Hi. I've a tricky one in my family.
It seems my relative
Agnes Patton Fullbrook had an affair with with a man named
James Stephenson, which resulted in the dissolution of her marriage and a child by the name of
Margaret Howard Fullbrook in Napier, New Zealand 1892. The way I know about James is that he appears on the Divorce records as a Co-respondent, and her having a child with him.
Hawkes Bay Herald of 17 February 1896:
"Mr Justice Buckley held a sitting of the Divorce Court on Saturday. William Fullbrook,
represented by Mr Lusk, obtained a divorce from his wife Agnes Fullbrook (James Stevenson
co-respondent). The evidence of petitioner showed that twice the respondent sold up all the
furniture in the house and cleared out and that subsequently she admitted having got into
trouble with Stephenson, the result being an illegitimate child, registered as such at the
Napier registry office. The custody of the children will be the subject of another application
at the next sittings."Notice the spelling here in
Stevenson. Agnes Retaining her married name after the divorce. She was 43 When she had Margaret.
Assuming James Stephenson was about the same age, He'd be about 40-50 when this happened. Apparently he was a Waiter at the Club Hotel in Masterton, New Zealand, so a relative found out. But I don't know how I'll go about proving it.
There's a James Stephenson dying in 1907 aged 66. Making him 51 when Margaret was born.The James who died in 1907 may not even be the right one. He could have moved to Australia like Agnes later did. There's no record of him being born in New Zealand. There's no sign he married either. There are 3-4 candidates based on his age, but I'm undecided. I haven't ordered any forms since I'm not sure what I'm looking for.
This is a tough one for me. What else can I do to find out more about this James Stephenson/James Stevenson?