condition at birth

Question

My ansesters James R. Hammond & Annie Keen had a female child born in Gloucseter massachusetts  on 16 nov, 1887 according to the town birth records, but there is no first name listed only that the child was female, would that mean maybe it was a stilol birth ?????

Comments

I see many birth records where the child is not yet named but it is for a surviving child that eventually was named.  I think some places require a record of a birth whether the child has a name or not.  It's not so unusual really.

Answer 1

Some parents did not name their children immediately, so you can't assume that the child was stillborn.  I have one relative listed on the federal census as "No Name" because the parents had not yet named him, even though he was six weeks old at the time of the census!  I can't imagine why it took so long. you may want to search the town's death records and burial records in the local cemeteries to see if there's a record.  If not, look for a female child ~age 12 on the 1900 census record with that family.