Harry
My "Jemima Whillans b~1798" means that she was born about 1798, in this case it's not +/- 1 but quite a bit wider, say +/- 5; in other words, I made an estimate.
There was something odd in this family as it hasn't fallen into place readily for us.
It had been previously hypothesised that Jemima Whillans (W-H0 b1795-1800, husband Hugh Stephenson) and Walter Whillans (W-H1 b~1809, wife Catherine Stephenson b~1807) were possible siblings in Hawick. However, the story is far from neat.
Supposing Jemima's parents were:
Richard (hyp b15jun1783 Dent Yorkshire, c Sedbergh Yorkshire) and Katherine Stevenson (c Oct1779 Hawick, pa Walter Stevenson ma Janet Oliver), with Walter b03jan1809 Hawick known definitely to be their child, Richard & Katherine would have been 25yo & 29yo at Walter's birth which is fine. Now Jemima's first child was b~1814 (26yo in 1841), so if her parents were Richard & Katherine, then it is tentatively hyp that Richard as a ~15yo teenager sired Jemima illegitimately just before the turn of the century, if to Katherine then she would probably have been ~19yo.
George Willan (b~1760) & Martha Burton, evidenced from the death certificate of Richard (b1783), then Jemima would have been Walter's aunt, ie Richard’s younger sister. At this stage, while the dates seem more sensible, evidence is lacking.
Jemima made a point of not naming any of her chn after Richard & Katherine or George & Martha. Funny that. To date, she has beaten both Sonia, one of her descendants, and myself.
Frank Whillans.
PS: This thread has moved well away from Morebattle, but at least the Whillans is still prominent, mixed up with Stephenson. Harry, can you link the above Stephensons into the same family?