I am a lawyer in Texas. Are you asking about the status of the law in 1857? You would need to research the state statutes from where he was born. It is not true at this time, at least in Texas, that a child has to carry his mother's name if the parents are not married. Julia Hatcher -----Original Message----- From: nelhatch <[email protected]> To: HATCHERLIST <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, Nov 30, 2009 10:24 pm Subject: [HATCHER] Any lawyers in our group?? ATCHER website: http://hatcherfamilyassn.com ALL 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 ang of facts" - La Rochefoucauld Joshua Gregg Hatcher, bn 1857, was illegitimate yet from the age of 3 yrs old, e never used his mother's maiden name [Haney]. My understanding is that an llegitimate child would carry his mother's maiden name unless his father egally admitted paternity. And "legally" means there should be a record at the courthouse or "somewhere." Am I correct on this? And if so, which group of records might this be found in? Nel ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message