In 2015 I was engaged by an American genealogy company to research John Billington who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620. He travelled with his wife Eleanor and two adolescent sons John Jnr and Francis.
My research found that John Jnr was the son of John Snr and his first wife Cysly. John and Cysly were married in Thurlby by Bourne, Lincolnshire in 1603 and John Jnr was baptised the following year. Cysly died in 1607. Records in America correctly gave John Jnr year of birth as 1604 and gave the year of birth of Francis as about 1606. No baptism of Francis was found in Lincolnshire. A closer look of the evidence found by the client and a previous researcher noted an entry dated 1637 that stated that Eleanor referred to Francis as her “Natural” son. This immediately suggested to me that Francis was actually illegitimate; however John could still have been his father. What surprised me at the time that neither the genealogy company, the previous researcher or the client had picked up on that simply, single word. In fact the client’s reaction was one of shock! Had I got it wrong?
Since then I have come across many examples of a child being described as the “natural” son or daughter and in almost every respect the mother was either unmarried or described as a widow. One of the few exceptions was the baptism on 11 Oct 1767 of Jonas the natural son of Jonas and Hester Jones in Penmaen, Wales. None of the other baptisms on this page described the children as being natural. Looking further down the page however, the answer becomes evident. On 23 May 1768 Jonas Jones married Hester Lewis.
So what does it mean when Wills give a child’s relationship to a man as his “natural and lawful” child? The Familysearch website states “The child described in a will as “natural and lawful” is legitimate. The use of the word “natural” alone does not, however, imply illegitimacy, being used to mean “real son”, not son-in-law, stepson or adopted son. Wills are not usually reticent about illegitimate children, but where there is some sensitivity they may sometimes appear without any relationship being stated.”[1] The Oxford Reference Dictionary also suggests that a “natural” child could refer to “An illegitimate child” or “A child of one’s body, as opposed to an adopted child.”[2]
In general if the term “natural” is used to describe a child, then that child will be illegitimate, especially in parish registers. If a man talks about his natural son/daughter the child may still be illegitimate but accepted and acknowledge by the father. In Wills, however, the term “Natural and Lawful” will always mean legitimate, and not adopted, ‘in law’ or a step child. Not all Wills use these terms, so if it does it may suggest the presence of other children.
Confused? This is where good research comes in. Work on the guidelines above but always try to prove who the parents were and when they married. As with the Billington family described above, never assume you know who the parents were. Illegitimate children often take the surname of a step-father, and in some cases so could young step children.
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[1] Illegitimacy in England. [adapted from an article “Records of illegitimate children” by Anthony Camp in Family Tree Magazine (UK), vol. 17, no. 7 (May 2001), pages 7-9]. Accessed: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Illegitimacy_in_England on 14 Feb 2022.
[2] Oxford Reference: “ Natural Child”. Accessed: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100225219 on 14 Feb 2022.
