General tips re: illegitimate children

[ghallen]

I've come across a few people in my tree with a blank "Father" section of their birth certificate and I was wondering if any of you had had a similar situation and had some success in finding the father?

If so, would you be able to share your steps to success or any resources that might possibly help a person find unknown fathers?

[Nanna52]

Partly it will depend how far back you are looking.  I knew there was an unknown grandparent in my line and took a DNA test.  It showed the line, but unfortunately for me there were five sons so I am trying to trace their whereabouts at the time of conception.
Sometimes a middle name will give a clue.
Patience and luck do come into it.
Good luck.

[jim1]

I would agree with Nanna52.
Illegitimate children were often given the father's surname as a middle name
So with a DNA test a father might be traceable by marrying up one with the other.
The only other source are the Quarter session records which might reveal an
illegitimacy order against the father.

[Andy J2022]

Also don't discount the people who are in plain sight: co-habitees at census time and later husbands. It may be that the birth mother may already be married but separated from her husband and so she isn't in a position to marry the baby's father to legitimise the birth. They then marry later when they can. I've seen this within my extended family and the reason I can be sure who the real father was is because when the child later died aged about 4 the father's surname was included on the death certificate. In another case I have come across, which  involved both bigamy and desertion, the only way in which I could prove the paternity of a particular child was when the father acknowledged the child was his in his will.

[antiquesam]

My paternal grandmother had three illegitimate children. She was living with her grandmother and ( I think) half brother during this period. All the birth certificates are  bereft of a father but my father and his sister name the uncle as their father on their marriage certificates. She did eventually marry a matelot and left the children with the witnesses to her marriage. Aren't families complicated?

[GR2]

In Scotland, you could check the minutes of the kirk session. They often give details of fathers. Also check the person's marriage and death certificates to see if their father is given there. If the mother pursued the father for maintenance, there might be a court record. The child might also be found staying with members of the father's family in a census.

[coombs]

I have a birth registered in January 1864 of my 2xgreat gran but under her mother's name. No father listed. The very likely father had just lost his long dying wife. They moved to London and married there. The baby was then baptised in November 1864 as the daughter of both people.

I think illegitimate births rarely had a fathers name until 1875.

[GR2]

In Scotland, from the start of statutory registration in 1855, if parents weren't married, the father's name could not be entered on a birth certificate unless he was present when the birth was registered. I suppose the reason was to prevent innocent men being named. The result is that, even when the father acknowledged the child and the child would take his surname, if he were not able to be present at the registration, the child had to be registered under the mother's surname with no mention of him (the father).

[Gillg]

The parish Overseers did their best to name the father of an illegitimate child in order to pursue him for maintenance of the child.  If they could not find him, then the parish would have to pay.  You may find information in the Overseers' Reports and Accounts.  This particular reference is for the Yorkshire town of Sowerby https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/N13718838 but you may find others for the area you are looking at, alternatively contact the local Record Office, who should have these records.

A helpful person found the name stated as father of my illegitimate gt-gt-gt-grandmother (1806) in the BVRI (British Isles Vital Records Index) records for me many years ago, but I'm not sure how to get this now, as it appears to be available only on a CD.  Perhaps another helpful person will be able to find more information for you.