Part of genealogy research is to read records in the context of the writer and the society that existed with their morals and beliefs for that time. Because the records which we are looking at were written by the Catholic Church unless a marriage was recognized by the Church it does not exist and as such any children that did not come from an unrecognized marriage was considered illegitimate. Instead of writing illegitimate in the records the church used Filho/a natural to say that the parents were not married to each other. Legitimate also had a legal meaning at that time in that legitimate children could inherited property of the parents. Illegitimate children could not inherit property of his natural parents.
In the history of the US we adopted what is called Common Law marriages in our early history which was adopted from the English law system. A couple was considered married without any ceremony or legal action if they lived together as man and wife and had children. Even today in some states Common Law marriages could be recognized but most states and localities would rather collect a fee for a marriage license. You will find court cases today where unmarried couples that have children split up and the courts will treat it as a divorce case (custody of children, visitation etc.). This is an interesting discussion and worth revisiting whenever we come across an unusual record. Rick Richard Francis Pimentel Spring, TX From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Hermano C. Pires Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2014 1:31 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [AZORES-Genealogy] Legitimate vs Natural Herb I hate to burst your bubble but whenever the priest says "natural" the child was born out of wedlock (as recognised by the Church). Coexisting was not (is not) recognised. And for sure adulterous and out of wedlock relationships were not common, they were never the less in some cases a reality. I hope that this is not construed as anything other than what it says. Hermano > Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 09:55:28 -0800 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [AZORES-Genealogy] Legitimate vs Natural > > I am not entirely convinced that natural meant the child was not born to legitimate married parents. I wish I had made note of it, but while I researching CCA Records I have seen numerous consecutive pages where the priest wrote natural vs legitimate. Another priest would come in and write legitimate in his records and I think that some priests just chose to describe the birth this way. In my view it does not necessarily mean that the child was not legitimate and born to legitimate parents. Children born out of wedlock or to adulterous relationships in the Azores were truly the exception not the rule. Not all references to natural should be construed to mean that the child was not legitimate and born to married parents. Some priests simply described it differently. That's my view based on my experience doing research and my understanding of Portuguese/Azorean culture. > > -- > For 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." > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. -- For 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." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores. -- For 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." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/azores.
