You may have seen that over the last few months we have been indexing the 'paternity' cases in the books of extracted decrees in the Sheriff courts of the south of Scotland, work is now well under way to index the Berwickshire cases.
What does this mean?
It was not unusual for the mother of an illegitimate child to take the father to court for aliment or maintenance of the child. She had to prove to the court that he was the father. If it was proven a decree was made that he should pay and for how much. Often an extract was made, if it was a copy was recorded in a book. We are indexing these books.
This means that you can find out who the father of an illegitimate father is!
This information was not always put on post 1855 birth certificates!
There is often no corresponding Kirk Session Entry!
Our Index is free!The total number of cases indexed is now 3,640 entries and the index covers most of the Scottish Borders and all of Dumfriesshire!
1830-1914 - Dumfries - Dumfriesshire
1831-1892 - Jedburgh - Roxburghshire
1830-1851 - Duns - Berwickshire
1837-1914 - Peebles - Peeblesshire
1830-1906 - Selkirk - Selkirkshire
Here is the link to our index:
http://maxwellancestry.co.uk/ancestry/resources/courtsearch.aspxHere is a link to our help pages:
http://maxwellancestry.co.uk/ancestry/resources/helpcourt.aspxEmma