General Chat

Hello, I have just discovered my father in law was not my wife's biological father because she was born illegitimately.
How can I shift her part of the tree so it appears under her correct maiden name?

Do you know for a fact that he was not her father?

Some people born illegitimately had parents who later married each other.

With Ancestry it is quite easy to edit relationships making large and small changes. Using GR you just have to delete the whole branch record by record and build it up again using the new data.

Gwyn's post is a fair point. I have just recently found a couple in Suffolk who had a baby when the lady was 14 ( back in the C19 ). They eventually got hitched more than 20 years later and managed to maintain contact with their son who grew up under his mother's maiden name.

A rellie was once chief sister of gyne & maternity at a large London hospital. Based on blood tests she reckoned that with 20% of births the father was not the guy on the birth cert.

Can you not just change your wifes birth surname on your tree?
This also begs the question 'blood line or family'?

Or just make sure it clearly noted in the notes section so at least you know on your records.