[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Children Without Fathers

[Jerry Frank]

The way an illegitimate child is recorded is often dependent on the pastor who enters the record.  I have seen records where the father is recorded as "that rascal Gustav X" with the actual name shown in place of X.  In another instance, the father's name was entered upside down.  Most are simply not recorded.

We do have to be careful about assumptions regarding the reason.  In my ancestry I found a distant cousin in the 18th century who had 3 children within a few years.  All died within months of each other.  She died a few years later in a poor house.  I suspect she may have been a prostitute but there is of course no proof.

Usually a legitimate father who dies before the birth would be listed as the father and noted as deceased. 

Rape is a possibility but some women willingly entered out-of-wedlock relationships and suffered the consequences.  

Jerry





----- Original Message -----
From: "B Hirsekorn" <tggrtime at yahoo.ca>
To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 11:27:21 AM
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Children Without Fathers

In looking at church records from the Lodz area (1860-1865),
I noticed a number of births with no mention of a father only the mother was listed.
In checking the history of Poland, found that 1863 was the year of the January
Uprising and in 1864 the country was under Russian rule. 


If a married couple has a child and the father dies before
the child is born is the father not listed in the church record? (Note: I cannot
read Polish.) 


If the fathers were Polish men (unmarried) who fought and
died fighting the Russians would they not be listed? 


Or, were the children the result of rape by Russian soldiers
and, therefore, no father listed?
 
Betty Hirsekorn
_______________________________________________
Ger-Poland-Volhynia site list
Ger-Poland-Volhynia at sggee.org
https://www.sggee.org/mailman/listinfo/ger-poland-volhynia