Illegitimate children in Russia Empire |
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The Laws of the Baltic provinces of the Russia Empire concerning
the marriage legislation including the rights of illegitimate children were
compiled in 1864. I think that prior to that moment similar regulations
were applied based on the rules and traditions of the relevant Churches.
According to the Laws of 1864, an illegitimate child was a child born:
The father of an illegitimate child could recognize it as his own child, or his paternity could be recognized by a court. The courts investigated proven sexual relationships in the time period not more than 10 months and not less than 182 days before the birth of the child. It was also important that the mother had no sexual relations with other man (men) since she had had sexual contacts with the presumed father. The illegitimate children had no rights to any property of the father including the estate (social class) and the name (the both could be considered as a kind of property). They remained in the estate of the mother. In case if the mother later married the father of her illegitimate child, the child obtained all rights of the legitimate child. The father, if any, of an illegitimate child in Vidzeme [Livland] province had to provide maintenance to his illegitimate child until the child became 10 years old. For the Kurzeme [Kurland] province the rules were different - the father supplied means of subsistence till the child could support himself/herself. In general case the court fixed the amount of the subsistence to be paid, taking into account the possibilities of the father and the social standing of the mother i.e. how much she needed for a child of her estate. The court practice for Vidzeme peasants was that the father was usually charged 10 roubles per year. It is worth to remember one of general principles of the Empire family law and traditions - the father was responsible for custody of his children, not the mother. The Law 1864 declared that any illegitimate child enjoyed all civil rights without any restriction and nobody might blame these children for their illegitimacy. I am afraid, however, that the real life was a bit different. Yes, they formally had equal rights, but their opportunities were not equal at all. I have seen CVs and similar information on thousands of various very and moderately important persons, but, except the two sons of noblemen mentioned below, I can remember only one illegitimate child - General of Latvia Army Oto Grosbarts (1895-1945).
Naming of illegitimate children It is quite important for this Site that, according to the rules for the Baltic provinces, the illegitimate children might retain the name of the mother or might invent a new name for themselves. This new name was not allowed to coincide with the name of a known nobility family. According to the general laws of the Empire, that were in force in Latgale region, the family name of an illegitimate child could be coined of the patronymic assigned to the child or could be the name of the mother. If mother's father was alive, his agreement to lend his name to the grandchild was needed. The noble father, if he recognized an illegitimate child though not married the mother, could not give it his name, and traditionally coined the child's name of his own name. A Baltic nobleman Baron Osten-Saken granted to his illegitimate son born in 1781 the name Osteneck. Osten in German means - East. The son himself later changed the name to Vostokov (Vostok means East in Russian ) and became a well known philologist /Unbegaun/. A similar case happened in 1787, when a maid Lavīze Brīviņa from Pieviķi manor gave birth to an illegitimate son. His biological father was a nobleman Knigge. The child became famous as Johann Leberecht Eggink (1787-1867), a painter. As you see, his name was the reciprocal of Knigge. I know nothing about the mother, but because she had the family name, she could be free (not a serf) or was set free and got her name after the child was born. By the way, her name is derived from the word brīvs that means in Latvian - free.
Illegitimate children in the time of conversion During the 1840s and the beginning of the 1850s the conversion of Lutheran Latvians to Greek Orthodox Church was rather intensive. More about it in another Page. I have studied many lists of converts and have discovered that the number of illegitimate children and their mothers in these lists was surprisingly high. I do not know exactly what attracted these children and their mothers to the Orthodox Church, but some ideas about possible grounds are proposed below. In the time period of the 1850s and the 1860s the conversion of Latvians to the Orthodox Church became less popular, and many converts wished to return back into the Lutheran Church, which was not possible, because, according to the Laws of the Empire, one could only convert to the Orthodox Church, but it was prohibited to leave this religion. If one of the spouses belonged to the Orthodox Church, the other one had to sign the special promise that the eventual children would be educated in the Orthodox religion. To avoid signing of the documents of this kind and to have possibility of bringing up the children as Lutherans, some young Lutheran ladies decided to live together with Orthodox young men without being wedded in church at all. The children of this, as it was called, wild marriage were to be registered as illegitimate, which increased the number of illegitimate children. I do not think this kind of marriage was very frequent, but in any case I have read the instructions for the Lutheran Pastors how to deal with these marriages and with the appropriate children after 1865 when the Tzar allowed not to sign these promises in the Baltic provinces. This permission was in force for 20 years and was canceled in 1885. In 1905 the religious freedom was declared and no problems of this kind occurred since this time. Now about the illegitimate children and their mothers, who converted to the Orthodox religion. I suppose that the young people, living in an above described wild marriage before 1865, after some time decided that there was no need anymore to live in the wild marriage and to belong to different Churches. In such a case the wife and her formally illegitimate children converted to the Orthodox religion, the both spouses were joined in the matrimony, and the children could be legitimated.
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