Family of Mandita Teodorescu

[Andrei Jipa]

I think you are right! I had also done the math and reached the same conclusion.

Smaranda was c. 32 at the birth of Stefan. Assuming Stefan was the son of Smaranda's son, let's call him Penescu Jr. Then Penescu Jr. would need to be c. 18 at the birth of Stefan, and Smaranda must have had Penescu Jr. at c. 14, in 1871, before the wedding with Mihail Penescu in 1876. While children being born before marriage is not unheard of, the marriage usually occurs within a few months. Circa 4-5 years wait is very unlikely.

While not totally impossible, each of these situations is highly unlikely on its own: a man having a son at 18, a woman at 14, a child outside wedlock being recognised five years later. Even assuming some age inaccuracies in the registry, i also think it's almost certain that Stefan was her nephew.

I'll look for more records to confirm

[RPS]

That's interesting.  I had not thought about the possibility of a father later "claiming" their child born outside of wedlock.  I had assumed that as the birth record for Cicerone (Smaranda's son) in 1877 stated that Smaranda was the "legitimate" wife of Mihaiu Penescu, that it meant she had not had prior children.

[RPS]

I recently found that Mihaiu Penescu (husband of Smaranda) moved to Ismail in Bessarabia (which I think may now be Izmail in Ukraine) in about 1922, and he may have died there.  Where would these records be kept?  Would Romania or Ukraine keep them?