Genealogy Chat

My late father in law was born in 1912 his mother age 19 in the 1911 census she was a farm servant and also at the farm was the farmers 19 year old son who seems the most likely candidate, my father in law was given to a family member to be raised, can anyone tell me how I can possibly find out if this chap or whoever was his father. Pam

If the father was not named on the birth certificate I doubt that you will ever find out who he was. I think a lot of us have similar circumstances in our trees. I know I do.

I agree with Margaret. We have a similar situation- or two!
You might try contacting as many family members as possible, sometimes stories get passed down, you never know. I guess you could consider attempting to find descendants of this young man too.
It's so long ago though, I imagine such tales have been forgotten, if they ever existed. Having said that, there were certainly some things confirmed about my husband's uncle (born 1915) when we tracked some relatives down, so it's not impossible, tho we were very lucky.
Do you know what became of his mother after this?

Did she happen to marry the famer's son later? If so that might be an indication that he was the father.

Have you tried searching newspapers? My Great Gran had an illegitimate child (1886) and took the father to court for maintenance. He denied paternity, was but still ordered to pay- All recorded in the local newspaper.

If you want a fresh pair of eyes to search let us know