Genealogy Chat

If the father is listed as unknown on a birth and marriage certificate of my gg grandfather - should I just give up trying to find out who he was?

You may have to eventually but not just yet. I've found unknown parents when I thought all hope was lost.

Brilliant news, well done. Any suggestions that may help me? x

I have never seen 'father unknown' on ANY birth cert! All you will see is a line through where the father's name should be. Illegitimate rarely means 'father unknown'. Someone knows and yoiu just have to find out who! OC

Sometimes it was just luck. Usually on the Scottish side of my family. One of my ancestors was illegitmate but her mother had her name changed to her father's name several years later - I forget the term but it meant that he was recognised officially as the father. He went on to marry someone else. Last night I found the death certificate (Scottish - it makes a difference) where his fathers first name wasn't listed but he was the only one with that name born that year in that area which gave me his fathers name. Also his mothers name (also listed on the death certifcate) cross referenced with a marriage between the father just a year before he was born. On the English side of the family - I've managed unexpectedly to find parents listed on gravestones etc. I've also found parents through certificates of siblings who were born after civil registration.(if mine were born before civil registration) Sometimes you find parents on census records too.

Will tell you what I know so makes it a little easier to understand. George Cooper, born 28 Jan 1862 Thrupp, Berkshire. On birth cert father is blank, mother is Ellen Cooper. On his marriage cert on 19 Oct 1882 in Littleworth, Berkshire to Keziah Purbrick, his father is listed as unknown. Cooper is definetely Ellens name as I have found her on the census returns - on 1871 George was living with his grandparents - John and Maria Cooper and an uncle - I had always assumed these were his fathers parents, but on going backwards and searching for John and Maria - they have a daughter Ellen born 1838. Need to track her down and see if she died before 1871.

You could try looking at the parish baptism register. Some vicars recorded the name of the reputed father. If it was before about 1830, you could look for a bastardy order. And if the child's middle name sounds like a surname, it may well be the father's surname.

No middle name listed on the certificate unfortunately. Possible development though - and I am probably jumping to HUGE conclusions here - I have just found Ellen on the 1861 (less than a year before Georges birth) as a servant in Faringdon, there was also a male servant (a Jesse Esthorell) at the house. Huge long shot I know, but thats all I have to go on at the moment. Just seems convenient that approx 9 months prior to George birth (was born in the Jan of 1862) her and a young man were living with a couple as servants. Is that really bad of me to assume that of her?

Sometimes you will find 'Bastardy Bonds' which give the father. However, I don't know a fail-proof way to search for them.

Just found her on the 1871 - after she married! I dont presume that her husband was Georges father - she married Albert Cowley in 1865 Faringdon.

We all seem to be thinking along the same lines. This is an example: http://www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk/collections/summary/pdfs/dp48.pdf If you search down the page you will see that there is a record for this parish (Draycott) - this is just given as an example.

Bastardy Bonds had died out by 1835. You need to look for Bastardy Orders, or Maintenance, or Affiliation Orders. These will be in the Quarter Sessions, or the Magistrate's Court. They are very difficult to find (in my experience) but you might strike lucky. Tempting as it is, you cannot safely ASSUME that the other servant was the father of her child - could have been 'the Master', or even Joe the butcher's boy! OC

No don't give up. You just need to explore ALL avenues. My mum's dad is not listed on her birth cert. Her mum died when she was a baby and she was brought up by her grandparents who didn't tell her anything about her mum or dad. All we knew was that her mum was a bit of a tearaway and my mum was born in a children's home. After a long search I racked down some hospital records relating to my grandmother. There was one passage written down that went ' Rose was discovered on the (date) in the Laundry room with _______ and as a result she is now pregnant'. It took me a long time to get the records office to disclose to me his name, as they were bound by the Data Protection Act. Eventually though, they did (Only because he had since died). So it is possible to get those names, even if it's from an unlikely source. My story didnt end there....... I found out as much as I could about my grandfather and discovered he had a daughter who used this site. Very cautiously I contacted her and told her my story. She was great about it and sent me some photo's of her father. When I got them the resemblence between him and my mum was astounding. There is no question in my mind that he is her father. Pat x

Thanks Mary, will check it out. xx

Jesse's surname's been mistranscribed. It looks like Cotterell, and there's a matching birth in 1841.

Pat, thats a really nice story (if you know what I mean), really nice that his daughter didnt dismiss you. Personally, I would take a bit of intrigue and suspense in my tree to spice it up a big. Not really sure how I am going to find out his name, but Im not ready to give up yet......