Illegitimacy and Irish birth certificates

[Anyhows]

I was wondering if anyone could please help me with a question?

My ancestor was born in Ireland in 1877 and we have a certified copy of his birth certificate. We now think that his parents married several months after he was born, but there is no mention of him being illegitimate on his birth certificate and both his parents names are listed on it??

Would Irish birth certificates at that time not contain any detail on whether a child was illegitimate, and would they contain both parents names, regardless of whether or not they were married?

[Elwyn Soutter]

Where a child was illegitimate the birth certificate would normally only have the mother’s name. The father’s name would only be entered if he was present at the registration and acknowledged paternity. If he wasn’t there or didn’t acknowledge paternity, the father’s name section would be left blank.

The birth certificate won’t contain any direct information about whether the parents were married nor whether the child was illegitimate, but you can usually infer it if the mother doesn’t have a maiden name (there’s a section that says: “formerly…..” and that will usually be blank).

In this particular case it looks as though the father acknowledged paternity.

[carol8353]

It is highly likely that they just didn't bother telling the registrar that they weren't in fact quite married when the child was born. Presumably they had planned to do so ,and thought that a few months didn't make much difference 

[pet50ite]

One set of my ancestors' wedding was only officially registered 5 months after the actual wedding service. I don't know why and I suppose I will never find out

[Elwyn Soutter]

It is highly likely that they just didn't bother telling the registrar that they weren't in fact quite married when the child was born. Presumably they had planned to do so ,and thought that a few months didn't make much difference 

The Registrar will have asked the mother if she was married. If she said yes, then you would expect to see her maiden name against “formerly”. If she said no, then the certificate should just have the 2 parents names. So that way you may be able to work out what happened.

[dathai]

Sometimes the priests recorded illigitimacy on baptisms of children.

[Anyhows]

Thanks for all of your help everyone. Greatly appreciated.

It just seemed very strange to me. He was born in May 1877 and his parents appear to have been married in January 1878. His mother’s name is also listed on his birth certificate and it was a civil marriage, not a religious one, even though the family were all brought up as Roman Catholic.

I guess if we can find a copy of his baptism record that might shed some light on this.

[scotmum]

Just a thought - is the 'certified copy' an original entry photocopied/digitally copied onto a modern day certificate by the registrars office, or is it a transcription of the original certificate and either handwritten or typed onto a modern day certificate by the registrars office?  If the latter, could 1879 have been entered mistakenly as 1877? Did you find him on the Civil Index for 1877 or did you ask for a search 5 yrs either side of a certain year, that could have picked up both 1877 and 1879 entries?

[carol8353]

My great grandparents were married in 1914, 21 years after the birth of all of their 10 children.
On every single birth cert they just said yes they were married- no one checked.