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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Bedfordshire Lookup Requests => Bedfordshire => England => Bedfordshire Completed Look ups => Topic started by: tilly56 on Monday 30 July 07 08:07 BST (UK)
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Can anybody help ? --- In the late 1800s, when a mother brought a child, illegitimate or otherwise, into a marriage, how did they go about giving the child the new father's surname? Did they just "do it" and start calling him by the new name, or was there some sort of legal process, registration? Did the child have to be a certain age? Could he decide on his own to change the name? If there was some sort of registration, are there records somewhere?
Many thanks to anyone who knows the answers! :)
Hilary
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An ancestor of mine had 2 children before she married the father and they were baptised in her name but changed their name to their fathers when the parents married a few years later.
M
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Hello Miranda
thank you for the reply - did they just change or do you know whether there was anything official - Parish records ? When my gt-grandmother married my gt-gdfather she brought an illegitimate child into the marriage (Harry Johnson - on another thread!) - another "Rooter" has suggested he might have taken his father's name and I wondered if there could be any records to prove this.....as I have found a Harry Lancaster (step-father's name) living in Scotland who could fit the bill!
Thanks again
Hilary
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There will be no formal record. If he moved to the opposite end of the country and appeared there as Harry Lancaster no-one would have known he had been baptised as Harry Johnson. Yes, children may have taken their father's name if their parents subsequently married, the same as children often appear in censuses under their step father's name, and, less often, married under the step father's name.
Proving it was the same person is another matter altogether. It's hard enough to show that someone in the next village with the same name is the same person, let alone someone who appeared in Scotland under a different name. Unless you can find him in a census with the same birthplace, and even then proving it is the same person is a challenge.
David
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Hello David
Yes that's what I thought! There are two small things that makes me think it could be the same person - he is listed as a bootmaker, which was his step father's occupation.......... and also the place of birth is London, which also fits....I know this is still quite vague, but until I find something else, I think I'll adopt this Harry Lancaster into my family!
Many thanks for your help
Hilary