Actually, that might be true for an unwed mother, but not in the case of a child born to a married couple. However, in the case of an unknown father out at sea at the time of the birth, he certainly had many years thereafter to appear at the registry and claim paternity which would have been entered in the margin of the birth record.
________________________________ From: Shirley <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, December 9, 2012 12:00 PM Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Re: Question on "unknown father' I visited the Azores in 2004. At that time I was told that it was necessary for both the Mother & Father to appear to register the birth of a child. Since the Father was often off on a fishing boat for months, the father would be listed as "unknown". On Friday, December 7, 2012 11:03:09 PM UTC-8, Eileen Leite wrote: I have been reading baptismal records from Matriz Mae de Deus, Povoacao, Sao Miguel, in 1811-1818. I see what I think is a high number of illegitimate births, “Pais incognito” and “(child) natural”, and have some questions. > >1. It seems that almost every time there is a Pais incognito (father >unknown), the record notes that the mother is married to a named someone who >is NOT the father of the child. (Casada com or mulher de) Rarely it will say >“pais incognito” and (Mother) solteira. If the mother is single, the format >is usually different, and says merely “(Child) of (Mother), Single” or >“(Child) natural of (Mother)” . Does the priest have a choice in what he >writes, or is there a different implication in the format chosen for the >record? > >2. I counted 13 illegitimate children in a mere 36 pages, or 72 >records. That is 18%. Of these, 9 were born to mothers married to men other >than the father. Removing the babies born to single mothers, 2 in 15 babies >born to married women were not of her husband. This seems really high to me. >Were the husbands away for some reason? Or was there a reason a woman would >not claim her own husband to be the father of the child? Just wondering what >was going on. > >Would anyone know why there were so many illegitimate births? > >Thanks! > >Eileen Leite >Currently seeking Rebellos/Rabellos and de Frias in Povoacao, >And Brandao in Nordeste. -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." -- To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. Follow the confirmation directions when they arrive. For more options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership."
