Finding out if someone has children

[Knitwit101]

Inspired by all the people sharing stories of family who died in WW1. I have found that my grandfather had an uncle who was killed. Apart from that our family have been incredibly lucky.
So we know this man was married but we don't know if he had any children.

I know it's silly but if he did have children then I don't feel like I have any 'claim' on him. He is their ancestor, not mine. But if he didn't have any children and his line stopped with him I would like to remember him.

So is there an easy way to find out? (In Scotland). If I search for his name I can find his birth death and marriage records but I can't tell if he is listed as a father on a birth certificate.

Remembrance Day is on Sunday, I have left it a bit late to start exploring family history. I should have done it months ago.

Can you use the census records to look at his address and who else lived there? You could look after his death too for his wife.

Check the 1911 census which will show you occupants in a house and their relationship.

You can sign up for free trials with FindMyPast and Ancestry.

Also if you can access the 1939 census in Scotland you might get an idea if she had children.

Another source is if his WWI records weren't destroyed in the fire (and you can find the right ones) they can list children. There would also be a pension record for his widow if they had children I think.

If you have access to ancestry/fmp, do a search for births between his date of marriage (perhaps go back a few years further to be on the safe side) using his surname. Leave first name blank, but use the “advanced search” feature to add his wife’s maiden name. That will give you an idea whether any likely children exist. But if he was a Jones married to a Smith, for example, there are likely to be loads. In that case you may be able to filter down if you know for certain which part of the country they were born in

... sorry, pressed post too soon...

From there, you could order birth certs for all the likely candidates. That will hopefully give you enough additional information (parents’ full names and address) for you to be sure.

It’s also worth searching for baptism records, which hold some of the extra information you need, but which are often online so you don’t need to pay £6-10 for each one.

I would suggest what stellar said. If you don't have access to ancestry or findmypast you can always search on familysearch which is free.