child of an unknown father

Richard L Hall

I have a child in the tree whose biological mother ( still living) is known and we have attached the child to her. The father of this child is not known, not because we have not found him yet but because the mother doesn't know who the father is. Is there a way to show that the father is "unknown" rather than having this couple relationship only show "add a spouse"?

Chas Howell

John IMO, I don’t think you should presume a Temple question in this public community forum when a temple question has not been asked and the post is in the public Family Tree category and not in the Temple category. Also the quoted Family Tree policy about needing both names does not apply here because the mother is living therefore no Proxy sealing can be done through Family Tree.

Colin, creating an “Unknown” Deceased PID in the Family Tree IMO is never a good idea and I even question if it serves much purpose in the Living area, but whatever.

Richard just do what John suggests in his answer and add the child to the mother (+Add Child), or you can add the mother to the child with “+Add Parent” link and just leave the father blank. The biological father may not be know Now but may be in the DNA future.

Gordon Collett

Richard, since you have already attached the child to her mother and really didn't need advice on how to do that and since most people would agree that is it best to not make up names but just leave blank items blank, the actual answer to your question is:

No, you cannot remove that "Add Spouse" box in any of the pedigree views or detail page. It is present on everyone that has never been married, including all people who died far too young to have ever been married.

You can only put notes somewhere stating the the father is currently unknown. As Chas states, with DNA testing getting so prevalent and the fact the DNA testing works best in finding close relationships, if that child ever wants to find his or her biological father, it probably won't be all that difficult.

ColinCameron

You could create a father named “Unknown”. This could either be as the “spouse” of the mother, or as a separate, independent father of the child (by clicking on “add parent” on the child’s page rather than “add spouse”).

No doubt someone will say that this is bad practice, but as the mother is still living you should probably mark the unknown father as living as well, so nobody but you will see them anyway.

John L. Kennedy

@Richard L Hall

Hi Richard, thank you for posting your question on FamilySearch Community. I wasn't sure whether your query related to sealing the child to the mother or not so I decided to address that issue first. I've attached an extract from the Help Centre which clarifies that as follows:-

"To seal a child to parents, the names of both the father and mother are required. Provide their full names if possible. At a minimum, either a first name or last name is required for both."

Now, as to the FamilySearch Family Tree part.

In Family Tree bring up the "Person" page for the child. Click "add parent" and then add just the mother. There is no requirement to create a father whose name is "Unknown".

Bring up the "Person" page for the mother click "Add child with an unknown father"

If any of this is unclear, or you feel I haven't answered your question fully, then please feel free to private message me.

Kind Regards,

John L. Kennedy.