Finding the mother of an "illegitimate" birth in Scotland 1916

[carolineasb]

I take it there is definitely no stamp/annotation showing an RCE on the birth certificate in 1916? A Decree of Paternity or the change of name should have had an RCE and may give more clues

[Rosinish]

The baby was 'fostered' at birth, therefore I presume that the new parents would have christened her as was their want, ie Grace. The "Mac" is most likely a shortened form of her first married name of Macadam.

Does anyone know if children born illegitimate at this time would customarily have had their name entered as that of the mother? As in this case Agnes Graham.

Do you know the names of the 'new parents' who may have been relatives?
Did Agnes/Grace Agnes name a father on her MC?

I'm unsure what exactly you're asking re the name of an illegitimate child?

An illegitimate child could be named with whatever Christian name the mother chose.
The illegitimate child would be given the surname of the mother at the time whether she was single/married/separated/divorced/widowed.
I could elaborate on the above but no point in confusing the issue as it's not relevant at this time.

However, if the father of the illegitimate child was present at the Registering of the child & signed as being the father, the child would be given his surname.

The child would then be indexed with both parents' surnames at the time & if the mother had been previously married then the child would also be indexed under the mother's maiden name too.

I hope the above makes sense but as Agnes wasn't married & the father wasn't present at the registration then the child would automatically be given the mother's surname which would not be classed as a/her maiden name as she was never married.

Only married/previously married women have 'maiden' surnames.

Annie

[Rosinish]

Apparently he has already done a DNA test

It would be interesting to know what the 5 highest maternal & paternal matches cMs amounts are?

Where did he test & has he uploaded his results to all the free sites too for further matches & info?

Annie

[Kloumann]

There is a RCE stamp on the birth record with name in centre.

[Rosinish]

There is a RCE stamp on the birth record with name in centre.

I'm not sure what you mean as it's not something I've seen in the past...

Are you saying there's a name on the RCE Stamp?

Where is the RCE stamp as it's usually on the left side margin or thereabouts.

Is the 'name' not a reference to something written in a particular column on the BC which would give the column number?

Edit...What is stated on the RCE?

If the RCE isn't there to download you - (the person who downloaded the BC) can report the issue to SP (from the downloaded cert. on the SP site) who will email a copy.

The above happened to me many years ago.

Annie

[Rosinish]

I suspect that the address at 135 was a 'mothering' address. There are rumours that her mother got pregnant by the son of the family she was in service with, and talk of him not surviving the War.

It would be an idea to list all surnames at 135 Paisley Road West from the VRs in 1915, have a look at maternal matches, their trees, shared matches & their trees to see if any of those surnames from the VRs features a lot?

Surnames on the 1915 VRs...

Brown - Clark - MacKenzie - MacLeod - MacTeague - Montgomerie - Neave

The Proprietor was John Mair

It may also be worth looking closer to home to find out whether the family who fostered Agnes were related in any way?

What occupation did the foster father have & how far from Govan where Agnes was born did the foster parents live?

It's worth keeping in mind, although a lot of work has been done so far to trace Agnes' roots, it's all speculation as there's no solid proof of anything beyond the BC unfortunately.

That's where using DNA matching can help.


Annie

[MonicaL]

There is a RCE stamp on the birth record with name in centre.

See below for the RCE stamp. I think this RCE entry is likely due to the change of name by the adoptive family of baby Agnes. There is no link included for an image to the RCEs.

She married groom MacAdam in 1940 as Grace Agnes Graham. So, she was still using her mother's surname or did the family that took her was also named Graham?

Monica

[carolineasb]

If there is no link to the RCE, Scotland's People should be contacted via the "report an issue" button so that the person who has downloaded the image can see exactly what the change is.

[Rosinish]

The baby was 'fostered' at birth, therefore I presume that the new parents would have christened her as was their want, ie Grace. The "Mac" is most likely a shortened form of her first married name of Macadam.

I would tend to disagree on foster parents having any legal or any other right to have a foster child in their care which they "would have christened her as was their want, ie Grace"?

Annie