Children Born Out Of Wedlock

 The following post on bastardy cases was originally published 11 Jul 2017.

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.

An unmarried white woman could 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.

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[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.

Re-published 27 Oct 2022, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Research Tip - Sources and Credit

The following post was originally published on this blog 17 Sep 2019 and is still important today.

To be the best genealogist possible, there are several research guidelines and rules we should follow. To disregard them shows we either do not know how to properly do research or we do not care. The following rules are among those most often disregarded.

1.  Genealogists are taught that every fact not within common knowledge must be substantiated with a source.  Using proper source citations demonstrates your knowledge of what constitutes proof for each fact and where it can be found. Not citing your sources is asking people to read your mind to learn where you found your material. I don't know anyone who has that ability.

2.  "Borrowing" material from other genealogists without giving them credit is not acceptable - anytime. This applies to family group sheets prepared by others, family trees on Ancestry.com, photographs taken by another person, family histories written for family reunions and, yes, blog posts. The rule of thumb is this: If you didn't write it, it isn't yours and you should not use it without permission. If permission is given, be sure to give credit to the person who did write it. 

There are many rules in genealogy, but the two listed above are ones that are consistently disregarded.   Be a responsible genealogist, cite your sources and give credit to others for their work.

Published again 6 Oct 2022, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog.