hijos, naturales and otherwise

[Gloria Delgado <gloriad@...>]

Title: hijos, naturales and otherwise

For Angie - this was probably just a mistake on the priest's part - you sometimes come across contradictory statements in the same entry. Occasionally the person's name is given one way in the margin, and written a different way in the body of the record.  Sometimes baptisms are written in the marriage records or in the death records. Sometimes a boy is really a girl.  It just goes to show that we should never depend on the information found in just one record.

And if I may add to Steve's comments...

The term 'hijo natural' shouldn't be confused with our modern concept of illegitimacy.  As we all know words may change in meaning according to the century in which they are used; and meaning may change even within the decade. So we must remember to consider the word as it was used at the time.

In church records, rarely will a child be noted as 'ilegítimo', or even more rarely, 'hijo bastardo' or 'hijo de union incestuoso.'

An hijo natural was simply the child of an unmarried woman, and the term was not necessarily a negative one.  If the father were desconocido, or unknown, that was one thing; blame or shame could be attributed, according to circumstances.  But often hijos naturales were children of a recognized couple, a couple that had not been married according to church rites.  Many couples had to go months or even years before their union could be recognized and blessed by a priest.  There sometimes weren't enough priests available, and baptisms, like weddings, cost money! (Except for the very poor,their baptisms were usually provided 'de limosna,' or out of charity.)

Occasionally you find records of deathbed marriages taking place to legitimize heirs.  In other cases men merely acknowledged their children privately, then the priest who came to give last rites would make a notation in the margin of that child's record as un hijo reconocido, or an acknowledged child. 

You will also find cases of an hijo expuesto / hijo expósito, a recently born child left at somebody's door or at the church, or found in somebody's house.  People of some social standing occasionally took this way out of a difficult situation.

Hope this helps.

Gloria