During the Victorian era, having a child out of wedlock was considered a major sin yet despite this it happened quite frequently. The main challenge with researching illegitimate children is determining their parentage. It was not uncommon for the mother or the child to make up a story that legitimized the birth. This could be something as simple as borrowing the name of a male family member, using their father's first name paired with their surname, or making up a fake name entirely. Reading between these manufactured truths can be challenging and often send us hunting for the wrong person or someone that never existed. From performing research on illegitimate ancestors in my own family tree I have learned some strategies that can help sort through the confusion.
1. Pay attention to census records
Census records can tell us quite a bit about a person, including their marital status and where they were born. It is not unusual to find a few errors in a census as they are considered secondary sources. Look for the most consistent facts being presented and at any corrections that the enumerator made after collection the information. Women who had children out of wedlock often claimed to be widows despite never being married. It was not unusual for the enumerator to realize this error after completing the return, then to correct it by crossing off the 'W' and writing in an 'S'.
Another hallmark of mothers of illegitimate children was that they move away after having the child. This may have been out of shame, wanting to start over, or because their family disowned them. What ever the reason was, it is important to pay attention to your ancestor's movement and how that lines up with the births of the children.
2. Search the census for potential fathers
This strategy works the best when a child was born around the time that a census was taken (+/- 2 years). The reason for this is that you are going to be looking for men in the area that could be the father. The further you get from a census the more likely it is that someone may have moved to then left the area without you ever knowing.
The first step is to identify what a reasonable range is for the father to be found in. Transfer the transcribed census information from this area into a table then filter it until the most likely people remain. If you want to see a full tutorial on how to do this, there are tons available on YouTube.
The other way you can search a census is by occupation. The reason you may want to try this approach is that it expands the area your considering without actually having to copy over more data. It also factors in people who worked in the area but lived further away. I usually only consider the place that my ancestor was working, then I copy the information into a table and apply the same filtering techniques.
3. Pay attention to the child's name
Naming patterns were a common practice in the Victorian era, and still are used by many families today, as a way of honouring family members. Just because a child was illegitimate doesnt mean that their name was exempt from the naming pattern. For example, I have a woman who had 11 children with at least two different men. The father of the last 8 children is known and all have their father's surname as their middle name. Additionally, the first names of these 8 children follow the conventional naming pattern used by later generations. I didnt know the father of the first three children, however I got lucky when locating the daughter in the birth index. Her middle name was clearly a surname. Sure enough when I did some research, there was a man (with that surname) exactly her age that lived several blocks away. I found records that linked the two making it clear that he was at the very least the father of the daughter. This case in particular is so strange and complex that I plan to share a more detailed version in a later post.
4. Search for church records
The baptismal and marriage records can be especially helpful when researching illegitimate children. Baptismal records have been known to list the names of the father, however this has never been the case for me. What was helpful about the baptismal record was that it reaffirmed that the father would not have given the child his surname as the baptismal record lists the mother as a 'single woman' and the child as 'illegitimate'. This information can help sort through the confusion that arises later on from other records.
Marriage records dont have to be a formal marriage, rather they can extend to bann readings and bonds agreements. Compare the date that these records were created with when the child was born. In the case of the daughter I previously spoke of, I found a marriage banns which finished being read exactly 9 months before she was born, however no formal marriage ever took place - thus reaffirming my belief in who her father was.
I do feel the need to note that not everybody considered a child conceived at the time a couple was engaged (having their banns read) to be illegitimate.
5. Compare the mother's and child's stories
Some children knew who their father was and would state this truth later in life on their marriage, death, or other records. Collect as many records as you can for both the mother and the child, then determine the story that each of them is telling. Are they the same? Are their any differences? Pay attention to changes that occur over time as this could be a lead.
I did this with the 11 children I previously spoke of. What was interesting to me is that the 8 youngest children didn't know their mother's maiden name but believed that their father had their surname. This could have been to legitimize themselves or could have been that they never knew the truth about their parents relationship. Even if this approach yields the same result that it did for me, it can tell you quite a bit about the family dynamics and just how hard the parents worked to hide the truth.
6. Place your evidence on a map
Geography is one of the most important and often overlooked considerations when performing research. The reality of the Victorian era was that transportation was much slower than it is today. There were no subways or cars that connected cities and nearby communities. Something such as a mountain or large body of water could have prevented transportation in one direction. Understanding the distance and potential geographic barriers can help with identifying a range that the father could have lived in.
I like to place the events on a historic map and identify potentially important places such as work and church. After everything is in place it is much easier to identify the probability of each potential father.
Final Considerations
Remember that you are trying to uncover a secret that your ancestors may have worked hard to hide and therefore they may not have left many records behind which tell the truth. The most important thing when researching illegitimate ancestors is patience and perseverance.
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