Euphemia Henderson might be Elspeth?

[zumaro]

On 29th May 1814 Euphemia Henderson married Hugh Grieg in Pencaitland.  Her father is said to be Andrew Henderson, a shoemaker in Salton.  Euphemia and Hugh show up in all the census records, and from these you can deduce she was born circa 1789, and her death certificate says she is 83 in 1871. 


When I search for Euphemia's birth records I find Andrew Henderson a shoemaker in Salton, having children with May Torrance in the appropriate time frame, but there is no Euphemia among them.  The 1789 date is taken by Alexander, but in 1787 there is an Elspeth born. 


My question is how likely is it that Elspeth is Euphemia? The names seem to be quite separate, but how many Andrew Henderson shoemakers is a town like Salton likely to have in the 1780s?


To make things worse, Euphemia's death certificate says her father is George Henderson an agricultural laborer, but I am assuming this is just wrong, and the marriage record will be the correct one.

[Neale1961]

I think the marriage record is most likely the correct one - father is Andrew.
Andrew Henderson and Marion Torrence married in 1784. Their first child was Helen (1785). It does seem likely that Euphemia may have been baptised with a different name.

[zumaro]

Interestingly, George Henderson is the witness to various baptisms of Andrew's children, so there is probably a George floating around in the family somewhere. I can't find much about him however

[GR2]

Euphemia and Elspeth are very distinct names (I have seen Elspeth being equated with Elizabeth). While it is a possibility that Euphemia is the child baptised as Elspeth, you can't be certain. Euphemia's baptism might not have been recorded. Have you tried looking to see if if there is any evidence of Elspeth as Elspeth later on (marriage/death etc.)?

[zumaro]

By my reckoning, searching phonetically on Henderson, and for first names starting with Els, I can't find anything that I think looks remotely likely in marriages or deaths. That's both in the OPR and SR records, and searching the whole of Scotland.


I have also started to see if I can find evidence of Elspet or Euphemia as witness in other family members weddings, but not so far. 

[zumaro]

No luck at all finding plausible references to Elspeth later in life, or even better, references to Euphemia tying her to this family (beyond her marriage record). The Hendersons are definitely a family of shoemakers, both in Saltoun and Leith it appears, with most of Elspeth's brothers taking up this occupation. However none of their marriages have Euphemia as a witness. Haven't checked out the baptism records of their children, but most are not living anywhere near Euphemia anyway.