No fathers name on Birth Cert

[alongcameboo]

Hi all. I'm a total novice to tracing family trees so I'm not sure if I'm asking a dumb question.

Someone in my family has traced my grandparents family tree and did really well on my Dad's Mum's side of the tree but came unstuck when she discovered that there was no 'father' named on my Dad's Dad birth cert.

Anecdotal information suggests that my Grandad's mother (Liz) had an affair with a married man (over a number of years) and she had 2 boys with him, one of which was my Grandad. So we have this thought that Mr X was grandad's father and not Liz's husband! (No father named on either boys birth certs).

So we've gone with the thought that Mr X is grandad's father and traced Mr X's parents etc but I just feel that this doesn't 'sit' right. How do we know that Mr X is really my grandad's father? I don't know if it's just one of those things that we'll never really get to the bottom of but it's frustrating!

Can any of you suggest any resources that might throw up more information please? As I say, it's probably a stupid ask but thought I'd come on here and ask anyway, just in case! Thank you.

The only way you could know would be by genetic testing. Have you done DNA tests on the Ancestry site or anything similar? It might eventually confirm the family story of Mr X if it’s true, particularly if you’ve traced his family so could work out connections. The information they can extract increases all the time. They can now usually tell whether someone is related to you on your mother’s or father’s side.
It is admittedly, all rather expensive.
There are professionals who help, but whether they’re worth it I don’t know.

Doing an Ancestry ( or any DNA) test.

You can then look on other people's family trees and through process of elimination trace quite far back.

I found my birth father by doing this. I found an ancestor born in 1805 with strong DNA links to me and traced through her line.

If she applied for maintenance through the courts, those records might help - it would probably be the petty sessions court, records should be at the relevant County record Office. It won't help, though, if it was a longstanding relationship as you suspect and he supported them voluntarily.

I think I'd try the ancestry DNA option.

Thanks all! Appreciate you all replying

Did you find an answer to this? Ancestry DNA is £49 at the mo, which is as cheap as it ever gets.
Drop me a line if you need further help.

I heard there was a discount. Will check it all out. Thank you 😊