Questions of Paternity in 1800's

Waiting for Court Date

Did you know there were paternity suits in Early America 1800's?

This is one more reason why your y-DNA tests does not match the expected surname. 

I know we always want to hide the ugly truth, but paternity questions have always been a monkey wrench in an otherwise perfect family tree. The DNA is off, the surname of your matched y-DNA cousins is a surprise, you aren't a Campbell after all! 

It doesn't help that as you are researching through legal records the courts, in its direct speech, just calls your ancestor a "bastard child." 

But, the good news is records are everywhere.  The trick is to be sure to follow the proposed mother on both the papertrail and via autosomal DNA tests, not the biological father. So yes, more work, but you will be uncovering your full family story.

In some cases, we see where the father is identified in court records. This is especially true f the mother was taken advantage of, sexually assaulted, or forced without consent.  But,  we find that an even offense is if the community now has to support the child and mother. Once the question develops in to s who will support the child financially, your ancestors story will make to court records. The community has less heartburn supporting a widow and her children, but a financially strapped mother, is usually not tolerated, especially if she implicates a man in the community. 

The Paternity Suit, 1800

For our ancestors, all of this public negative community gossip was probably embarrassing. But, for the genealogists it's GOLD!

Check out this blogpost  to uncover an 1807 paternity suit case: Early Paternity Suits to Explain Surname Conflicts

We may still not learn which surname was assigned to the baby until much later in other records (Wills, Census, Obituaries, etc) but, we must be open to the possibility that the change in your family surname could have been due to an unwed mother, or even a widow, whose husband legally (or not) assumed the child as his own. In many cases we end up with, for example, four (4) brothers in the home, all with the same surname, but one with a Y-DNA match not related to the rest of the family. 

It is the opinion of the court that the said David is the father of the said Bustard child and that the same is likely to become chargeable to the parish . Therefore it is ordered that the said David Thompson find security for the payment of twenty dollars annually for seven years from this date ( being the sum considered sufficient by the court for the said child maintainance , & the time it will be chargeable to the parish )

As mentioned, clients are always distraught when they realize their ancestral surname changed through history. There are various scenarios of how this could have happened. We must also consider such nefarious cases like that of Hannah Ayers' son. Let's not jump to conclusions before finding the truth. 

Kathleen Brandt