Birth certificate query

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Profile	Posted by	Options	Post Date
Member Since: January 2008 Posts: 99 Send Message	KerryLouise	Report	28 Oct 2020 12:09
Member Since: January 2008 Posts: 99 Send Message	I have found that a relative on my tree had a child but used his dead wife's name on the birth certificate and not the actual mothers! Does anyone know any reason there may have been for this? Thanks
Member Since: May 2006 Posts: 7,002 Send Message	nameslessone	Report	28 Oct 2020 13:35
Member Since: May 2006 Posts: 7,002 Send Message	How do you know who the birth mother was if it wasn’t on the certificate.? If you are correct then maybe he was ensuring the child appeared legitimise to save it from the ignominy of illegitimacy.
Member Since: November 2003 Posts: 28,261 Send Message	KathleenBell	Report	28 Oct 2020 14:57
	What year are we talking here? I can't imagine that someone would put his dead wife's name on the certificate if she wasn't the mother. Are you sure the mother didn't die in childbirth and the birth of the child registered later? You had to register a death within 5 days, but the birth of a child could be left for 42 days before registering, so the mother could indeed be already dead before the child's birth was registered. Kath. x