Genealogy Chat

I've often discovered the name of a father by getting marriage certificates. Sometimes its a child born to a couple before they were married, so the child has the mother's maiden name. However, sometimes I've found illegitimate children putting a name down on their marriage certificate - so the mother has obviously filled them in who their real father is. I've later searched the census and found the probable father living in the area (usually married to someone else) ;-) I know sometimes these names are false; but they are not likely to be false when the surname is totally different to what it should be if it was a made up name. Cheers, Horatia

The only way to see the full name of either parent is to buy the cert......... If the child was illegitimate, the chances of the father's name being recorded are slim.......especially if he was, as I assume, married to another woman at the time. Reg

Neil If a child is illegitimate, then the only way the name of the father will appear on the certificate, is if the father went to register the child, along with the mother, or swore an affidavit to the effect that he was the father of this child. However, if he was reluctant to accept parentage, the lady in question may have taken him to the Magistrate's Court for maintenance for the child. OC

Forgive my stupidity on this question, but is it possible to search for the name of the father via a Birth Certificate, even when the father may not necessarily share the same surname as the child? Obviously, I know that you can search via the name of the child being born and more recent entries show the name of the mother, but NOT the name of the father. It all relates to my Grandfather, who may or may not have fathered an illegitimate child in the mid to late 1960's and I was trying to find a way of establishing more detail. All help gladly accepted!