My oldest documented ancestor (born 1774) may have fathered a child before  
he married his wife.
There are court records indicating that a father paid a fine on behalf  of 
his son for fathering a child out of wedlock.  The name of the  father and son 
(Sr. and Jr.) were the same as my ancestor, and in the same  county.  Only a 
few months following the court case,  my ancestor got  married (not the same 
girl who gave birth).   
 
This may be a coincidence of same name as I have not been able to document  
the name of my ancestor's parents.  
 
I often wonder what happened to the child.  What surname did he or  she use?  
If some of the child's ancestors happened to have  DNA testing done today, 
they would wonder why the WILSON surname pops up in  their lineage.
 
Larry 
 
 
In a message dated 7/19/2008 12:15:16 A.M. Central Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

The  subject of rape is a sensitive subject in one of my family lines.    My 
grandmother was raped (by a married man who had a wife and children and  was 
a  
relative) at a family reunion in 1909.  She was 16 years  old at the time  
and 
only grandma and her father knew who the  offender was.  We are told  that my 
grandmother's father  threatened this relative and told him that if he  
wanted to 
live then  he would leave the state of Virginia that if he ever came  back he 
 
would kill him. My Aunt, the child of this rape was raised by her   mother 
alone, with the family support system.  When my grandmother  married  my 
grandfather he adopted my aunt and raised her as his  own.

In another line in my family, a man married and had several  children, he  
disappeared and everyone thought him dead and we found  him living in another 
 
county with the sister of his wife and they  also had children.

In still another line, the head of the household had  his wife and child and  
a servant living in his household.  This  servant had several children by  
the 
head of this household as per  the census records.  After his death  she 
changed her children's  surname to indicate the name of her dead employer, as 
 per 
census  records.


This type of thing has gone on through out history.   It is no  something to 
be ashamed of.

Babies being born out of  wedlock is not something that is a recent  
occurrence, it has been  going on for hundreds of years.  True it is harder  
to track  
such births but I don't believe that in today's society there is as   much a 
stigma as it was years ago.

Pat C. Johns in  Va.







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