Can you guys phrase what you're looking for as a concise question and I'll forward it to a friend who is a law librarian at the LoC. Alan
HATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com HALL DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hall/HDNAtest.htm "One of the tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a brutal gang of facts" - La Rochefoucauld Alan, Could a woman giving birth to an illegitimate child in 1857 OH give that child the father's surname without the father legally admitting paternity [producing a court record of same]? Absent the father acknowledging paternity, would that child then have to be given the surname of the mother? If he acknowledged his child openly to various neighbors and relatives, would that be considered sufficient "legal acknowledgement"? Nel
Dear All, I have read in several places that back during the nineteenth Century (and, of course, prior to), a lot of births weren't officially recorded. If the births weren't recorded, then the mother could name the child anything she wished. Additionally, often, a child would take the name of the family with whom the child was living if the child's birth family was, for whatever reason, out of the child's life. D. L. Hatcher, Esq. Graniteville, SC -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of nelhatch Sent: Monday, December 07, 2009 5:50 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [HATCHER] Any lawyers in our group?? HATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com HALL DNA project: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~nhatcher/hall/HDNAtest.htm "One of the tragedies of life is the murder of a beautiful theory by a brutal gang of facts" - La Rochefoucauld Alan, Could a woman giving birth to an illegitimate child in 1857 OH give that child the father's surname without the father legally admitting paternity [producing a court record of same]? Absent the father acknowledging paternity, would that child then have to be given the surname of the mother? If he acknowledged his child openly to various neighbors and relatives, would that be considered sufficient "legal acknowledgement"? Nel ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message