Genealogy Chat

A relative’s birth certificate names her father but states her father to be deceased by her birth. Her brother’s certificate 4 years later does not give a father but states that the father IS NOT ... ( giving the name of his sister’s supposedly deceased father). If he was 5 years dead this would be obvious! Anyone know why this would be written on the brother’s certificate? Anyone seen father as NOT .... on a certificate?
We wonder if he did not die and was back on the scene and wants it documented that this is not his child.

Is the same named father on both certificates?

It also depends what years they were made out.?there maybe more details on the actual bought version than a credit copy from the online registers.

Welcome to the boards, Anne.

Haven't seen father described as "Not . . ."

However, as the second child presumably had the same surname as the first one, maybe the registrar (or the mother) thought he'd just make it clear that the father wasn't the mother's husband.

If you like to give us names and dates, perhaps we can help re whether or not the husband was still alive.
Have you found his death record?

If Miss Smith married Mr Mac and he died before their child's birth, then a birth certificate might be worded as for the baby girl.

Mrs Mac later became pregnant by an unnamed man, but wanted to make clear that it was not Mr Mac and so the boy's certificate reflected this.

I've never seen or heard of a certificate like that, but at least she was honest and trying to eliminate doubt.
As apparently married and now named Mrs Mac, her child would be assumed to be the child of her husband. She wanted to make clear that this was not the case.

I saw a genealogy program in Canada. The subject of the show was adopted and lived in Canada. I never saw her b.cert, but her adoption papers said her mother's husband was NOT her father. He had been fighting Rommel in N Africa for 3 y, and the child was born 2y after he left. When he returned and learned of the child, he issued an ultimatum - either the child went or both the mother and the child went.
So the child went, and 2-3 y after WW2 ended, she left with her adoptive parents for Canada. When she returned to Glasgow on the program some 60 y later, her birth mother had died, but she found her close friend who said her birth father was a french sailor, Pierre (last name forgotten) who was stationed in the Clyde for 3-4 m before sailing away for service elsewhere.

There are many Scottish birth certificates where no father is named.
Most documents are written in the same, standard format

Are you reading this cert correctly?
A Scottish birth would usually name both parents but, in this instance, the reference is noted in relation to the Mother

It will show her, maiden name and married name with Mr X but, the cert is making it clear that this man was not the father of the child.

The wording would be along the lines of..
Mother's maiden name .. X X Widow of Mr X ... ( or previous wife of Mr X)
Then annotated with something like...not the father of this child.

Depending on the year of birth, the cert may also be annotated with "Illegitimate" which would be written under the child's birth name

Or, are you saying that the mother was never married to Mr X

A Scottish birth certificate gives the date and place of the parents marriage. I would think that in this case, the mother would have registered the birth and when asked for her husband's name and date and place of marriage, she gave the details but stated that her husband was not the father of the child. I would suspect that she didn't tell the registrar that she was widowed. I have a couple of birth certificates that name the wife's husband and give the date and place of the marriage but the registrar has noted on the entry that the wife has stated that her husband is not the father.