Thank you for that Nivard - just seems strange to me that a father should have the child - although he was working so could have supported it with his mother's help. Maybe I will never get to solve this particular mystery. Carol On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 2:44 PM, Nivard Ovington via <norfolk@rootsweb.com> wrote: > Hi Carol > > Custody then was a matter of who had the child, ie who was the stronger > individual > > Adoption was not official until 1927, previous to that adoption and or > fostering was a private affair > > Unless there was some action on the part of the mother or father through > the courts, you are unlikely to find anything > > Children were often put out with relatives where the father had to work > or the mother was not capable or around to look after them, but there > are many scenarios > > Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) > > On 27/06/2016 13:59, Carol Wordingham via wrote: > > This is not truly related to Norfolk alone but I wondered if anyone could > > answer a query for me. My great grandfather seems to have had a > > illegitimate son in 1885 -g-g-grandfather marries as a bachelor in 1887 > > and again as a widower in 1890. My query is - would he have custody of > the > > son born 1885 if the mother was still alive. I have searched for a death > > for her but found nothing. The surname of the wife in 1887 is not the > > surname of the mother of the son born in 1885. The child is with my great > > grandfather on census returns in 1891 and 1901. I seem to have been going > > around in circles trying to work this out and thought it was time to try > > the experts on the Norfolk Mailing List . Thank you in anticipation > Carol > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > NORFOLK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Like it or not there were some women who were not good mothers, or ran off with the milkman (etc) or simply the father wanted the child under his control for whatever reason There are so many scenarios it could be that only more research may uncover something Check the available newspapers in case there was a report of it, then as now they loved the gory details, the more salacious the better Nivard Ovington in Cornwall (UK) On 27/06/2016 14:52, Carol Wordingham wrote: > Thank you for that Nivard - just seems strange to me that a father > should have the child - although he was working so could have supported > it with his mother's help. Maybe I will never get to solve this > particular mystery. Carol