Genealogy Chat

Hi I have had the same problem I think the grandads name was put on the marriage cert as being the father,sometimes the child was brought up thinking it,s G.Parents were it,s parents and it,s mother was it,s sister.Well that,s my theory. Sylvia Griffin

Hi just to add my experience, my dad was technically illegitimate both sets of parents previously married my grandma had two children then had my dad with my grandad, they kept up pretence of being married and wasn't until my parents married they found out about the whole thing i.e. his sisters were half sister's. My grandparents only got married in 1974 two years before my parents did, on my dad's birth certificate there is no father registered however he is listed as father on my parents wedding certificate. No-one really talked about this and only since i've been researching has dates of marriage etc come about and just for all to beware as my grandma was very cagey about any questions bless her, these days this kind of situation occurs all the time and is not shameful but that was the way they felt about it then. zoë

I had a birth where she was born 2 months outside the marriage, her middle name was the "father's" name but on the census 1881 she is at home with her parents not using her surname, just her middle name. Then when she goes into service she reverted to her real name (her mothers maiden name . )When she married she married a cousin so left out her middle name altogether as She would have then been Mary Weaver Weaver!!! KIM

Yes I have had a few of these as well, though I have not really looked for the father, may not be possible anyway. So when I get time (what's that I hear you say) I shall look into them a bit more. I did have one were when I managed to find the marriage certificate her surname was her mother and grandmothers, both mother and daughter had been born 2 months before their parents marriage, she did add her father on the marriage certificate. Irene

Russell, i've had exactly the same problem.......... no father named on the birth certificate. luckily though the child was given the surname of the absent father as a middle name. The father was then named in the childs marriage certificate and i also found the father living next door to the mother + child in 1901 census!!!!! so they do turn up somewhere........ most of the time!! will keep my fingers crossed for you Jane

Names could be made up but many couples married after the birth of children who were given the mothers name. The father would not be on the birth cert ( because both had to register) but might be on the marriage cert . Bob

I have one where the mother married about 18 months after the birth but if her husband was really the father would the child not take his name? The child grew up with his mother's maiden name and the 'father' was on the child's marriage certificate with the right first name but the mother's maiden name. Surely a case of trying to make things look proper. Mel

Hi Lesley and Russell, If your gggrandparents had brothers or sisters which you know were from the same father, perhaps you could obtain their marriage certificate to see whether the name is the same. Presumably they wouldn't both make up the same fictitious father. Regards, Kathy

In my experience, usually a made up name on wedding certificate, to save embarresment to the future family.

Has anyone got a wedding certificate where the father of an illegitimate child (no father on birth certificate) is named? A couple of my gggrandparents were illegitimate and I am really struggling to find the fathers.