Cowe/Aitken

[Scottish wifie]

Thanks for your help I had a quick go on scotlandspeople, James Cowe and Elizabeth Aitken married 27th November 1880 at Dunbar. Elizabeth parents are Thomas Aitken shoeworker? and Jane Renton, I dont know if they married ?? thanks for all the information. I looked up Thomas Aitken birth in 1874 his mum is Elizabeth Aitken he was illegitimate.

[hdw]

I've just done a bit of scavenging myself on Scotlandspeople, and Jane Renton turns out to be full of surprises.

Monica gave you the line-up for Jane and her family in Oldhamstocks parish in 1881. Jane was then 51. Believe it or not, she married a Thomas Robertson two years later, in 1883. Thomas was 59 and a widower, Jane said she was 52 and a widow. She gave her parents (deceased) as John Renton, shoemaker, and Elizabeth Anderson.

I wondered if she really was a widow, and if so, why was she using her maiden name of Renton? So I did a check on the IGI, and in fact Jane Renton married a George Renton(!) in 1865 at Oldhamstocks. She was then 34 and he was 60. So she clearly preferred older men.

This marriage-certificate gives George's parents as Thomas Renton, carrier, and Janet Sheriff, and Jane's parents as George[sic] Renton, shoemaker, and Elizabeth Anderson. I think this is just a clerical error for John.

In 1871 George and Jane were living at Fernylea cot house, parish of Oldhamstocks, and also living with them was Agnes Peebles, "step-daughter".

I'm still puzzled as to why the fishing family of Watson/Cowe in Cellardyke, Fife, but hailing from Northumberland and/or Durham, had a daughter called Jane Renton Watson.

Harry

[hdw]

See a post about Jane Renton on the Berwickshire thread by another researcher, which shows that Jane's father was actually George and not John Renton (curiouser and curiouser!).

In the 1861 census Jane Renton is living in Oldhamstocks parish with daughters Jane, Elizabeth and Agnes, who all have the surname Renton. Later, Elizabeth becomes Elizabeth Ness and Agnes becomes Agnes Peebles, so their mother may have got the fathers to admit paternity.

Or maybe she was just chancing her arm. I had an ancestor in Hawick called Martha Welsh who had several illegitimate children, all with different surnames. But I've discovered that when her daughters eventually married, they got married under the name Welsh, maybe because they couldn't prove they were "entitled" to the surname they had been using.

Harry

[Scottish wifie]

Wow this is amazing information and getting more complicated thanks for looking up info on scotlandspeople for me, I tried to look for a death certificate for Jane Renton but there was a few to pick from this will narrow it down never thought she would have got married !!! will have to have another look and have a look at Berwickshire thanks this is brilliant Lesley

[hdw]

If you want to send me your email address in a private message, I'll copy the relevant certificates to you. I'm not sure if we're allowed attachments here.

Harry

[CatsC]

I am looking for information on James Cowe and Elizabeth Aitken, their daughter Jane Renton Cowe was born in 1881 in Oldhamstocks, I have information on the Cowe side of the family but dont have much on Elizabeth Aitken, any help would be appreciated thanks Lesley

This is interesting as I know of a couple called James Watson and Jane Cowe, both born in Berwick on Tweed, who by 1881 were living at Pier End, Cellardyke, in the East Neuk of Fife, with their 6 children, including a daughter called Alice Renton Watson.

It has always amused me that this English couple moved to my home town of Cellardyke, of all places, because Watson has been the commonest name there for hundreds of years, and like this James Watson, the Cellardyke Watson men were mostly fishermen.

Not only that, but an English niece of James Watson's wife, by the name of Cowe, married one of the long-standing Cellardyke Watsons, a relative of mine called James Watson!

Harry D. Watson

Good day Harry,

Are you kindly able to shed any more light on the Watson/Cowe's of Cellardyke? I am looking for the birth certificate of Elizabeth Jane Cowe Watson who married William Hinksman Greig on 25/11/1927 in Crail. Her parents were John Watson (fisherman) & Helen Keith. John Watson was son of James Watson (fisherman) & Jane Cowe. I am aware of the Berwickshire Cowe line.

I am also drawing a blank on Helen Keith, daughter of a Robert Keith (fisherman) & Helen illegible on the marriage certificate. I have the marriage cert of Helen Keith & John Watson, but unable to find any more than that.

Any clues would be most appreciated.

Regards, CatsC