I find one of my ancestors show the mother. and the mothers father is listed as the father. I have f

LegacyUser

I find one of my ancestors show the mother. and the mothers father is listed as the father. I have found this on multiple sources. Is there a reason in the 1800s that a father would sign the birth certificate of his grandchild? Incest? What other reason?

The woman in question was never married either. And had 2 children with the grandfather on both birth records.

LegacyUser

Scott, did you mean to ask this about your descendant? Or about your ancestor?

 

Can you tell us more about the location and time period involved?

LegacyUser

I edited my post. I meant ancestor. The time period was mid 1800s, Virginia/West Virginia.

 

Thanks

 

multiplesons1.5294187457446106E12

Aha! Then I will refer your question to the @Virginia Genealogy Research​  group. Maybe someone there might have some suggestions.

CarolynJTurner

I make that kind of mistake sometimes myself.

I hope that you can get some good suggestions from others.

 

Who can help Scott with his quest?

JeffWiseman

By the way, I have situations where a single mother with a child never married but continued to live in her father's house after the biological father took off prior to the birth. In these cases, the parent-child relationship between the woman's father and her child would be marked as "guardianship" (or even "adoptive" if appropriate). The default invisible setting of "biological" did not apply in these case, but when people pull this information off of a census record, they just let the default ride which is really not appropriate.

 

Unless of course there was documented incest involved. But I would not leave that default unless some real sources proving it can be found.

LegacyUser

If the child is living, you would be able to use DNA results to determine if their parents were related.

You can upload the DNA results from the DNA testing company to GedMatch.com and use a tool to determine this.

JeffWiseman

Yes, but the original question was dealing with records from the 1800's. I have seen this situation occasionally where a single mother lived with her child in her father's house. Although I've not actually seen birth records where what would appear to be the child's grandfather is listed as the father.

Dennis J Yancey

what are the "sources" you allude to?

Julie Cabitto

@ScottParsons5​ Scott, the grandfather would probably be listed because he is claiming financial responsibility for the child, since the mother isn't married. Sort of like an informal adoption, because the child is an heir of the grandfather. My family lived on the VA/NC border, so some of my VA people show up in NC records. In NC, there's what's called "Basterdly Bonds". That record shows if the father was known, or not spoken by the mother. Then the record states who will financially provide for the mother and child (biological father or the child's grandfather) and how much will be provided per year. I haven't yet seen this collection in Virginia, but seeing a grandfather on a record is the same type of thing.

LegacyUser

Thanks Julie that makes sense. The mother in question I am finding out was probably mentally handicapped which answers a lot of the unanswered questions.

LegacyUser

Scott, you might want to read this blog by Judy Russell, the Legal Genealogist: https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2014/02/20/looking-for-bonds/

 

She makes reference to how she searches for Virginia Bastardy Bonds.