[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Children Without Fathers

Gary Warner garyw555 at gmail.com
Wed May 15 20:56:44 PDT 2013


To all,

Further to Jerry's comments, I have seen the following in at least one 
parish:

The father is not noted, but in place of that, the parents of the mother 
are given in full detail.

Gary Warner


On 5/15/2013 5:28 PM, Jerry Frank wrote:
> 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
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