why trust her age ? - if she was underage she might have just said 'over 21' to avoid problems - I suspect the poorhouse did no checks.

As Sue has pointed out you are in the best position, as living in Douglas, to check all the records - most on this board are off the Island - you might well suspect that members of the putative father's family are not telling you the complete story but I would point out that the law of libel also applies to internet message boards (there was a recent case through the courts involving a Manx message board in which both the poster and the admin were fined - I'd hate to see you banned for fear of a law suite).