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ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN’S PROBLEM [STATISTICS]

In the church books for Births/Christenings of the Roman Catholic Parish for Sannicolau Mare [Großsanktnikolaus, Nagyszentmiklos; in Torontal County/today in Timis County/Romania] you can find some very interesting statistics made by the priests at the end of some years, statistics covering the period 1862-1898.

The priests made statistics about:

     -the number of children born in Sannicolau Mare & Saravale [Sarafol, Sarafalva, Szaravola; Sannicolau Mare's filial parish until 1878; for this village the dates are until 1882],

     -the number of children born in Nemet/Deutsch-St. Nikolaus¹ & Racz/Serb. St. Nikolaus [for the period 1882-1894],

     -the number of male/female born in a year [by month for 1891, 1892 and 1894!] and

     -the born/christening of the illegitimate children.

Regarding this last problem we have found the following data:

 In 1862, 244 children were Born in Sannicolau Mare's Roman Catholic Parish.

 In 1863, from 250 children B, 22 were illegitimate; that means 8,8 %.

 In 1864, from 299 children B, 31 were illegitimate; that means 10,37 %.

 In 1865, from 253 children B, 33 were illegitimate; that means 13 %.

 In 1866, from 292 children B, 45 were illegitimate; that means 15,4 %.

 In 1867, from 259 children B, 31 were illegitimate; that means 11,97 %.

 In 1870, from 301 children B, 20 were illegitimate; that means 6,64 %.

 In 1871, from 319 children B, 41 were illegitimate; that means 12,85 %.

 In 1872, from 241 children B, 19 were illegitimate; that means 7,88 %.

 In 1873, from 272 children B, 32 were illegitimate; that means 11,76 %.

 In 1876, from 305 children B, 30 were illegitimate; that means 9,83 %.

 In 1877, from 284 children B, 35 were illegitimate; that means 12,32 %.

 In 1878, from 301 children B, 33 were illegitimate; that means 10,96 %.

 In 1882, from 248 children B, 23 were illegitimate; that means 9,27 %.

 In 1883, from 285 children B, 26 were illegitimate; that means 9,12 %.

 In 1884, from 298 children B, 26 were illegitimate; that means 8,72 %.

 In 1885, from 266 children B, 15 were illegitimate; that means 5,64 %.

 In 1886, from 277 children B, 36 were illegitimate; that means 13 %.

 In 1887, from 241 children B, 27 were illegitimate; that means 11,2 %.

 In 1888, from 276 children B, 31 were illegitimate; that means 11,23 %.

 In 1889, from 247 [130 boys; 117 girls] children B, 29 were illegitimate [16 boys; 13 girls]; that means 11,74 %.

 In 1890, from 259 children B, 28 were illegitimate; that means 10,81 %.

 In 1891, from 242 children B, 29 were illegitimate; that means 11,98 %.

 In 1892, from 225 children B, 20 were illegitimate; that means 8,88 %.

 In 1894, from 203 children B, 17 were illegitimate; that means 8,37 %.

 In 1898, 193 children were born in Sannicolau Mare's Roman Catholic Parish.

Conclusions:

   -For a period of more than 30 years, the birth of illegitimate children was a major concern for the Roman Catholic Church;

   -In the period 1863-1894, from 6.443 children born, 679 were illegitimate [10,64 %].

   -These children are born as illegitimate only in the "eyes" of the Catholic Church; it does not mean that the mothers were always of "very low condition". For example, if the father's religion was not Roman Catholic, and he refused to leave his religion and pass to Roman Catholic religion, the couple was not married [very rarely the Roman Catholic Church admitted the marriage between a Catholic and a non-Catholic]. All these children are baptized but are considered as illegitimate children.

   -Sometimes these children are recognized after the marriage of their parents. In some cases, the parents, even both their religions was Roman Catholic, lived as concubines for several years and have several children before the couple actually married. In some of these cases [not in all of them!] some special notation are made in the columns of the church book of birth and the child became legitimate.

   -Until 1895 the civil registration did not existed. So, in most cases, when an illegitimate child id involved, we can not follow the father line in genealogical research because in the church books only the mother is nominated. 

NOTE:

[1] What today is known as Sinnicolau Mare or Sannicolau Mare appeared in the [19]40's when the village Deutschsanktnikolaus [german] / Nemet Nagy Szent Miklos [hungarian] unified [mainly from administrative point of view because, in fact, the "villages" were in the same area] with the village Großsanktnikolaus / Nagyszéntmiklós. This last village was known in the XIX century and earlier also as Szerb Nagy Szt. Miklos or Racz Nagy Szt. Miklos [Szerb = Racz]; the orthodox Serbs & Romanians where known as "racz" after their believe to distinguish them from the Germans & Hungarians which where mainly of roman-catholic believe.

Deutschsanktnikolaus was founded in 1752 by 40 german colonist's families. Other immigrants came between 1764-1765.