There was a discussion of illegitimacy a while back. It was fairly common, and my family is full of children born to unmarried women. I've just come across an example I wanted to share, showing how it could be perpetuated: A distant cousin of mine was born in 1896 to an unmarried woman; her mother (1858) and grandmother (1824) were also born to unmarried women. If you look at a chart of the ancestry of the one born in 1896 she has 1 parent (instead of 2), 1 grandparent (instead of 4), 1 great-grandparent (instead of 8), and 2 gg-grandparents (instead of 16). Lots of mystery there. Robert Behra