Genealogy Chat

Hi, i have an unmarried mother c 1870. The baptism lists no father, but the Godfather is not related to the family as far as I can see. Would it be likely that the Godfather was the father or not? I am not sure if that would be a custom or not. The birth occured in the Jersey, Channel Islands. Thank you for helping me out here.

My godfather certainly wasn't my father!
Given that a godfathers role is supposed to ensure the child has a good upbringing according to the church into which he was christened I'd have said it was most UNlikely!
bit of a hypocrite if he was

It would be interesting to follow the godfather and see if he features in the child's later life.
Did the godfather leave a Will, for example?

It's perfectly possible for a father to be a child's godfather.
I think my Dad was godfather to either my brother or my sister.

Whether that would happen in the circumstances you state, is unsure.

Gwyn

I thought most Godfathers were not related to the family. It helps in getting extra birthday and Christmas presents.

Godfathers for my 3 children are all related to them.

Gwyn

my daughter's godparents are unrelated to her ....... they were our very close friends.



I read somewhere once that 200 or 300 years ago godparents were chosen for what they could do for the child ................. so people of influence were chose, often completely unrelated.

Plus the child was often named for the godparent, supposedly to make it even more likelty that the godparent would repay the "honour" by advancing the career of the child.




I should see if you can find your child's godfather on the census before and after the child's birth, and see what his position was.




sylvia

Thanks for your input everyone, I found this note on a website, which is very interesting. In searching for other births in Jersey I find this man IS the godfather of many illegitimate babies. So I think you nailed it PigletsPal - he had some kind of official capacity.
Illegitimate children

Many children are recorded in these baptismal records as illegitimate. Under Jersey law, even as late as the end of the 20th century, the name of the father could not be recorded on a child's birth registration if he was not married to the mother. Indeed, if a married woman had a child by another man, her husband's name would appear in the birth registration. So, the parents of many of those children recorded as illegitimate could have been living together although they were not married at the time of the child's birth (or ever). Other records will show the children of single mothers living alone, and there is no distinction between the two. Many records which show no father do not describe the child as illegitimate, and this may be because the father was present at the baptism but could not be included in the register because he was not married to the mother.