Category: Baptisms

12 signs your ancestors weren't married

18/4/2017

It's a few months since we launched our Find the Father service, where we try to identify the father of children where he's not named on the child's birth or baptism entry. In that time, we've searched through literally thousands of baptisms, most of which noted both parents. However, many of these indicated in one way or another that the parents were not, in fact, married. Some of these are fairly obvious, but some are not so obvious, so we thought we'd list them.

Some phrases or markings in registers definitely show that the parents aren't married, while others may just be hinting as much. The following phrases/abbreviations are unambiguous:

Illegitimate (sometimes abbreviated to Illeg or Ill): usually written next to the child's name, but in some registers it's written next to the father's or mother's name.
Natural son/daughter: sometimes abbreviated to Nat son/daughter, Na: son/daughter, or NS/ND
Natural child: sometimes abbreviated to NC, although beware that this abbreviation is also used for non-communicant, i.e. someone who is not a member of the congregation.
Unlawful son/daughter: used in contrast to lawful son/daughter (meaning the parents are lawfully married)
John Smith and Mary Brown, unmarried.
Putative father: sometimes abbreviated to PF, indicating that this man is alleged to be the father, but may or may not have formally acknowledged as much.
Reputed father: sometimes abbreviated to RF, with the same implications as putative father.

Other phrases or markings are less clear - they may or may not indicate that the parents are unmarried:

Mother or grandparent sponsor: sponsors generally vouched that the children would be brought up "in the faith". In most cases, the father was sponsor, and when this is the case it's generally not specifically mentioned. You will sometimes find references in Kirk Session minutes to the Session agreeing to permit the mother to act as sponsor. However there may be other reasons why the mother (or some other adult) would be sponsor - the father may be absent, or dead, or a member of a different church - so this should only be treated as a hint that the parents were unmarried.
Baptised in front of the Session: some registers, particularly later registers, give the names of witnesses to the baptism, or state that the child was baptised "before the Congregation". You may find in such registers instances where the child was baptised before the Session. This is sometimes an indication that the parents were unmarried: again, Kirk Session minutes often contain references to children being brought to the Session house for baptism. Similarly, if the child was baptised at home, it might be an indication that the child was poorly, and was too unwell to be brought to church.
Father's name given in brackets: we've seen a number of registers where a few entries give the father's name in brackets. This may be an indication that the parents were not married, or it may simply mean that the father was not present - perhaps because he was working away from home at the time (we've noticed a number of such cases where the father was a mariner or seaman, and may well have been away at sea).
An alternative surname is given: the child is described as for instance James Anderson or McDonald: this would usually suggest the parents were unmarried, but there are other possible explanations.
The child's surname does not match the father's surname: some registers are ambiguous about the surnames of children, or simply do not give the child's surname. If however they do, and the child's surname doesn't match the father's, this is a strong indication that the parents were not married.

One important and unusual characteristic of Scots law which distinguishes it from English law is the concept of legitimisation. A child born out of wedlock whose parents subsequently marry becomes legitimate provided that his or her parents were free to marry at the time of his or her birth.

In the first twenty years of civil registration in Scotland, around 140,000 children were born with no father named on their birth certificates. Our initial research suggests that at least one in three of these fathers can be identified from various historical records. If you have an illegitimate Scottish ancestor in your family tree, why not try our no-win, no-fee Find the Father service to see if your ancestor is one of them?

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I is for Illegitimate

11/4/2016

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Historically, illegitimacy – being born outwith marriage – often carried a great social stigma. It was considered something to be ashamed of – as if somehow the child was responsible for the actions of his or her parents. In my own family, my paternal grandmother was born before her parents were married, a fact that she kept hidden from my dad. She’d even gone to the length of consistently lying about her age to cover her tracks. It wasn't until about ten years after she died that I discovered the truth – much to the amusement of my dad, who had endured years of his mum putting his dad down because his father was illegitimate!

This social stigma was incorporated in law: the Registration (Scotland) Act 1854 [Link] required that all illegitimate births be marked as such in the original register (a requirement which wasn’t removed until 1919). Section 35 of the Registration (Scotland) Act stated:

In the Case of an illegitimate Child it shall not be lawful for the Registrar to enter the Name of any Person as the Father of such Child, unless at the joint Request of the Mother and of the Person acknowledging himself to be the Father of such Child, and who shall in such Case sign the Register as Informant along with the Mother

Consequently, unless the father acknowledged paternity and agreed in person to be registered as the father, it was illegal to record his name in the birth register, with one proviso:

Provided always, that when the Paternity of any illegitimate Child has been found by Decree of any competent Court, the Clerk of Court shall, within Ten Days after the Date of such Decree, send by Post to the Registrar of the Parish in which the Father is or was last domiciled, or in which the Birth shall have been registered, Notice of the Import of such Decree in the Form of the Schedule (F.) to this Act annexed, or to the like Effect, under a Penalty not exceeding Forty Shillings in case of Failure; and on Receipt of such Notice the Registrar shall add to the Entry of the Birth of such Child in the Register the Name of the Father and the Word "Illegitimate," and shall make upon the Margin of the Register opposite to such Entry a Note of such Decree and of the Import thereof

In other words, the father’s name could be added to a birth record after initial registration if paternity was proven subject to a court order, although the stigma of the word illegitimate would remain.

Section 36 of the Registration (Scotland) Act also illustrates an unusual feature of Scots law which distinguishes it from English law:

In the event of any Child, registered as illegitimate, being legitimated per subsequens matrimonium, the Registrar of the Parish in which the Birth of such illegitimate Child was registered shall, upon Production of an Extract of the Entry of such Marriage in the Register of Marriages, note on the Margin of the Register opposite to the Entry of the Birth the Legitimation of such Child per subsequens matrimonium, and the Date of the Registration of such Marriage

Under Scots law, a child born outwith marriage could be legitimated after birth per subsequens matrimonium – literally “by subsequent marriage” – if the parents later married, provided that they were free to marry at the time of the child’s birth.

From a genealogy perspective, the main import of illegitimacy is that it can prove a significant obstacle to tracing the child’s paternal ancestry. However, it need not always prove to be a brick wall.

Take the case of George Kerr Waterston, an illegitimate child born on October 9 1863 in Dunnichen, Angus. His statutory birth record does not name his father, instead just giving his mother’s name as Elspeth Waterston. As mentioned earlier, the law stated that in cases of illegitimate children, the father’s name could only be included if the father signed the register in person. The following entries from the records of Dunnichen parish demonstrate that the strict rules in force for civil registration did not apply to the Church, and thus how Kirk Session records can often be used to identify fathers of illegitimate children.

At Dunnichen the 18th day of October 1863 years
[…]
Compeared Elizabeth Waterstone Letham and pled guilty of fornication, accusing John Kerr, Junior, Blackhillock as the father of the child to which she had given birth on the 9th day of October last. The said Elizabeth Waterstone being admonished by the Moderator, the Clerk was instructed to cite the said John Kerr and the said Elizabeth Waterstone to compear before this Session on Sabbath the 22nd day of November next immediately after divine service.
[NRS Reference CH2/108/2 p. 35-36]

At Dunnichen the 22nd day of November 1863 years
[…]
Compeared also Elizabeth Waterstone but no compearance being made on the part of John Kerr, the Clerk was requested to cite him to compear before the Session next Lord’s day.
[NRS Reference CH2/108/2 p. 36-37]

At Dunnichen the 6th day of December 1863 years
[…]
Compeared Elizabeth Waterstone, and the Moderator having produced the following letter from John Kerr Greenhillock
Greenhillock 23 [November?] 1863
Sir,
I have not come as you hopped but I hope you will Baptise the child.
(signed) John Kerr
Your Servant
The Session hold that it was a sufficient acknowledgement by the said John Kerr.
The said Elizabeth Waterstone being suitably admonished by the Moderator was restored to the privileges of the Church.
[NRS Reference CH2/108/2 p. 37-38]

A couple of weeks later, in the Baptismal Register for Dunnichen, we find the following entry:

Kerr, George Kerr Waterston (illegitimate), S[on]. [Father] John Kerr Junior, Greenhillock Tulloes; [Mother] Elspeth Waterston, Letham. Birth 9th October 1863, Baptism 9th December 1863
[NRS Reference CH2/108/3 p. 32]

This entry provides another useful lesson - it's always worth checking baptismal registers, even after the introduction of civil registration.

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D is for Dissenters

5/4/2016

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Monday 1st January 1855 is a key date in Scottish genealogy research. That was when the system of statutory registration was introduced, covering - in theory at least - every birth, marriage and death in Scotland. However, if you want to research back before 1855, things get a little trickier. The most commonly used records for tracing Scottish ancestry before statutory registration, are the so called OPRs, or Old Parish Registers. These have been indexed, and are available - for a fee - on the Scotland's People website. However, they only cover the established Church of Scotland. You may have a marriage record (often inaccurately referred to as a certificate) for your ancestors, showing that they were members of a dissenting church.

Scotland's fractious religious history means that historically, many Scots did not belong to the Church of Scotland. There have been numerous schisms over the centuries since the Reformation, as a result of dissent over Church doctrine and practice.

In 1733, Ebenezer Erskine, William Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff and James Fisher led what became known as the First Secession, forming the Associate Presbytery. A Second Secession led by Thomas Gillespie followed in 1761. In 1820, several of the dissenting groups combined to form the United Secession Church, initially with 261,000 followers in 361 congregations. By 1830, around one in three Scots were members.

But the largest secession from the Church of Scotland came with the Disruption of 1843, when a long-running dispute over patronage (triggered by the 1834 Veto Act of the General Assembly: see our parish records pages for 150,000 free records of heads of families created as a result of this Act) within the Church of Scotland led to the formation of the Free Church of Scotland. Over a third of serving ministers in the established church joined the Free Church, leaving the Church of Scotland as a minority church for the first time.

Most of these various denominations kept registers of the baptisms of the children of members. Many of these registers survive today in Scottish archives. Unfortunately, for the most part they have not been indexed at all, and the registers are not available online, so finding your ancestors can be challenging.

Over the last few months, we have been extracting the pre-1855 entries from many of these registers, and making them available online. These extractions are not just indexes, but full extracts of all the information contained in the registers - not just names and dates, but often home addresses, father's occupations, and in a number of instances additional notes added by the church officers. Many of these registers continue past 1855, but as there are statutory registers from that time on, we have not extracted them. So far, we've extracted the registers listed below. Click on a link to see what names these registers contain - perhaps your ancestors were dissenters?

Aberdeen St Paul Street United Presbyterian, Aberdeenshire

Aberdeen Bon Accord Free Church, Aberdeenshire

Newhills Free Church, Aberdeenshire

Arbroath Erskine United Presbyterian Church, Angus

Dundee Mariners Church, Angus

St George's Free Church Montrose, Angus

Ardrossan St John's Free Church, Ayrshire

Coldingham United Presbyterian Church, Berwickshire

Langton Free Church, Berwickshire

Bruan Free church, Caithness

Canisbay Free Church, Caithness

Lybster Free Church, Caithness