Cowe/Aitken

[Scottish wifie]

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

[MonicaL]

Hi Lesley

Have you checked James Cowe and Elizabeth Aitken's marriage cert for confirmation of their parents' names? Date and place of marriage should show on daughter Elizabeth's birth cert.

Monica 

[MonicaL]

There are a few mentions on line (submitted family trees) for this line. They show father James as having died in 1880 and mother Elizabeth in 1913 - all of this can be double checked on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

This possible census entry for 1891 but not sure where Elizabeth (could she be showing as Jane?) would have been or where the later children have come from if James is supposed to have died in 1880  :

Elizabeth Cowe 36 b. C'Path, Berwickshire
Thomas Aitken Cowe 16 b. Oldhamstocks, Haddington
William Aitken Cowe 11 b. C'Path, Berwickshire
Jane Cowe 9 b. Oldhamstocks, Haddington
John Cowe 7 b.Dunbar, Haddington

Address: Thurston Smithy Cottages, Innerwick, East Lothian

Possible birth entry for son Thomas (if parents were not married perhaps) from IGI:

Thomas AITKEN b. 31 DEC 1874 in Oldhamstocks, East Lothian, Scotland
Mother Elizabeth AITKEN

Monica

[Scottish wifie]

Thanks for your help Monica I will have a look on Scotlands people, I have Elizabeths parents as Thomas Aitken and Jane Renton this is as far back as I have got, the 1891 census is new information for me thanks for your help Lesley

[MonicaL]

This looks possibly to be eldest Thomas with Elizabeth's mother in 1881:

Jane Renton 51 b. Cockburnspath, Berwickshire
Jane Ness 29, daughter b. Cockburnspath, Berwickshire
Agnes Peebles 20, daughter b. Mordington, Berwickshire
Thomas Aitkin 6, grandson b. Oldhamstocks

Address: Springfield Cottage, Oldhamstocks

I'm trying to find Elizabeth and young William at the moment (census for 1881 was on 3 april and before the birth date you have Elizabeth)

[MonicaL]

Struggling still with young William but there is a likely entry for Elizabeth. Entry shows an Elizabeth Cowe, 33, garderner's wife born in Cockburnspath, Berwickshire. She is in the household of the Melrose family in West Loch Farm House, Eddleston, Peebleshire. Maybe husband James was elsewhere, can't see him in the household. Young William is still AWOL!

Monica

[Scottish wifie]

Thanks for all the information this is brillant, I have doing my family history for 16 years off and on and have been stuck with this side of the family for ages thankyou Lesley

[hdw]

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

[hdw]

Sorry, correction to the above - James Watson's wife Jane Cowe had a sister (not a niece) called Elizabeth Cowe who married a James Watson ("Hanksey") of Cellardyke, Fife. He became a trawler skipper in Aberdeen.

Jane and Elizabeth Cowe were the daughters of Henry Cowe, fisherman, and Elizabeth Cowling(?). I think this should be Collin, a common surname down the east coast from Eyemouth in Berwickshire to Sunderland.

Harry