missing fathers name....advice?

[mickwood]

OK, so just started this family tree lark and through the process I did some searches including myself to check I was getting things right. The problem is....

A) I've found out I was born with my mothers surname, Michael Steven Dwyer (not wood as is on subsequent birth cert - although not full birth cert) and
B) On my original Birth Cert, I just HAD to order it!, the Father section is blank....

my parents were married 2 years after my birth....

So.....advice please are there things I can check? there must be some legal stuff that happened to change my name at least?

Any advice very much appreciated!!

[BC Wench]

Have you seen this Mick

https://www.gov.uk/adding-fathers-name- ... ertificate

I have in my tree a boy who was baptised in 1942 with just the mother's first name and surname. The mother then married the father of the boy 2 years after the birth. In the baptism register where the mother's name is, her surname is crossed out, with the father's first name and surname entered with the words "since married". I don't have the actual birth certificate.

[mickwood]

Thanks for the link, although at the bottom of the birth cert it says;
"Adopted: R. Holdsworth, Superintendant Registrar"
A friend has said that means I was adopted? Is this what it means?? If so, what's my next step??

[SRD]

When my mother remarried she and my step-father looked into him adopting me but this meant that both of them had to go through the adoption process and that my official birth details would be irrevocably changed to show that I had been adopted by them both. Any applied for records wouldn't show that my mother was my birth mother and that my natural father was my father. Both my mother and my paternal grandparents objected to this so it never happened.
I was cross about this for many years until I realised that this has nothing to do with the emotional and blood ties and everything to do with the laws of inheritance. By not being officially adopted it meant I had no claim on my step-fathers estate correspondingly if I had been adopted it would have been more difficult for me to lay claim to my paternal grandparents estate. As proper wills were made out this didn't matter but it would have made intestacy a lot more complicated.

[Northern Lass]

Thanks for the link, although at the bottom of the birth cert it says;
"Adopted: R. Holdsworth, Superintendant Registrar"
A friend has said that means I was adopted? Is this what it means?? If so, what's my next step??

So you have your first birth certif you say with mothers name only.....did you mean it has the word adopted on bottom of that one?

On the other birth certificate it has the same lady your mother but the stepfather too?

I have seen an adopted certif and an ordinary one for the same person

The first one the original has at the end the words adopted and then the name of the superintendent registrar

the later one is a an entry in the adopted children register -it has the following
-no of entry/ date and country of birth of child /name and surname of child /sex of child/name and surname address and occupation of adopter or adopters/date of adoption order and description of court by which made/date of entry /signature of office deputed by registrar general to attest the entry.

Do you have a baptism record?

[mickwood]

I have only ever had the short copy of the birth certificate (dated 1976), this doesn't have names of any parents on, it just has my name, place of birth etc and it's in my Wood name. After discovering that I was born Dwyer I ordered a full birth cert (dated 1974) and it has mums details but fathers details are left blank. It also has 'adopted' on the bottom with the name of the registrar.

Where would I find this 'adopted childrens register'?

I'm not sure about baptism....I'll check!

[Northern Lass]

I have only ever had the short copy of the birth certificate (dated 1976), this doesn't have names of any parents on, it just has my name, place of birth etc and it's in my Wood name. After discovering that I was born Dwyer I ordered a full birth cert (dated 1974) and it has mums details but fathers details are left blank. It also has 'adopted' on the bottom with the name of the registrar.

Where would I find this 'adopted childrens register'?

I'm not sure about baptism....I'll check!

I dont know ....
have a google of the info let us know what you find.

also did you see on your post in beginners I put your Timothy on a test tree to show you what can be done?
you can get all sorts of reports from it.
I will need to delete it soon ................it was just to sort of help you get started.
Let us know in that section if you need any more help on the Timothy Dwyer line...or are you waiting for the certif.

[gardener]

There is an application form on here, and the address to send it to https://www.gov.uk/adoption-records/acc ... th-records
Then I think they look to see if there are any further records relating to the adoption.
I am not sure what information you hope to find if you already know your birth parents are the parents you grew up with?

[18chestnut]

Mick,can you not ask your Mom and Dad for the information you require,or failing that ,your Mom"s brothers and sisters or aunts and uncles.Thy are usually a good source of information.
Pat

[mickwood]

Thanks, I've requested birth details direct from the court as the adoption was post-1975.

I'd like to get a bit more info before talking to my parents/family, the whole point of this really is to clear up the question of why I was adopted if my Dad is my biological Dad? (If he was my biological Dad then why not just re-register the birth rather than going through the adoption process?) If he's not then who is?

[AndrewA]

MIck, This is indeed a puzzle, first how are you coping emotionally with this? It can be a bit of a shock, but I am hoping its not all bad news, I will explain why.

YOu say that you obtained an original birth certificate which had Adopted written on it. Now, only the original entry had this written on it, parents who adopted children could obtain a new birth certificate with new name etc, but it was an adoption certificate from the adoption register, filled in by the Registrar on reciept of court orders.

As far as I understand, birth certificates have the biological mothers and fathers names entered, if the child comes up for adoption that entry has to be changed with additional words of "Adopted" on it. These certificates could then be lost to the child for eternity as they were given a new name, with a new certificate showing new names of adoptive parents.

What I think has happened in your case, is that your mum is your Biological mother, but for reasons she obviously dosn't want you to know or anyone else, is that she ha no idea who the father is, or refuses to name him. which is the same thing which has happened with my father, my grandmother went to her grave refusing to give identity of my fathers biological father.

Your mother gets married and your step dad wants to adopt you, which takes place, as you are now adopted by your step-father, this information is recorded on your birth certificate.

[mickwood]

Yes Andrew, that's the conclusion I've come to. It could be that my Dad is actually my biological Dad but for whatever reason wasn't named on the birth cert only to then formally adopt me later, but that doesn't feel 'right' to me as I'm sure you can just re-register the birth to do that?

I'm actually fine with it all, I'm not really believing it until I get more info (Birth records) which may shine light on things but either way if it turns out that my Dad isn't my biological Dad then I'm fine with it because he is, for all intense and purpose, MY Dad.

I'll just let the whole thing pan out and see what I'm left with and what conclusions I can make. It's more of an interesting mystery at the moment as opposed to an emotional journey.

[Antie Em]

My uncle was a miner in Wales and during the war was sent up to Walsall to work in the mines there. He had a "fling" we think with a woman who he lodged with, whilst her husband was away with the army. She had a son, who it seems she wasn't allowed to keep when her husband came home. By this time, my uncle had returned to Wales and married. My cousin has his mother's name on his birth certificate, but no father. When he was about 18 months old, his mother took him to Wales and left him with my uncle, who then adopted him legally, even though he must have known he was his real dad. My cousin grew up, knowing he was adopted, but never being quite sure if my uncle was indeed his father. It wasn't until he visited us a few weeks ago and asked my mom if she knew anything about it, that she told him she always believed his adopted dad was his real dad, and having looked at old photos, there is a definite family resemblance.

[MarkCDodd]

My mother has two birth certificates. If you find the first one, which does not have her father's name, in the index it has an asterix next to it and and notation at the bottom.

This certificate has her surname the same as her mother's.

The notation points you to another index entry 4 years later.

The certificate I ordered based on that index entry does have her father's name on it and her surname has been changed to her father's.

A law was brought in in 1928 that allowed you to have a new certificate issued without any need for adoption.

As long as both parents were married and the man admitted to being the father they could apply for the new certificate to be issued.

There is no reference backwards to the first certificate.

[snoopysue]

My mother has two birth certificates. If you find the first one, which does not have her father's name, in the index it has an asterix next to it and and notation at the bottom.

This certificate has her surname the same as her mother's.

The notation points you to another index entry 4 years later.

The certificate I ordered based on that index entry does have her father's name on it and her surname has been changed to her father's.

A law was brought in in 1928 that allowed you to have a new certificate issued without any need for adoption.

As long as both parents were married and the man admitted to being the father they could apply for the new certificate to be issued.

There is no reference backwards to the first certificate.

So if you found the second entry, it'd be in the indexes four years after her birth? Or could you find it with the correct birth year with her father's surname?