Jill, That's why it threw me a bit, because other certificates I have come across where the parents weren't married, usually has the space for the father blank or unknown is written. In this case the father was the informant (no declaration) so I figure if they were married, then it would say so........the conflicting bit is that according to the mother's death certificate, she died 4 years later in 1912, they would have been married for 10 years, putting their marriage date at about 1902 in New Zealand, 6 years before ?their child's birth, but no marriage has been found. The death certificate lists an authorized agent as the informant, but I am wondering, where do these authorized agents get their information from? Jenny ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jill and Ian ROY" <royz@bigpond.com> To: "Jenny Gray" <jennyg@hotkey.net.au> Sent: Sunday, 3 August 2003 16:46 Subject: Re: [A.G.R. ] Birth Certificate Query > Jenny, > You are probably safe. Does the certificate have anything like "declaration > by father' on it? This would make it almost a certainty that there was no > marriage. Usually in cases where the parents are not married, the father's > name is omitted or has 'unknown' in the space. If the father declared he was > the father, his name could appear. The word of the mother as to who the > father was is not good enough if the couple is not married. I think this is > still the case. > Jill > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jenny Gray" <jennyg@hotkey.net.au> > To: <AUSSIE-GEN-RESEARCH-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2003 10:13 PM > Subject: [A.G.R. ] Birth Certificate Query > > > > Hi List, > > > > Just need the thoughts of another to make sure I am on the right track, I am working on a difficult family line with lots of conflicting information. I have a Victorian birth certificate from 1908 where the mother is listed as Edith Campbell, maiden name Wissing, the father is listed as John Taylor. The column where it asks "when & where married" is blank, not even a stroke through the column.....is it safe to say that John and Edith were not married....the informant was the father John Taylor. Jenny