Genealogy Chat

I have a list of babts and it says William natural son of Joshua Ringrose and Mary, what does that mean?

Not sure, but perhaps they had already had one or more children baptised who they had adopted and wanted to make clear that this was their own child. Must say this is only a guess. Kath

This usually means illegitimate with the father accepting the fact that he is the father. Janet

Hi, A natural child was an illegitimate child where paternity was acknowledged Gwynne

Hi Marion, It's something we were told at the genealogy class I used to go to. It also appears in wills where men left money to their "natural" sons as well as "sons of their marriage". Gwynne

Hi Marion, It is very odd. I have a PCC will in which John Elph left money to the sons of his marriage and also to his "natural" son John Elph Clarke (by Martha Clarke) "now residing in Gt Yarmouth". At his baptism John Elph Clarke is baptised as illegitimate son of Marths Clarke ( no mention of John Elph - although the name was a bit of a giveaway!) Gwynne

I also was taught that natural child meant an illegitimate child. Found this on GENUKI There is a great diversity in the mode of registering illegitimate children. The words most often used to describe the child are base, bastard, illegitimate, spurious (and their Latin equivalents). There is a more indulgent tone to the word natural which is also used frequently. Judith

Thanks for all your replies and interest in this word, not sure who to go with........ Sue..........

"natural" generally means illegitimate (no. 11 in meanings natural in my dictionary; it also means "not adopted, but related by blood"). I have always taken it to mean illegitimate (Jane Austen uses it in that sense in Emma). Baseborn and bastard are other terms, but I much prefer a sample in my family from the 1881 census "love child". Helen

I agree with everyone else who says that natural means illegitimate. But the wording of this entry is a bit unusual in that in the parish registers I have come across with illegitimate children, the mother's name including surname has been entered. In this case though the wording is as would have been used for a baptism of a child born within wedlock. Perhaps the vicar was just trying not to draw attention to the fact that the parents weren't married, and simply slipped in "natural" as the least painful way of recording the illegitimacy.

Hi, From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable: "Natural Child. Bastard. The Romans called the children of concubines 'naturales' ie children according to nature and not according to the law." I think there can be little doubt that it does mean illegitimate (ie not in law). Gwynne