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« on: Saturday 27 January 18 17:03 GMT (UK) »
Good afternoon from a very wet & windy Bristol. I think I may have found an illegitimate birth in my family tree & have a couple of general questions. The year is 1867 & the place is the West Country mill town of Trowbridge. The mother is Ann Lindsey, aged 20, who gave birth to a son, Frederick, in November of that year but there is no father's name on his birth certificate.
My first question is: If he was illegitimate, would there have been any stigma surrounding the mother or the child?
In 1888, when Frederick was 20 years old, he was baptized and the register shows his father's name as James, occupation of school teacher.
Frederick becomes a teacher at a local school he married in 1895 but there are blank spaces where his father's name & occupation on the marriage certificate.
My second question is: Could Frederick's mother, Ann, have invented a father's name & occupation for his baptism ceremony? Incidentally, Ann's father's name was James.