Inhabitants of the city of Chur who were not citizens of the same were called dependents or bystanders. According to the city constitution, such persons were not entitled to vote in political and judicial matters. They could not join guilds or hold higher offices in the city administration. Requests to the courts and the administration always had to be submitted and represented by an advocate. Of course, they wanted to be well remunerated for this.
A special case was the birth of an illegitimate or iliegitimate child of a citizen. As long as the parents were not married, the child remained illegitimate (although recognized by the father).[61] The rule was as follows: if the child born out of wedlock later bore the surname of the father, then legitimation had to take place through a subsequent marriage of the parents; if it bore the surname of the mother, then the mother remained unmarried.
Therefore, the entries in the baptismal registers are usually divided into "citizens" and "citizens/residents". However, there was a third category, the "dependents", who were neither citizens nor Beissässe. The dependents were persons who had lost their citizenship for some reason, e.g. if they converted from the Protestant to the Catholic faith (all Churians had to be Protestant) or were born out of wedlock.
Baptism in the house was not uncommon at that time. It usually took place the next day (or in the next 2-3 days) after the birth, depending on the condition of the child. If the child looked sickly or weak, baptismal witnesses were called together and the midwife baptized in the house immediately after the birth. In the case of illegitimate children, baptism was "desired" or even "required" in the church. If this was not the case, the priest noted that it took place in the house (instead of in the church).[61]
Illegitimate children were also denied naturalization for life according to the decision of Oberstzunftmeister Plaun.
Sources:
61: Recherchen Stadtarchiv, Katarzyna Mathis, 2021, Stadtarchiv Chur