Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Thank you to Hilary, our Education Officer for the following summary of suggested sources of research.

If there is a blank space instead of the father's name on either a birth or marriage certificate, it is unlikely that the name of an illegitimate child's father at this time can be found. Unless

1. There is a clue in the child's name, such as a surname as the middle name. Even then this is supposition rather than evidence.
2. A father is named at the child's baptism. This is more likely in areas were all the parishioners were known to the priest or vicar.
3. There is a Bastardy or Affiliation/Filiation Bond applied for and the father is named. There are many of these at Lancashire Record Office - search the catalogue for the surname as well as the word Bastard/Bastardy/Affiliation/Filiation. http://archivecat.lancashire.gov.uk/calmview/
4. Application was made through the local court for payment from the father. These are often reported in the press under police courts. (I have one of these in 1876 in my family reported as held at the Police court.)
5. The father names the child in his will under the phrase of "my natural child" or even "my reputed son".
6. The mother marries soon, within months, after the child's birth and the child is always listed as the husband's child. If it's not his child he'll list it as a step child. The likelihood in this case was that the couple were unable to marry before the child's birth perhaps because one party wasn't 21 or because of different religions but marry as soon as they can when any obstacles have been removed.

Without any of the above, and others may think of any possibilities, you have no evidence or proof of who the father is and so the trail stops with the child.

Another source of information came to my attention recently when a descendent of my Great, Great, Grandparents posted on an Isle of Man messageboard. She was descended from an illegitimate child who had the surname of her father. The descendent had the name of the father from the marriage certificate but didn't know the mother's name. Obviously the birth was registered with only the mother's name recorded.

We found the index for mother and child. We managed to link up the father, mother and child in one record. The father had been a soldier stationed in the Isle of Man prior to the child's birth. Fortunately a service record existed to tell us this and more. The conclusive proof of the parentage was a letter from the War Office ordering payments from the father to the mother and saying he had acknowledged being the father.


Blue

Sometimes illegitimate children provided dubious names for their fathers when marrying to avoid the embarassment of making their origins known. There are also complicated family situations that may lead to mothers giving incorrect information when registering the birth. If the mother was separated from her husband and had a child with another partner she might register the child as her husband's rather than have the child be recorded as illegitimate.

Uncertain parentage in the distant past makes it difficult to progress on a line. However if you have access to living relatives with knowledge of the goings on this can give you more insight and explain curious details on certificates. Gather both certificates and family knowledge to give the full picture about those more recent events that are complicated but can still support your research into a family line.


Blue

Thanks for adding your extra thoughts Blue. Just wanted to comment on that point you made

Blue70 wrote: However if you have access to living relatives with knowledge of the goings on this can give you more insight and explain curious details on certificates.

The response you get from somebody who may have inside knowledge might give you suspicions enough to make you research more since they may well know a lot about what happened at the time but consider it a family secret that they are not going to divulge.

Thanks Mary. My Dad's family history is complicated. Fortunately he has provided me with some information to sort it out. I'm also hoping that a WW2 army service record might shed more light on the family situation.


Blue