Elizabeth Dalgleish

     
     Elizabeth Dalgleish was born cir. 1851 at Canonbie, DFS, SCT, which year I've taken as the most likely, as it is the earliest date from the first record likely to be given by Betty herself.⁵ She married James Thomson, son of William Thomson and Cecilia Sinton, on 24 Feb 1874 at Gretna, DFS, SCT; the "cert." reads: James Thomson from the Parish of Castleton in the County of Rxoburgh and Betsy Dalglish from the Parish of Castleton in the County of Roxburgh being both here Present and declared themselves husband and wife before me and these witnesses this twenty fourth day of February 1874 years By William Lang, both signed (Elizabeth as Bettsey Dalglish), witnesses were Alex Miller and Mary Elizabeth Wannop.
NB the day on the birth cert of dtr Jessie was 22nd, likewise on son John's, whose cert agreed the same day/mth & place as on Jessie's, but gives the year as 1870. Although within both Scottish & English Civil Registration, there is no marriage obvious on the IGI or Sct People or FreeBMD, only on a list of Gretna marriages.^{6,7,8,9,5,10,11}
     Elizabeth Thomson died on 10 Mar 1898 at Mosspeeble, Dist of Ewes, DFS, SCT; cert.#1 shows Elizabeth as 43, married to James Thomson, ploughman and d/o Walter Dalgleish, farmer and Mary m.s. unknown, both dec'd; died of acute bronchitis 7 weeks and pulmonary apoplexy 3 days, inf husband James, reg. 12th March.^4,12,2
     
     Will the real Elizabeth/Betsey please stand up? Who is this woman? Is she really Mary's sister? The only consistent item across all census data is a birthplace of Canonbie. This lady is of the usual variable age: 1881 aged 30, implies 1851; 1891 aged 37 implies 1854; 1898 death cert aged 43 implies 1855. For now I've settled on a birth year from the earliest record where she is definitely shown as wife of James, although I suspect the date may be even then somewhat earlier. She may even be the 25 yr old sister-in-law Betsey Elliot with him in 1871 if I discount the surname, and she may or may not be Eliza, Mary's sister who was 6mths old in 1841. If she is Mary's sister, given her parents appear to have died prior to the 1851 census, it is unlikely she was born after 1851, although there is another Walter/Mary couple around of a better date, that Mary being nee Bell. I've no evidence that an Elizabeth of the right age and birthplace exists to any of the possible parents however.¹¹
     Elizabeth Dalgleish was not found in the census of 1871 in DFS or ROX, SCT, nor 1861, at least not under any name, age, place criteria I could think to try, I would love to be proved wrong, and hope I just overlooked the obvious and she's there somewhere, just waiting to be found.^13,14
     The census of 1881 showed Betty with her husband James, their sons Thomas and John, their dtr Jessie at Dykecrofts, Par. of Castleton, ROX, SCT, household enumerated as THOMSON: James, 49, head, mar, ag lab b Castleton; wife Betty, 30, b Canonbie, DFS; Children (all b Castleton): Thomas E, scholar, 6; John W, 5; Jessie, 3.¹⁵
     The census of 1891 showed Elizabeth with her husband James, their sons Thomas and John, their dtr Jessie at Mosspeeble, Dist of Ewes, DFS, SCT, household enumerated as THOMSON: James 56 ploughman b Castleton; wife Elizabeth 37 b Canonbie DFS; Children: Thomas Elbirt (sic, as trasncribed for ancestry, I think it's meant to be Elliot) 16 shepherd, John Walter 14, Jessie Bell 12 both scholars, all b Castleton, ROX.¹²
     Elizabeth was also known as Betty and sometimes also shown as Betsy, and her surname variously as Dalglish, Dalgleish and Dalgliesh.^5,3,12
     Eliza Dalgliesh is a potential duplicate of Elizabeth Dalgleish; Eliza being Mary's sister. Given Elizabeth/Betsy's variable ages in assorted records, & Elizabeth's dth cert which shows her parents as Walter and Mary Dalgleish I have this theory that Elizabeth, wife of James Thomson, is one and the same person as Eliza, sister of Mary, James' first wife, but the age seems a tad far out.¹¹
     Betsey Elliot is a potential duplicate of Elizabeth Dalgleish; but the age is somewhat out. It seems too much of a coincidence that she is a sister-in-law of James (and I can't yet explain how if she's not his first wife's sister) and born Canonbie and living in the hsehold, and he later appears with a wife Elizabeth/Betty, born Canonbie, but I can't explain the Elliot rather than Dalgliesh as surname, the census entry is quite clearly written. At 25 in 1871 this would be the closest other record to match that of Mary's sister Eliza, aged 6mths in the 1841 census, but still quite a way out.¹¹