Why oh why is it ?

Question

Why is it that I see time after time no mention of mothers recorded for births of their children only fathers. That has always puzzled me.

Comments

I think the most common reason is that there is no record of the mother's name.

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Yet the child is issue of HER body.  

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Everybody knew who the mother was!

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Excatly my point high 5 Melanie Paul

Thank you all who replied to my question, much appreciated

Answer 1

Sometimes it was the father who took the newborn baby to be baptized at only a day or two old - in olden times Mom was still in bed. So, the father's name was registered as he "presented" the child for baptism.

Answer 2

Because, hundreds of years ago, the mother was not considered a 'person', more like property.  My favourite entry is in a marriage register, where it says that 'James married his wife'.

Answer 3

I've also ran into issues where the mother's first name is mentioned, but no maiden name is ever found. I struggle myself to create "Unknown" profiles unless there's no alternative, so while we could have a partial profile created with what information we have found, instead I'm sure others as well hesitate to set up what would essentially be a placeholder page.

Answer 4

Ros is correct that it is primarily due to women being the property of the husband. Some cultures did better. Records in Québec and France tend to not only have the first name but the mother's full name (usually the LNAB, sometimes a variant).

It is sometimes possible to find her name but it can take using records not usually thought of for genealogy. Selling land might give a name when the wife was questioned privately about a land sale. Our ancestors were also quite litigious and there can be information in court records. Judy Russell (The Legal Genealogist) teaches a week long course on finding our female ancestors. Basically it isn't easy and not always possible but sometimes you can find more info.