'Mr X'? Surely there's a better way....

[Penelope]

Redacted

[Elaine ..Spain]

I just enter the word 'unknown'

[Uncle John]

My method of identifying unknown parents, whether male or female, is to use a prefix (m) or (f) followed by a small a., b., etc. for unknown first names and A., B., etc. for unknown surnames. And where I have found a married couple in a census and don't know the wife's maiden surname I put (husband's surname) in brackets. That way, when I look in my FTM name index, everyone is different and I don't have a long list of Unknowns. And in the families where a child died and a later one has exactly the same name, I use a suffix (1) and (2).

Just my particular way of doing things. Where I know a couple wasn't married or when I know they divorced, I amend the relationship in FTM.

[Olde Crone Holden]

I put "unknown unknown" although I mostly do know who the father is, so don't have to do this very often.

The further back you go, the easier it is to trace fathers of illegitimate children. Before 1835, everyone was very keen to know who should have financial responsibility for the illegitimate child and you can usually find a bastardy order.

After 1835, a bit more difficult as the responsibility for illegitimate children became a national one rather than a parochial one and it was up to the mother to chase the missing father, not the poor law authorities.

OC

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

On my tree program if you wish to add someone's parent, you only have to enter one name if that's all you know. The other one just says "not entered". If, at a later date you find out the missing name you can just change it.

[Penelope]

Redacted

[Harrys mum]

I've just entered OH's 5x great grandfather's first son who was illegitimate. I know who his mother was and his life story so put him in.

The ones I love are my little "dot" ones. They are the couple I have where the person names as father on their birth, marriage and death certs is not their father, and I think I'm the only living person who knows........lol
I put a dot beside their names to remind myself.

[KiteRunner]

If I have to enter a name I put unknown unknown. I do have the names of some of the fathers but there are some where the family were farmers who could evidently afford the child's upkeep and so no names seem to have been named.

[Joan of Archives]

I just put "Unknown" but I only have one in my tree (that I know of lol).

To be honest none of us know whether the father is the real "father" anyway. According to recent newspaper stories there is quite a high percentage of dads bringing up kids who aren't their biological children, so I don't suppose things were much different in the old days. Trouble is it probably means a lot of our trees are wrong so sometimes I do wonder why I am doing this lol!!

The upside is I expect you save a lot on not having to buy certificates if they didn't marry lol !

[modem]

" but until the 1931 Census I won't know her name and even then only if he is at home with her on Census night!"

I believe that the 1931 Census has not survived, so it may remain a mystery!

[Penelope]

Redacted

[Uncle John]

" but until the 1931 Census I won't know her name and even then only if he is at home with her on Census night!"

I believe that the 1931 Census has not survived, so it may remain a mystery!

And there's some doubt as to whether the 1921 census will ever be published. I believe the privacy law changed after 1911.

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

What about the electoral roll?

UPDATE Doh, didn't realise you don't have the death cert! Maybe she registered the death?

[Little Nell]

I put Unknown Unknown if I don't know. It's very frustrating looking at a pedigree chart and seeing a long list of blanks stretching back into the past.

But in reality, most of my illegit children had parents who married - but they just married a bit after the child was born.

[Uncle John]

But in reality, most of my illegit children had parents who married - but they just married a bit after the child was born.

For these ones, if the child appeared in a later census with the married couple I use the FTM feature to attach them as a step-child. In one case (not an illegitimate birth) the mother went through 3 husbands in rapid succession, so the eldest child appears in successive censuses with 3 different surnames. She married under the surname she was born with.

[Olde Crone Holden]

Penelope

I have one particular illegitimate ancestor whose baptism is marked:

John Green, natural grandson of Mr Thomas Green, son of Ellen Green.

Thomas Green was a local yeoman farmer, a churchwarden and paid part of the Vicar's stipend. It made me laugh when I saw the wording as this Vicar normally just wrote "bastard" in the margin.

Later, someone else (different handwriting, maybe Mr Green himself?) has written "and John Moreton".

John Moreton Green inherited his grandfather's farm and his grandmother's substantial residual estate, so illegitimacy was never a problem for him. Ellen Green later married another wealthy farmer. John Moreton continued his life as a blacksmith.

OC

[Little Nell]

Uncle John

I don't mean a step-dad (although that happened too) I meant that the natural parents married afer the birth of their child. I usually assign whatever name the child used in later life. I have one chap who kept his mother's maiden name though he was brought up with his father and they both went to prison (under 2 different surnames) for theft in the 1840s!

[Uncle John]

I have one Scottish man who was born in 1856 with one name. He had a brother with the same surname who died in infancy. My man appeared in the 1861 census with a completely different name but his mother had kept her original name. By 1871 she had married and he's a stepson. By 1881 she's a widow and in 1891 she's living with the son and his family but using his current surname. In 1901 she's reverted to her married name. The son's death was registered in his second name.

The mother's youngest sister also had an illegitimate child but this was after 1855, and the Register of Corrected Entries records the Sheriff's decision about the name of the father.

[Penelope]

Redacted

[GallowayLass]

This probably a very daft question but I'm not that up on English sources - what is Dade please?