Illegitimate Ancestors? Try the Sheriff Court Paternity Index

[ScottishAncestry]

We have been working with a wonderful volunteer to index 'paternity' cases found in the Sheriff Court records. Just yesterday we uploaded an index to Airdrie Sheriff Court 1846-1855 (later years will follow shortly). I hope these records will help you overcome some brick walls! www.scottishindexes.com

We call these 'paternity' cases. They are actually aliment cases, that is cases where the mother of an illegitimate child took the father to court to force him to pay for the upkeep of the child. To win the case the mother had to provide evidence as to the child's parentage. This is now invaluable to us as it can be the only surviving record of who the the father of an illegitimate ancestor was.

If you've not used the Sheriff Court records before you may be interested in looking at our Learning Zone: http://scottishindexes.com/learningcourt.aspx

Hope you find this new index useful,

Emma

[skippy]

Thank you Emma,

Hopefully I might find some of my brick walls on there.

[ScottishAncestry]

Just to let you know this database has been updated and now includes cases up to 1906 for Airdrie Sheriff Court.

[ScottishAncestry]

We've now added cases from 1906-1915.

[debbikiebler]

When will the Lanark records for 1910 be available?

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=717847.msg5615641#msg5615641

[ScottishAncestry]

Well it's not started so far, however we can move it up the queue if that would help. I'll ask our volunteer and see if she would be happy with that.

Emma

[whiteout7]

I would be keen on any from Fife. I've found one that started in Fife and went to Edinburgh. I wonder if this was common and if many cases were just settled in Fife.

I've been told my ancestor Jean Blyth had a case against William Wemyss @ West Wemyss c 1793 but didn't know how my relative managed to access it

I've followed you on facebook

[ScottishAncestry]

There are a few reasons why a case that began in Fife could have gone to Edinburgh. It could be that the father lived in Edinburgh and the case should therefore have been heard in Edinburgh, not Fife.

When you say to ‘went to Edinburgh’ though, did you mean it went to the Sheriff Court there or did it go to a higher court or a different type of court in Edinburgh? As your case was before 1830 it may have been heard by the Commissary Court.

Here’s a quote from the book “Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors” which is published by the National Records of Scotland (8.20)

“The divorce and other consistorial cases heard by the Commissary Court in Edinburgh cover all aspects of marriage, separation, divorce and legitimacy, yielding a profusion of detail about marital and domestic circumstances.”

I must state I am no expert on the Commissary Court and cannot give you a clear outline but it would seem that before 1830 some cases were heard by the Sheriff Court and some by the Commissary Court.

If you would like to email the details to us we can try and help you unravel the situation in your case.

The good news is that there is an index to some (not sure on coverage) Fife Sheriff Court Decrees is available from the Fife family history society. Also “The Commissariot of Edinburgh, Consistorial processes and decreets 1658-1800.” You can view this online. I would speculate that it may be from one of these sources that your relative managed to access the information.

I would definitely recommend the book “Tracing Your Scottish Ancestors” if you are getting into this type of record as it’s a wonderful reference book. It will be one of our May prizes for our ‘Then & Now’ (http://scottishgenealogyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/thenandnow.html) photography competition.

[ScottishAncestry]

Hi debbikiebler,

I have good news; our volunteer is willing to bump Lanark up the queue in the hope that it helps you. I will post on this board once the index begins to go online.

Sadly however it is unlikely to help in your case. I have just read your other post. We are indexing the ‘extracted decrees’ that is decrees where a copy was made for somebody. We’re indexing these because they are quick to index. Also after 1860 it is pretty much all that remains. We are going back through other court records to add the other cases but it’s a much slower process.

After 1855 when a decision or decree was made by the court in regard to paternity a ‘Schedule F’ was sent to the registrar and the birth certificate was altered accordingly.

Now, as always is the case this process was open to human error and we have seen cases where this did not happen so checking the index is always valuable. It brings me back to my original statement however; ‘ it is unlikely to help in your case’. Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news.

I really do feel your frustration, my own grandfather was illegitimate (born in 1921) we too have a name but cannot find the father. We have done DNA and so far nothing! We have eliminated a possible father though so that was helpful.

If you would like to email me everything you have so far with a list of what you have looked at I will look over it and see if I can think of anything else.

One possibility I am thinking about is that if Sarah Gray Thomson took the man to court and lost there would be no ‘Schedule F’ sent to the registrar; it would also be unlikely that there would be a decree. There could however be an entry in the ‘roll book’ that is a list of cases heard in the court. Details are always brief but it may give another clue. Frustratingly the National Records of Scotland catalogue is offline temporarily so I cannot look to see what there is until that is back online.

Do email me with what you have though and I’ll give it a good look over for you.

Emma

P.S. -Learning Zone - Finding Paternity Cases in Sheriff Court Records - http://scottishindexes.com/learningcourt.aspx

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