General Chat

my grandfather was born out of wedlock and his father is not on the birth cert is there any way of traceing him

try the parish records

people where less likely to lie to god than the government

good luck

If you are really lucky, he might be named on your Grandfathers marriage certificate.

Good luck

But the name on the marriage certificate is not necessarily the true name of the father. Sometimes the groom just invented a name to avoid the stigma of having the illegitimacy showing on the m cert.

the mother MIGHT have tried to claim an allowance form the putative father

so there might be court records.


The vicar MIGHT have been a note in the margin of the Parish Record if the baby was baptised, and IF the vicar suspected who the putative father might be.


the name MIGHT be mentioned in some family letter or record, or bible ..............


but these things were often not recorded.



and Huia is quite right ................. most names put on a marriage certificate by an illegitimate child are false ...................... put there to make it look better.

It's often the known grandfather's name, or that of a family friend, or some well known person in the village or town.

But never take that name as proof positive

My father was born out of wedlock.
He was brought up to believe a 'certain' man (30 years older than gran), with (according to gran) no other children, was his dad, though he never lived with them - but did visit - my brother even has his surname as his second name!!

Dad and I even asked his mum who dad's dad was - her reply? 'Juarez'!!! I must point out that dad was born in Cornwall and Spanish seamen weren't unknown!

When I started looking into gran's family, someone contacted me who knew gran's parents - the 'certain' man was a long-standing friend of the family, and I found out later he had 5 children! Probably not dad's dad - but if so, I didn't want to know :-S

BUT searches for earlier 'out of wedlocks' have proved fruitful, using, as other's have mentioned, the parish records, and 'bastardy' records. In the 18th century, one Ann Baggot had a son by Andrew Reid. They never married and her son was known as Michael Baggot. Andrew had to contribute towards Michaels upbringing.

Had another one - my gg grandmother Mary. On her marriage certificate, her name looks like Mary Boulet Evans. Looking in the census, there was a Hannah Evans (widow), with 2 children and a lodger - Samuel Doutch.
In the next census, there were 3 children - the youngest named Mary - and the same lodger. I looked at the certificate again - my great grandmother's name was Mary DOUTCH Evans

edit: I could make a joke about ggg grandmother - but then I wouldn't be here :-D

I have a gt grandmother who just made a name up for her father when she married...just so it looked ok....then I have gt gt grandmother who was born in the 1820s so no birth cert but there is a baptism just naming her mother....when I purchased her marriage cert her name was Howells and she names a john Skinner as her father.....so don't know who he was as I cannot find her mother after the baptism or living with or marrying a Skinner

...personally, I find the mother's line possibly more 'true'.

....but then you have 'casual' adoptions..... :-S