Genealogy Chat

This is a stab in the dark and may be completely unconnected but on the 1901 census there was a family living in Grantham Tom Coultas, 51, b Downham Norfolk Mary, 42, wife, Thomas, 7, b Grantham Marjorie, 5, b Grantham There were 6 Marjorie's born in Grantham between 1890-1901 but they were the only family still residing there in 1901. Its a stab in the dark as the one you are seeking may not have actually been born in Grantham but may have been passing through. Not sure how you'd prove it either way.

Gilda www.a2a.org.uk/ This is Access to Archives and is a site which tells you where in England records are kept. You can type in a keyword and find a list of documents - you can then get a summary of what is in the document to see if is is of use. Bastardy orders are usually in the parish chest, now in the county records office. My own great-grandmother was illegitimate and on her marriage cert it says in the father's column "illegitimate daughter of Susan Barnes". She was obviously proud of her surname as she gave it to one of her sons as a second name. I have yet to go to the records office to see if I can find out who her father was. nell

I have this turn up twice in my searches. In one case, maintenance was paid but we do not know by who. The girl in question named who she said was the father, but there is no way of knowing if she was telling the truth, and anyway the full name is not now remembered. There must have been circumstances when money was paid to avoid an unpleasant accusation which might have been difficult to disprove eg when someone was working as a servant. Can someone who has done this give me a little bit more info about how you go about finding a Bastardy Order in the recorsd? What is this A2A website as there seems to be a bit of a family tradition going on this one.

Sarah - there is a 75 year rule on Child Maintenance orders, so that shouldnt be a problem in this case, always provided there WAS a bastardy order in the Magistrates Court.

I do know that in some cases even into this century orders were enforced to make the father of an illegitimate child pay towards raising the child. A lady I knew worked before WW2 for a probation officer and this was handled by them, she always said that she knew more about some families than the families did themselves although she never revealled details. If this was the case inyour grandmothers case then the could be records the only thing is the question of accessability if they do exist.

Russell You have a difficult task ahead - are there any photos, diaries or letters that may have been kepts? Perhaps they might help, just a thought. Johnboy

you could look for a baptism record. Might not help, but you need to rule it out before giving up

Hi Russell. A frien of my mother-in-law had this problem. She was adopted in 1931, she had no idea of her birth family. Untill I came up with a suggestion to her. It's a long shot, but it may be worth thinking of. Did your granny ever inherit from a will ???. the reason being is that I suggested this to my mother-in-law's friend- the result was that as a girl she had inherited some money, but not from her adoptive family. She is now on her way to finding her relatives. She had forgotten about that small amount of money, but it just proves that children who were adopted out are often not forgot about by their birth family. Gem

Russell - the Records Office local to your Grandmother's birth may have records of Bastardy Orders, also called Affiliation Orders. In pre-CSA days,the mother had to take the father to court - usually the Magistrates Court, to get maintenance for the child. The A2A website is a wonderful source for Bastardy Orders, but sadly, much earlier than this. Good Luck! Marjorie

Thank you so much to you both Diane and Mandy. It is a difficult one. My grandmother is now 82 and has never known the name of her father as her mother would never speak of it. Thanks again best wishes Russell

It's a difficult one I'm afraid. I was born (and adopted) more recently - 1964 - and know the name of my birth father, even though there is a blank space on my birth certificate, but still can't manage to track him down. There is a nice lady on here that lots of people recommend, I think she's called Joan Allen and runs a tracing service called My Folks. Good luck! Mandy :)

That's a hard one. I have one the same but about 70 years earlier and have had no luck. Somebody else I know had one in 1899 and was able to look through the parish relief records and found letters to the person concerned who had to pay the childs upkeep. I think it's a case of being lucky. I'm not sure whether this would have still been the way things were done in 1922. But I bet someone on here will know. I had just started getting somewhere with this particular line, the marriage cert had the fathers name on. But unfortunately when I went further it became apparent the mother had married this man when the child was about 4. I then found the birth cert and no name for the father, back to square one. Good luck Diane

My grandmother was born illegitimate at Grantham in 1922. I have her birth certificate but there is an empty space where the fathers name should be. No one in the family ever talked about it and all she was told was that her middle name of Marjorie was the name of her fathers sister. Can anyone give any advice on how to locate her father? many thanks Russell