I have the same thing in my Scottish side - my great great grandmother had four illegitimate children by three different fathers and it seems that the younger two were aware of who their father was (from their marriage certs) - both gg grandparents went on to marry other people eventually.
It's hard to know how things were - this is in rural Fife in the 1880s but my gg grandmother and her sister and six illegitimate children between them are living with their father and I just *feel* it wasn't as scandalising as we were led to believe.
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