Genealogy Chat

Having just read Patricia's thread about birth certificates, a thought came to mind. A recent hospital survey found 1 in 15 babies born did not really have the father who was named on the birth certificate. I suppose this has always happened, so how many of us are claiming ancestors who aren't really theirs?

Well theres no doubting who the father of my two boys is as they are the spitting image of their dad! lol If only we could have pictorial evidence of our ancestors then we'd know for certain! Oh the doubt and indecision! Cheers for that, really set me up for the day :-(

Talking to someone a few days ago and she say's she's only interested in the female line of her tree because you can always trust who your mother was but you'r never realy sure of the father!! Hmm! Sue.

I agree entirely with original post. I think it is very likely. But Sue ... In this day and age of assisted conception you can't always be sure who the mother is. I have a child conceived via IVF and frequently go through paranoia stages that the child is not genetically mine. This is partly due to hearing about mistakes being made and partly due to the fact that I don't think child particularly looks like either of its parents. Note - child referred to as child or it to retain anonymity !

To Name Withheld - You should not feel badly in any way - Just know that you were prepared to go through with all those prceedures to have a truly LOVED and WANTED baby - Best wishes to you and your family Sue

My Grandmother married a man and had a legitimate child by him. However the marriage broke down, and she had a relationship with another chap, who is the genetic father of my mother. Because my grandmother had not divorced her first husband, my mother was registered by my grandmother as being the child of the first husband, even though they were no longer together! My mum discovered this to be the case, so fortunately for me, I have not been misled into believing that her maiden surname came from her genetic father. However, it does mean that I am prevented from discovering my roots on my real grandfather's side of the family. It's such a shame, because my (now deceased) mum always wanted to know who her real father was, but because of her false birth registration and my grandmother's refusal to talk about it, she had no way of knowing his name and it caused her real distress. So yes, a lot of us could very well be searching for the wrong ancestors! Dierdre X

Who should we look like but ourselves of course, we can be copies of centries back but not know it. My cousins son does not look like either parent, (noticed by the grandmother) but as I pointed out to her if she saw one of the other cousins sons they are so alike. That did make her feel better. But why do some children look like their parents and not others its so strange. I have recently been able to get a picture of an ancestor who went to the states in the 1850's this picture must have been taken around the 80/90's he looks so like my dad or should I say my dad looked like him. Anyway I think its fun, so I will continue to believe my ancestors are who I think they are. I suppose we could have dna test done to prove it. Irene

Don't panic if your child looks nothing like you. My friend has very ginger hair, but none of her parents, grandparents or cousins do. However, my friend's grandmother distinctly remembers HER mother having a shock of bright orange hair! Genes hide themselves for generations. Just because your kids haven't got that terrible deformity Auntie Flo had, doesn't mean it has gone away forever. Conversely, I heard that 10% of babies did not 'belong' to their fathers. Some of my rellies remarried with indecent haste, which makes me wonder how close they were to one another when their first husband/wife was still alive...

Sue in Sussex Thanks for your kind words. Also thanks to the others for mentioning that sometimes a child does not look like parents - dormant genes etc. My child does show some other possibly inherited attributes, so I am sure I am wrong to have doubts. I am not so vain that I want child to have our looks anyway !

Good friends of ours (godparents to our kids) have five children. NONE of them look anything like either their parents or siblings.

After making contact with a distant relative on here and receiving information it turns out I have been barking up the wrong tree. Literally! I have the correct GGG Grandfather but it turns out two of his sons both had sons themselves and both called them same name and they wore born in the same year! So the one I though was my GGrandfather isn't it was his brother! Naomi

I don't agree you can trust who your mother was, before 1837 anyway. There must have been illegitimate kids who were baptised by their adopted parents, with no record that they weren't the real parents In my tree I've got a couple who only had the one child, and that was after 13 years of marriage. Medical miracle, or adopted? Or maybe the husband was infertile and some other man did the honours, with or without the husband's knowledge I'm not that bothered. The boy inherited his station in life and the family business from his "official" father -- so if I want to know about his social roots, that's the line I need to trace Genes are a modern obsession. People didn't used to think they mattered much. Social position was everything, but you inherited that from your ostensible parents, not your genetic parents. They're the ones who influenced the later story of the family