James Stephen’s Secret Daughter

My great grandparents James STEPHEN (1893-1982) and Jemima MITCHELL (1892-1978) were married for 65 years, and had fourteen children together. They also brought up one of their grandsons alongside their youngest children. Some of the other grandchildren didn’t realise he was a cousin and thought he was an uncle.

The biggest secret was that James had a secret daughter. 

James and Jemima married in 1913. During WW1, James enlisted in the Army reserve. He was sent to France in 1917 as a Gunner in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He left behind Jemima and three small children.  James came back from France and was demobilized in January of 1919.

James and Jemima welcomed their fourth child in June of 1919.

At some point between then and early 1920 James struck up a relationship with Evelyn Fraser. This relationship resulted in Evelyn becoming pregnant. A baby daughter was born on 25^th October 1920. James was present at the registration of her birth, so he acknowledged the baby was his.

James didn’t leave Jemima, and they went on to have ten more children.  Did Jemima know about his indiscretion? We’ll never know, but there was a three-year gap before the birth of their fifth child, so maybe she did.

Evelyn and James’s baby ended up being adopted. She grew up in Rothes, leaving the area in her early 20’s.  She was only 18 miles away from her father and siblings. She had her own family, having six children and being married for fifty years. I don’t know if she ever met James, but she passed away in 2003 having never met her siblings.

The secret was finally revealed through Ancestry DNA, and I for one was a bunch of emotions, happy, excited and sad all at once. Sad that our family lost out on a relationship with her.