Joe: Although, a child could certainly have been born to a prostitute, I think the chances of a child simply being born out-of-wedlock is a far more likely situation ... of course, you have a few other children born to this single mother, so the situation is complicated. Anyway, as you already discovered, there are no birth registrations in Baltimore City until four years after the event that you want. Your best bet for finding some record of the birth is to locate a church record where the child was baptized. Illegitimate births occur frequently in every church record I have ever seen (although some identify the fact that the mother was not married, many simply don't make any mention of a father). To find a church, you'll need to know Catholic vs. Protestant and then research the churches nearest the address where the mother lived at the time. By the way, as an aside, Baltimore City was not a part of Baltimore County in 1871. The City became an independent entity in 1851 and remains so to this day. I doubt that prostitution was any more legal in 1871 than it is today ... but I'm sure it was practiced. As to special court records for "bastard children" ... I've not heard of that but someone more knowledgeable may have other advice. Good Luck. Gary 27 July 2002 Baltimore http://home.att.net/~g.ruppert > > I understand that birth records are not available before January 1875 for the > City of Baltimore. The person I am researching was born in October 1871 in > Baltimore, Baltimore Co., MD according to her death record and census records > from West Virginia. She was the first of five children born to a single mother > whom I cannot find in the 1870 Maryland census (or any other state). Any > suggestions? An archivist suggested her mother was a prostitute. Was > prostitution legal in Baltimore in the 1870s? Are there court records for > "bastard" children? > > Thanks in advance. > > > > --------------------------------- > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better > > > ==== BALTGEN Mailing List ==== > The Baltimore County Genealogical Society web site: > http://www.serve.com/bcgs/bcgs.html >