Sue,   "Bastardy cases" is the correct term.  Today, just as back then, women have children and don't know or won't admit who the father is.  And men father children and won't accept the responsibility of helping care for that child.   The good thing about all of this is that it really doesn't matter what we learn about our ancestral line.  We are who we are because of all of them.  And finding out something that "we see" as good or bad doesn't change who we really are. Jim Barrett - Timpson, TX Barrett Surname DNA - http://www.flash.net/~parino/barrett-family-dna-project.htm Powell Surname DNA - http://www.flash.net/~parino/powell-surname-dna-project.htm