Is it possible to find the father of an illegitimate child?

[julieann1]

Frances Bell was born 23 May 1890 at Tundergarth.  She was the illegitimate daughter of Elizabeth Bell.  Elizabeth a few years later married Gideon Palmer and moved to Ayr, then England. Frances remained with her mother and was brought up as Gideon's daughter. 
Is there any way of finding out who Frances' father was? it does not say on the birth cert.
Julie

[RJ_Paton]

The short answer is I'm afraid, NO  .......

Sometimes there are clues in the names or family stories ... one relative of mine had the fathers surname as a middle name  but it is generally impossible to get definitive proof .... although if you knew the family concerned DNA testing may have some future benefits.

The only other path open is to ascertain if there were any court actions at the period involving claims of parentage etc.

[Willow 4873]

Hiya Julie

As Falkyrn said the answer is usually no unless you are lucky

It might be worth looking at the parish register for her baptism as they might have noted the father although she was baptised under her mothers name.

If Frances knew who her father was she might have named him on her marriage certificate but sometimes they made up a fathers name as my grandmother did

Willow x

[toni*]

i'm going to disagree here
its not always possible but there are ways and means!

firstly check the PR's sometimes the vicar would write the fathers name in the register

check the local areas bastardry records (possibly indexed on A2A) - the people in charge didn't want to have to give relief to a child if the father was around in fact they didnt give relief out lightly at all.

 

[ScottishAncestry]

Hi,

You might be interested in this link on the Scottish general board: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,288594.0.html we have been discussing the same thing.

It's one of those things that there is no conclusive answer to. Sometimes the OPR’s or the Kirk sessions tell you who the father was but by 1890 they often don’t. I always look at the records that do exist just in case.

So personally I would say it’s worth a try but if you’re not able to visit the National Archives yourself it can be difficult or expensive to check them all.

Emma

[grendlsmother]

If you have sight of the birth certificate, check if there is an RCE - this will often give the name of the father, especially if the mother took him to court for maintenance.   I have a couple of these.

[aghadowey]

Sometimes, in a country district, the neighbours have a fair idea of everything that went on in the area. Where I lived there are 3 or 4 people, aged 70-90, who can usually supply the name of a missing father.
Another idea is to ask different branches of the family. Last year a woman came to me looking for information about her illegitimate mother's father. Her mother was raised by her grandmother and never told anything but a first cousin recently told her who the father had been (he was surprised that no one had ever mentioned it before but he had the details from his mother).

[toni*]

there are other ways but nothing can be proved concretely (is that a word?)

how about local press birth announcements?

[aghadowey]

Most people didn't put birth announcements in the newspaper in those days and would be highly unlikely to find one for an illegitimate child.