« Reply #11 on: Thursday 10 June 21 15:14 BST (UK) »
My cousin has just discovered via DNA that she had a half brother
His mother was married & although his birth was registered under her married name it is said that my uncles name is shown as his father on the birth cert.
If that is true - would I be right in saying that my uncle would have had to be present at the birth registration & therefore had full knowledge of the child's birth?
Carole, yes, the father who was not the husband would have had to be present at registration or "a statutory declaration of parentage form signed" & presented.
Is it possible there was an understanding with all 3 i.e. mother, husband & legitimate father, the child be raised in the 'marital' home as the husband's child with no contact with legitimate father which may be a reason your cousin was never told?
Is it possible the mother was already pregnant when she met her future husband who was willing to take on the child as his own?
I know of a similar case in my own family where the mother was pregnant when she met her future husband but he signed as the father, knowing he wasn't although I'm unsure if the legitimate father was ever informed?
Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie
Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)
Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling
Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon
Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee
"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"