Speaking of Long Marriages

After reading Hammer's post, I got to thinking about genealogy study in the future.
I heard on TV the other day that 40% of children today are born out of wedlock.
In the winter, when I have more time, I work on my family genealogy and it amazes me how much info I have gathered thru Ancestry.com and other genealogy sites.
They even have some H.S. yearbook pictures on there now.
Anyway, with so many kids being born out of wedlock, it seems that genealogy study will become increasingly difficult. In some cases the kids are given their mother's maiden name and in other cases, their father's name
Am I right or am I missing something?

You're right about the children out of wedlock thing and what a problem it is.
As far as that Ancestry dot com thing,I seriously have to wonder about the accuracy of it. In the last few years,I've had a phone call from Wisconsin and a hand written letter from somebody in Iowa who looked me up because some name was connected to me. In the Wisconsin case,it was that I had a sister Linda,and the one from Iowa was convinced we were related because my Grandpa's name was Carl.

You have to consider Ancestry.com to be more of guidance tool than an absolute collection of fact. To a lesser extent, you have to consider most historic records to be kind of "loose". I've found different birth years for two of my great-great-grandmother's brothers, depending on whether I go by census records, Army records, a probate court record or what's on their gravestone. Census records, at least from 1850 to 1900 are highly suspect because a lot of folks were illiterate and maybe didn't know what year they were born, and if there was nobody home when the census worker came by, the census worker would rely on the neighbors for information.

big fred- "if there was nobody home when the census worker came by, the census worker would rely on the neighbors for information."

The census workers, around here, STILL do that! LOL

You mean you haven't got a call from your cousin in Nigeria?

Ben

Ancestry.com is a starting place if you're serious. It's not perfect, my grandfather Baker died 57 years ago, according to them he's still alive. When the 1940 census was released and was available on line I
started looking up ancestors that I knew where they were in 1940, or so I thought. Started looking for a Dominic or Dominico Carani in Highwood Illinios, found 4. none of them were the right one. I finally
found a Euphmie Carani, my Great Grandmother, my Dad's Uncle Lucien was the one that answered the questions that's when I found out Dad was wrong Great Grandpa Carani died in 1938 not 1948, and thstat Great
Grandma was not Canadian but was born in Maine. Went looking for some of the wife's kin, searching for a Peter B Dick in Mountain Lake Minnesota, again found 3 or 4 that weren't the right one and one of them
even had a wife named Marguerite. I finally found one with the right spousal name that was an implement dealer. A Great Grandfather on my Mother's side of the family told us we're descended from a man named Lt
Job Winslow, I've found a few with dates that don't match so I gotta wonder about the data bases. I could see a few Dr. John Winslows (another ancestor) but I kind of wonder about multiple Lt. Job Winslows,
especially when some of those don't match dates for any armed conflict. Another Data base puts some of my Baker ancestors in Ireland during the Civil war, but the county name they have on Ireland is pretty
darn close to the county name in Ohio were other sites purport them to be. Some indication they might of been Quakers so I don't know maybe they hid out in Ireland during the war to avoid military service?
Could also explain why they didn't stay long in Ohio and ended up in Illinois.

No, You would be correct. Young folks dont seem to care if there married or not.

I am probably a Heinz 57 variety although I know my ancestors came from England, Germany and Austria. The Mormon church has some of the best genealogy records. Try familysearch.org

Pretty amazing how much data they've gathered too.
Enough that the government wants it. Wrongly accused via Ancestry.com

There were a lot more out of wedlock children in the 'old days' than most people think. Around here anyway. My great uncle said that there was a wooden ladder in the community that was 'sharp as a toothpick on the end' from being dragged from house to house for those midnight assignations. Only partly true, I am sure, but he got his point across.

(quoted from post at 18:24:55 02/24/16) You mean you haven't got a call from your cousin in Nigeria?

Ben

Click to expand...

Or from yours either. :lol:

If they are not married the United States Government will pick up the bill.

We are actually reverting back to the way last names came about in the old days in Skandinavia. My great, great granddad in Denmark was Niels Frederiksen. His first son was named James Nielsen because he was Niels's son. James Nielsen came to the US and changed his last name to Nelsen. Many immigrants back in those days 'americanized' their names. Today those name changes make genealogy interesting.

(quoted from post at 19:40:20 02/24/16) There were a lot more out of wedlock children in the 'old days' than most people think. Around here anyway. My great uncle said that there was a wooden ladder in the community that was 'sharp as a toothpick on the end' from being dragged from house to house for those midnight assignations. Only partly true, I am sure, but he got his point across.

Click to expand...

My grandfather made the same point. He was born in 1901, in a farming community. His ancestor's got there in 1813. He said that when he was young, a girl would "get in trouble", and sometimes be shipped off to relatives that lived out of town. Or more frequently, she would just stay close to the home farm for a few months, and later her mother or a aunt would have a "miracle" baby. Back then any baby born after age 40 was a miracle baby. The baby would be raised by the family, and would never know that the older sister was really her mother. The local doctors and ministers were in on it, and supported the family's.

I like the girls/womens names. Instead of son or sen at the end for the sons it was "dottir". My grandmothers name in Norway was Olga Rasdottir, when she came to the US a little over 100 years ago she changed it to Rasmussen .

I recall that, in the late '40s & early '50s in my small W.Central Ill. hometown that if a guy got a girl pregnant and wouldn't marry her he was given a choice - join the army or go to jail [b:8d72f077c8]BUT[/b:8d72f077c8] the girl's Dad and brothers would sometimes provide a 3rd 'choice' to the miscreant! :twisted: :shock:

Not only do kids born out of wedlock contribute to the confusion of genealogy, but today's multiple marriages do also. I read an obituary the other day that gave about four different last names for the ladies children. Kinda like the old joke where every time the daughter would meet a young man that she really liked, her Daddy would take her aside and tell her that that young man was a result of the wild oats that he had sown. The young lady was about to give up when her mother took her aside and said, "you just pick any young man you like, dear. Your Daddy ain't your Daddy, he just thinks he is!"

You bring up a major problem that I had never considered... that is with the promiscuity of todays breeding generation, there is a definite likelihood that brothers and sisters could unknowingly marry or have children together. When I applied for my marriage license in 1967, we had to show by a blood test that we did not have VD. Maybe nowadays marriage applicants should show DNA proof that they are not blood kin?? But that would most likely be too late would it not??

They should start with the Amish. Hal