I've been coming across many out of wedlock births with no father listed. Was it against German laws or church laws to list the father even if known? As in case of my ancestor Marie Elisabeth Kuhne/Broske. Her parents married after her birth about 1829 in Frose, Germany. and the father was known. But yet she is referred as her a Kuhne, her mother's maiden name. Thank you for any insights on this topic.
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Out of wedlock births.
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vnagel2004
Moderation
Your Kuehne/Broesecke (please explicitly notice how the German umlauted characters ü and ö are substituted!! - only(!!) correct way here > ue and oe) example refers to your topic here
Which already answers a significant part of your question since it provides details about the legal process which was necessary to make Marie Elisabeth Kuehne to Marie Elisabeth Broesecke.
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To kind of drastically simplify the law:
-father and mother married before a child was born >> legitimate child >> child received the father's family name
-father and mother not married before a child was born >> illegitimate child >> child received the mother's family name
It is totally out of any relevance for being a legitimate or an illegitimate child if the father of the child was known or unknown.
Even a later marriage of the parents of the illegitimately / out of wedlock born child does not automatically make such child a legitimate one. Instead, even in such case a separate legal "process / record" was required in which:
1. the father had to explicitly acknowledge paternity, plus(!!)
2. explicitly allows that the child takes his family name (instead of the mother's family name).
Does that clear the mud?
If not or not totally please provide explicit examples (including permalinks to the records) which you may want to discuss.
Thanks and regards,
Vera
Freckleben marriage 1853
I need help translating the brides section of this marriage for Marie Elisabeth Brosecke to Christoph Theodo Alsleben. https://www.archion.de/p/4a3fbc0c00/ I know she was born Kuhne but took her step father Christoph Brosecke name.....but not sure what all is written under her area of notes...
www.archion.de
Which already answers a significant part of your question since it provides details about the legal process which was necessary to make Marie Elisabeth Kuehne to Marie Elisabeth Broesecke.
------------------------------------
To kind of drastically simplify the law:
-father and mother married before a child was born >> legitimate child >> child received the father's family name
-father and mother not married before a child was born >> illegitimate child >> child received the mother's family name
It is totally out of any relevance for being a legitimate or an illegitimate child if the father of the child was known or unknown.
Even a later marriage of the parents of the illegitimately / out of wedlock born child does not automatically make such child a legitimate one. Instead, even in such case a separate legal "process / record" was required in which:
1. the father had to explicitly acknowledge paternity, plus(!!)
2. explicitly allows that the child takes his family name (instead of the mother's family name).
Does that clear the mud?
If not or not totally please provide explicit examples (including permalinks to the records) which you may want to discuss.
Thanks and regards,
Vera
Ok, one last question. So are there examples of fathers being mentioned with illegitimate births? I've not see this so far and I've seen many so far.