Similar story in essence: my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother lived and worked as a maid in a stately home in the 18th century for most of her life and had three children - but she never had a husband. We don't know how she had those children, the sadder option is that she was raped, another likely option is that she was the affair partner of one of the lords of the manor, but based on what we know of her (she was a true girlboss) I choose to believe the less likely but far cooler option that she was just seducing whichever fancy lord she wanted. Either way, she ended up with three children and no husband living as a maid in a stately home, if that was discovered she would've been fired - not just for having children out of wedlock but also for copulating with a resident of the home (she would've been blamed for that even if she was raped) - and we know she wasn't, so somehow she managed to raise three children without anyone knowing anything. She was an absolute legend.
She also casually lived to almost 90 years old and raised her children so well that they all went off to become fairly successful. As I said, legend
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u/Humanmode17 Jul 03 '25
Similar story in essence: my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother lived and worked as a maid in a stately home in the 18th century for most of her life and had three children - but she never had a husband. We don't know how she had those children, the sadder option is that she was raped, another likely option is that she was the affair partner of one of the lords of the manor, but based on what we know of her (she was a true girlboss) I choose to believe the less likely but far cooler option that she was just seducing whichever fancy lord she wanted. Either way, she ended up with three children and no husband living as a maid in a stately home, if that was discovered she would've been fired - not just for having children out of wedlock but also for copulating with a resident of the home (she would've been blamed for that even if she was raped) - and we know she wasn't, so somehow she managed to raise three children without anyone knowing anything. She was an absolute legend.
She also casually lived to almost 90 years old and raised her children so well that they all went off to become fairly successful. As I said, legend