Birth Certificate

brynadams_1 · Post by **brynadams_1** » 02 Feb 2007 20:12

Have I reached the end of the road !!!!!
My Gt,Grandfather was born in a workhouse in 1850 to a single woman (confirmed by Parish record)but no father mentioned. When my G.G. married he gave his father's name ( Christian and Surname )as the same as his. I have tried to obtain a birth cert. from G.R.O. and various registry cffices but have had no joy. Can I assume that's it.
Has anyone else had a similar problem.

Bryn

ID:2153

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 02 Feb 2007 20:18

Don't worry it's not always the end. I sometimes come back to a line and something comes up perhaps a few years down the line and make a little more progress. You may not know his Fathers name for sure, but you can follow your GGrandmother's line back.

brynadams_1 · Post by **brynadams_1** » 02 Feb 2007 20:38

Thanks Jane. I know nothing about my G.G M, only her name but I assume that she must live within the Parish where the Workhouse was located ( with a few exceptions ). Needle and haystack come to mind when I start to delve. Thanks again.
Bryn

Tombaston · Post by **Tombaston** » 02 Feb 2007 20:55

My great grandfather Nelson Brown was also illegitimate and his birth certificate shows only his mother. His two marriage certificates show John Brown as his father but this was made up to make him look more respectable (to his brides' families?). His first marriage certificate gave John Brown an occupation of gardener which was the occupation of Nelson's step father. The second gives John's occupation as mechanical engineer which may have been to try to get Nelson work as he was an engineer's pattern maker. Nelson's surname was Brown because his mother's name was Brown as confirmed by the birth certificate.

There are family rumours as to who his father was and he was supposed to have a letter acknowledging his paternity, but when Nelson died his eldest son destroyed the letter on the grounds it would embarrass the family (of the father).

His mother was a servant so I hope to try and find where she was in service and then maybe try to find wills of the householder and his sons which may acknowledge Nelson's paternity. I am descended from his second marriage so I am also thinking about trying to find descendants of his first marriage as they may have more information.

I have also seen an article suggesting you can find details of paternity cases in local newspapers so I may try and search these at some point.

I have checked for a will for Nelson in case that declared his father's name but he didn't leave one.

Nelson is in my direct male line so I would like to find his father but at the moment it is low priority on my research. I am sure there are other possible avenues to try to search which other more experienced members of this site can recommend and I am hopeful that some unthought of material may one day be searchable on line.

tommy166 · Post by **tommy166** » 03 Feb 2007 01:08

I would have thought that a birth in a workhouse have been registered, and that application for a bastardy order would have been made by the Board of Guardians to get the putative father to cough up some money to pay for the child's upbringing. These may survive in the local record office - worth having a search for.

Tom

philjo · Post by **philjo** » 05 Feb 2007 13:24

My GG Grandmother's birth certificate does not mention a father, and she is registered in 1862 under the surname of her mother.
However, she was also registered with a middle name which was she same as the surname of the man her mother married some 10 years later.
When he died, his will acknowledged that he was the natural father of the girl, and left his possessions to her.

Jeremy

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