I recently had some birth notices translated from old written German by members of this SIG, and I am very grateful.  However in two of the instances, both from Hebenshausen in 1840, the births were described as unehelich, which was translated as illegitimate.
For one of the births, the father acknowledged as father of the children (anerkannt als Vater des Kind) and the child was listed as having the father's surname.

In the second birth, in the same town and to girls with the same surname, less than a week apart, the child was listed as unehelich, and the father's name was not provided.

My questions are this:

1.  Was this common?

2.  Was this due to a difficulty in obtaining services for either a religious or civil marriage? (in the first instance)

3. How was this usually treated by the community?

Thank you for your assistance.
Rich Meyersburg
Laurel MD
rich.meyersburg@...