EANWhitsonPO Top Contributor
Joined: 18 Apr 2012
Replies: 370
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:16 am
Post subject: What if a father died before a child was born?
In all the hundreds of birth records I've found or gone through with my family lines, I've never found anything that talks about a father dying before a child was born.
I've found plenty of illegitimate births, of course. Some before a woman was ever married, some long after a husband was dead, one having four children before she got married.
I've seen some records where the child was not baptized for months because the father was "away." Could be work, a soldier, sometimes it's not mentioned.
But I've got to believe there are times when a man died before his child was born. Have any of our translators ever seen a record like this? I'm just curious if one even exists.
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dnowickiPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Replies: 2782
Location: Michigan City, IndianaBack to top |
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 8:50 am
Post subject:
Yes, I've seen a number of records where the father died before the birth of the child. The record lists him as deceased and as long as the child was born within the nine or so months after his death the child was legitimate and the late husband is named as the father. If, however, say a year has passed, it is a different story. The child then would be recorded as illegitimate.
Richard Sowa posted a death record on Latin Records Translations a couple of days ago where the child who died was born two months after his father's death. The record was from Slovakia not Poland but the same situation occurred at times in Poland.
Dave
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EANWhitsonPO Top Contributor
Joined: 18 Apr 2012
Replies: 370
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 9:02 am
Post subject:
Thanks, Dave!
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Elzbieta PorteneuvePO Top Contributor
Joined: 09 Nov 2012
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Location: Paris, FranceBack to top |
Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:15 pm
Post subject: Re: What if a father died before a child was born?
EANWhitson wrote: |
But I've got to believe there are times when a man died before his child was born. Have any of our translators ever seen a record like this? I'm just curious if one even exists. |
Beth,
I had 2 or 3 records on PO with a father deceased before his child was born.
I could find one here:
http://polishorigins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=14117#14117
Best,
Elzbieta
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EANWhitsonPO Top Contributor
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 2:46 pm
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Thanks, Elzbieta!
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Staripolak64PO Top Contributor
Joined: 21 Aug 2009
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 4:31 pm
Post subject:
Yes, I have seen many. Some listed a father of dying in an accident, being killed in an explosion of a steam locomotive, being killed in the Russo-Japanese war. One father was listed as "murdered" shortly before the child's birth. It was not a particularly rare occurrence.
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EANWhitsonPO Top Contributor
Joined: 18 Apr 2012
Replies: 370
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Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:02 pm
Post subject:
Wow. Well, it's helped me understand that they explain things as needed in the records. Thank you all!
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