Hello all. I was asking a while ago about Mary Ann SPRATT. I have now received her birth certificate, but now stuck with it. I mean, her mother is listed, but no father and no father occupation. As many of you mentioned, it appeared that she may be illegitimate and I think this proves it. However, is there a way to ever find out who the father is? I have located the marriage certificate and have ordered that today, but don't know what British certificates have on them. I was thinking that Harriet Jane SPRATT (mother of Mary Ann) had Mary with her 'boyfriend' Henry Smith before they got married. However, it dawned on me that she could have got together with anyone before she married Henry. Is there a way to find her real father? Jace

Is there an online listing of illegitimate births for 1866? The birth in question is Julia Emily Griffin. All the rest of her siblings were born in Winchester in the Worthys. Her mother may have been either Mary Anne or Jane Griffin both born in Winchester. Father is unknown. In fact she is a bit of a conundrum as there is so much fluxuation regarding her birth. She was actually born in London (Islington) in 1866 and not Hampshire. The registration detail per FreeBMD is Julia E Griffin Mar 1866, Islington 1b 294. In the 1871 census she is shown as Eliza Julia born 1866, the granddaughter of George and Sophia. In the 1881 census she is shown as Julia E born 1863, the sister of Thomas Griffin. As she is my great grandmother, I would like to know more about her!!! Thank you, Margot, USA --- http://USFamily.Net/dialup.html - $8.25/mo! -- http://www.usfamily.net/dsl.html - $19.99/mo! ---

Jason Holmes wrote: > Hello all. I was asking a while ago about Mary Ann SPRATT. I have now > received her birth certificate, but now stuck with it. I mean, her mother > is listed, but no father and no father occupation. As many of you > mentioned, it appeared that she may be illegitimate and I think this proves > it. However, is there a way to ever find out who the father is? I have > located the marriage certificate and have ordered that today, but don't know > what British certificates have on them. I was thinking that Harriet Jane > SPRATT (mother of Mary Ann) had Mary with her 'boyfriend' Henry Smith before > they got married. However, it dawned on me that she could have got together > with anyone before she married Henry. Is there a way to find her real > father? You have very little chance of finding out who the father was unless there's a bastardy order, ie Harriet sought maintenance from the father for the child. The man Harriet married may or may not have been the father of her child but err on the side that he wasn't even if the child took his name. All an *English/Welsh* certificates will have on it is the name of the parties concerned, their ages (if you're lucky, if not, it'll just say "full age", occupation of the groom, addresses for both parties, the fathers' names and occupation. You'll also get the witnesses. And that is it. (Scottish certificates have a lot more information on them.) Things to be aware of are (1) that full age is supposed to mean 21 and over, but most people have at least one example in their trees where one or both supposedly full age parties were actually underage. (2) An illegitimate child can, and often did, invent a father for the sake of appearances, who was deceased. (3) Just because a father is not shown as deceased doesn't mean he was actually still alive. Conversely a deceased father (if not invented) might actually still be living. You'll find this site useful for what is and is not on English/Welsh certificates: http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm -- Charani (UK)