Alberta Death Registration: Catherine McKay Ponceby, 1927

Request target:

  • Repository: Provincial Archives of Alberta Vital Statistics Request
  • Name: Catherine Mckay Ponceby
  • Event: death
  • Date/place: 7 May 1927, Edson, Alberta
  • Registration/record: 403-162

Extract before updating the repo:

  • spouse or marital status
  • age, birth date/place, and residence
  • parents and birthplaces, if present
  • informant name and relationship
  • cause/contributing conditions and any pregnancy/childbirth wording
  • burial/funeral details

Decision rule:

  • Use this registration to resolve Catherine Mackie/Horne/McKay identity and death-date conflict first.
  • Do not use it by itself to identify Catherine Margaret's mother unless it directly explains a child, pregnancy, adoption, guardianship, or informant relationship.

3. Alberta Marriage Registration: Donald E. Ponceby and Catherine M. Horne

Request target:

  • Repository: Provincial Archives of Alberta Vital Statistics Request
  • Parties: Donald E. Ponceby/Poncely and Catherine M. Horne
  • Event: marriage
  • Place/year: Edmonton, Alberta, 1924
  • Index clue: no. 242 from the existing Alberta bride/groom index sources

Extract before updating the repo:

  • exact marriage date and place
  • party names, ages, residences, occupations, birthplaces
  • parents, mothers' maiden names, and witnesses
  • prior-marriage status
  • whether the bride's name appears as Horne, Mackie, McKay, or another form

Decision rule:

  • This is the best record for Donald's first spouse sequence and the Horne/Mackie/McKay problem, but it is not expected to identify Catherine Margaret unless later annotation or family context appears.

4. Alberta Adoption or Post-Guardianship Access

Use this path only after either the Cuyahoga marriage record or a death/obituary for Catherine Margaret provides enough identity and eligibility evidence. Alberta says adoption records can include identifying details and adoption orders, but access depends on requester category and supporting documents such as ID, relationship proof, and death proof for a deceased adoptee.

Search/request targets if eligibility exists:

  • Catherine Margaret Ponceby
  • Kathryn Margaret Ponceby
  • Catherine/Kathrya variants
  • birth date/place: 7 June 1927, Edmonton, Alberta
  • father/adoptive father as recorded: Donald Ponceby
  • possible brother or birth-family clue: Peter Cook of Cranbrook, British Columbia

5. Peter Cook, Cranbrook, British Columbia

Use the border-card address as the anchor:

  • Peter Cook
  • 309 Burwell St., Cranbrook, British Columbia
  • relationship as recorded: brother of Catherine (Kathrya) Margaret Ponceby

Best follow-up lanes:

  • Cranbrook city directories and voters lists near 1945-1955
  • British Columbia death, marriage, probate, and cemetery records for Peter Cook
  • local newspaper notices tying Cook, Ponceby, Donald, Catherine, or Kathryn together
  • nursing-school, hospital, or immigration/naturalization files for Catherine Margaret that might repeat next-of-kin

Recommended User Decision

The cleanest decision now is:

Keep Catherine Margaret Ponceby as a canonical person with Donald Ponceby as father as recorded; keep mother unknown; keep Peter Cook as an unresolved brother-as-recorded clue; do not add Robert Ray Johnson as spouse until the full Cuyahoga marriage record is reviewed; request the Cuyahoga marriage case first, then the Alberta Catherine McKay death registration.

That decision preserves the accepted border-card evidence while keeping the identity conflict open where the records are still genuinely thin.