Genealogy Chat

Would a child's birth certificate (Sept. Q. 1877) record that his father had already died? Parents were married and child was last of the family, the father having died the previous November.

Hi, I'm not sure about birth certs but baptisms state 'posthumas child of' I imagine that certificates would say something similar. Gwynne

Hi Gwyneth, yes I have one that says 'posthumous child of' Christine

I have baptism where the mother was dead but it was'nt mentioned in the childs baptism entry but the mums death cert indicated she died before her daughters baptism. George

Thank you for your replies. I might buy the birth certificate to see for myself. It is for my grandmother's brother but their mother was not the informant of her husband's death so it got me wondering if the child could be his, or whether she had left her husband for someone else.

Its not quite the same i know but (and this is early 1900) I have a birth cert, father named, mother named I also have a death cert for the father ....who had died.....6 years before.......and yes, he HAD died 6 years before, No, I haven't made a mistake. Guess nobody did a lot of checking. jess x

Jess Now you've got me wondering who she would have named as the father for her next child.(1881) He had her husband's surname, but I have the death certificate for the husband, in November 1876. Another cert. on my list, I think!

I also have a birth cert (Scottish) where it has deceased under the mothers name, the childs birth was registered a few days after the actual birth and the mother it turned out had died in childbirth. Shaz xx

A child was always assumed to be fathered by a woman's husband unless the informant states otherwise. Whether or not it would state he was dead might depend on if the information was volunteered by the informant - I don't think a registrar would routinely ask 'is he dead?' when inquiring about the child's father. But if you don't get the cert, you may never discover if a different man was named! nell

Hi I'm not certain if this would be so in every case but I have a birth certificate from 1884 which names the child father and notes him to be deceased. The child was born on 1st September 1884 some 4 months after his father had died of pulmonary tuberculosis Netty

Shaz, Your Scottish certificate isnt in the name of McBain by any chance? Jean