What
happened when a woman gave birth to a child begotten and born out of
wedlock? Did the mother have any legal
recourse? If she named the child's father, yes,
she did have legal recourse.
Any
unmarried white woman would go before a judge of the county court of the county
in which the bastard child was born and accuse a person of being the father of the
child. Her statement was then reduced to writing and signed.
If the child
appeared to be less than three years of age, a warrant was issued, requiring
the accused person to be apprehended and brought before a judge of the county
court. He was required to enter into recognizance, with good surety, in the sum
of $300, to appear at the county court and abide by the judgment of the court.
If the
accused person refused to give recognizance, the judge would commit him to the
county jail where he would remain there until he gave recognizance or otherwise be
discharged by due course of law. [1]
If ordered to pay a sum of money, the father might pay in a lump sum or in
installments.
There were
cases, however, where the mother of a bastard child never went to court to name
the father of her child and it is assumed she and/or her family provided
support for the child. The aim of having the father pay for the child was to prevent the child from becoming a charge upon the county.
Bastardy
cases are most often found among loose county court papers in the county
clerk's office. Among the information
given is the name of the mother and the accused father, the date of the child's
birth and whether male or female and sometimes where the child was born.
Bastardy cases may also be mentioned in the county court minutes, but with
fewer details given.
[1]
The Revised Statutes of Kentucky, Approved and Adopted by the General Assembly,
1851 and 1852, and in force from July 1, 1852, Vol. 1 (Cincinnati: Robert
Clarke & co., 1867) Chapter 6, Approved 17 February 1858; accessed through
Google Books, 2 February 2016.
Published 11 July 2017, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
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