Are you sure -- I will keep checking my German files. But I must note that with my Alsace Schott ancestors in Wittelshiem records, there were references to illegitimacy of one person that had it recorded at birth, marriage, and even at the death of the poor women. It was noted in Catholic Church records in pre 1900 records here as illegitimate. Was it only my ancestral Germans who didn't make a big deal of illegitimacy. I will have to research my German documents further to see if there are clues to illegitimacy. For instance, St. Louis Catholic records of my Great Grandparents illegitimacy states that he was "the child of" where the other children had the reference"legitimate child of". Just a thought. Mary Lee Sloan >From: [email protected] >To: [email protected] >Subject: Customs, Traditions, Mores of Germans & Possibly Other Europeans >Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 17:59:12 EDT > >Since my English grandmother who immigrated to Texas with her parents and >siblings in 1885 married a German (b. Bexar Co., Texas, born to two German >immigrants), I have had occasion to study ways and means of conducting both >English and German genealogy. > >In neither of these cultures--English and German--is illegitimacy said to >be >a big deal. One German expert (author, publisher, lecturer) started out >his >lecture, In Germany there is no such thing as illegitimacy. The pair did >not get married until the bride was pregnant usually because one or both >might >lose their employment. > >A couple of English lecturers (authors, lecturers) have said essentially >the >same thing. In fact, because so many English girls were put *into >service* >[became servants], frequently the first child was conceived before >wedlock. >In one instance I know of, the first child came considerably before the >bride's first marriage. It was explained that mothers did not prepare >their >daughters for the fact that the master of the household had *bed >privileges*. >Some of you scholars will know the French term for this. > >This thought was provoked by some correspondence between myself and Bob >Schulz concerning some supposed dalliances of Bettina von Arnim. (Note the >antics of nobility in England these days.) > >I am a fan of Masterpiece Theater (back when PBS was better funded that it >is now). If you have NOT seen a rather recent movie called Gosford Park, >see >if you can find it at your video store. You may understand the behavior >of >some of the upper classes and the lower classes. (Is this being >replicated in >the United States these days? Not the pay differences between CEOs and >their employees!) > >Back to Gosford Park - do a google.com search for this movie. Here is a >brief description: > >Multiple storylined drama set in 1932, showing the lives of upstairs guest >and downstairs servants at a party in a country house in England > >E.W.Wallace > > > >============================== >Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. >New content added every business day. Learn more: >http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx >